15gl Sump for 60 cube, need some suggestions.

[waldoz]

First time posting on here, thought I would see if you guys have any suggestions. Been reading a lot and looking at lots of sump pics and plans.
So with the 60 cube we have does not leave much room for a sump. My son wants a fuge but I don't think there is room with the 15gl tank. We are also not doing socks and going with floss. This is what I have so far. Will probably put another rack below the floss.

We have a 20 high tank but it would be too hard to get in there. We have a reef octopus 110 int classic we will be running. Probably go with a dc pump.Tank is not up so open for changes. Drain wise thinking herbie.
What do you guys think of the layout?

 

[anthonygf]

First time posting on here, thought I would see if you guys have any suggestions. Been reading a lot and looking at lots of sump pics and plans.
So with the 60 cube we have does not leave much room for a sump. My son wants a fuge but I don't think there is room with the 15gl tank. We are also not doing socks and going with floss. This is what I have so far. Will probably put another rack below the floss.

We have a 20 high tank but it would be too hard to get in there. We have a reef octopus 110 int classic we will be running. Probably go with a dc pump.Tank is not up so open for changes. Drain wise thinking herbie.
What do you guys think of the layout?

Looks good. I have a 10 gallon tank for a sump on my 75 DT. I used 2 tupperware cereal containers stacked, with bio media to take up some space, filter pad on top of carbon bag. Holes near top for overflow when filter plugs up. I have my skimmer next to it with drain running into filter box, never have to worry about cup overflow. Next I have a UV light with it's own pump just recirculating water in fuge, next is my float valve for RO/DI top off then my return pump. I have no baffles and works fine for me.

 

[waldoz]

So you don't have problems with bubbles at all? We don't have an ATO that might be down the road as we are currently doing manual top offs on our 20l AIO. I was also trying to figure out a way to have a tank with a float valve but sump first.

 

[anthonygf]

At first I did, if you do then just use a coarse foam sponge around the pump inlet screen. It has been 3 months now with no bubbles. I have my RO/DI output plumbed to the float valve, with a high level emergency shut off valve inline incase the float sticks open or breaks. I never have to drain my Skimmer cup anymore, just clean it once in awhile. My Nitrates maintained at 10ppm and phosphates run aroud .06-.10. All is good so far. I run the skimmer and UV light 12 hours a day when main lights are off.

 

[anthonygf]

I also have 2 pressurized water storage tanks like you see with some RO drinking water setups. RO/DI system pressure is maintained at 30psi. Supply water to the RODI system is at 65psi.

 

[waldoz]

Our RODI is out in the garage so that's why I want to do a gravity feed on the top off.

 

[anthonygf]

I am not familiar with gravity feed but seems like a lot of work to keep the reservoir full. Can you run a line from the garage to tank area? My RO is under bathroom sink and I have line going through wall to tank.

 

[waldoz]

Its just a gallon or two up over the sump with a float valve in the tank.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

The sump design looks good to me with the space you have to work with.

I am not familiar with gravity feed but seems like a lot of work to keep the reservoir full. Can you run a line from the garage to tank area? My RO is under bathroom sink and I have line going through wall to tank.

I would never use any auto top off system that is connected directly to the infinite supply of water. If it fails on, you'll crash your tank and flood your house.

I built my gravity feed auto top off tank to hold 10 gallon and sit inside the web of my stand. That drains down through a needle valve that restricts that water flow to a slow drip ending in a float valve in the sump. The tank holds ~10 gallons of water that gets me though ~7-10 days. I also put a float valve in the top off tank and then I just run a 25 foot water line to the RODI system in my laundry room. When the tank is full, the float valve shuts off the water. In three year's never failed, flooded, or spilled, and I've never had to carry a drop of water. If you have the RODI line already in your stand, I would just add an on/off ball valve and refill a tank of some kind to actually do the top off in the sump.

Even if you can only fit a gallon or a liter of water, it beats having to manually pour in water every single day. Both in manual labor and tank stability.

 

[anthonygf]

The sump design looks good to me with the space you have to work with.


I would never use any auto top off system that is connected directly to the infinite supply of water. If it fails on, you'll crash your tank and flood your house.

I built my gravity feed auto top off tank to hold 10 gallon and sit inside the web of my stand. That drains down through a needle valve that restricts that water flow to a slow drip ending in a float valve in the sump. The tank holds ~10 gallons of water that gets me though ~7-10 days. I also put a float valve in the top off tank and then I just run a 25 foot water line to the RODI system in my laundry room. When the tank is full, the float valve shuts off the water. In three year's never failed, flooded, or spilled, and I've never had to carry a drop of water. If you have the RODI line already in your stand, I would just add an on/off ball valve and refill a tank of some kind to actually do the top off in the sump.

Even if you can only fit a gallon or a liter of water, it beats having to manually pour in water every single day. Both in manual labor and tank stability.

That is a good idea. I don't blame you for the worry of my setup. I have 2 emergency backup high level alarm and shut off valves, plus I am always home as I am retired. I test my system once a month and only adds about a gallon until emergency shut off kicks in. But maybe I will look into your method. What happens when your float valve from your RO/DI fails? That is a very nice setup.
Edit, had a couple failures in the past several years and the shut off valves worked as designed. two in seven years.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

That is a good idea. I don't blame you for the worry of my setup. I have 2 emergency backup high level alarm and shut off valves, plus I am always home as I am retired. I test my system once a month and only adds about a gallon until emergency shut off kicks in. But maybe I will look into your method. What happens when your float valve from your RO/DI fails? That is a very nice setup.
Edit, had a couple failures in the past several years and the shut off valves worked as designed. two in seven years.

If the float fails on, the needle valve has the flow restricted to a slow drip. It would take ~ 48 hours for the entire 10 gallons to empty into the sump. I also designed the sump (converted 75 gallon tank) to handle the entire volume of the auto top off tank with the return pump off.

If it fails off, then the return pump starts to suck air and the sound plus bubbles in the display are a dead give away.

Though in three years, the float valve has never failed.

 

[anthonygf]

If the float fails on, the needle valve has the flow restricted to a slow drip. It would take ~ 48 hours for the entire 10 gallons to empty into the sump. I also designed the sump (converted 75 gallon tank) to handle the entire volume of the auto top off tank with the return pump off.

If it fails off, then the return pump starts to suck air and the sound plus bubbles in the display are a dead give away.

Though in three years, the float valve has never failed.

I think float valves rarely fail unless you do what I did, accidentally dislodged a cord in the sump and landed on the float holding it open. I do like your setup.