Hi all,
I have been contemplating a project for a bit, and would love some feedback from the more experienced reefers on here as what exactly I should do. I have a 32 gallon bio cube, all stock at this point, but been up for almost 3 years. Had a recent fish die off, with only 2 saved and moved over to QT. So while I have my main tank fallow for the next few weeks, I was considering adding some upgrades to it, mostly DIY for cost purposes, lol. But anyways, the idea I have is to do some kind of overflow from the back left reservoir, through the hole already in the hood on the back side next to the hinge area, down in to a custom made overflow box (possibly of herbie design), and then down in to a small custom made sump where I want to first run the water through an ATS, and have some ceramic bioballs down there to help with bacterial populations, then pump back up through another hose and connect that hose to the main outlet back in to the tank. My problem here is I can't figure out exactly how I want to accomplish this. I done hours of research, and seen many designs from other folks tanks, but I know every tank is different, and I will need to customize it to my liking.
Option 1) I can't decide if I want to use 2 pumps to completely control my flow down to the sump, and then back up (thinking of using the IM Mightyjet Midsize AIO DC Return Pump, 538gph, which is controllable). Which in this design I wouldn't need an overflow box as I could control flow straight to the sump and back up through the use of hoses and pipes, and could set both pumps to the same setting to ensure I have the same flow out and back.
Option 2) The other thought is to use the over flow box with a u tube as the siphon water puller from the main tank reservoir to the over flow box, and then, using the herbie design, have it flow down in to the sump through the ATS and sump, then pumped back up by one of the Mightyjets. My only problem with this option is I don't know a lot about the siphon design for overflow boxes, and I wasn't sure if I could accurately control my flow down in to the sump with just siphon/overflow box. It seems to make sense in my mind that once max flow is reached in those, that it will never be able to be adjusted, especially if the Mightyjet proves to strong(even on low setting) and fills the tank faster than it can be siphoned down by the U tube and overflow. And while this option is cheaper, in using only 1 pump vs 2, it seems like the first option would give me a lot more control on the flow rates, and can just help everything go better.
All in all, like I said, this is my first go with trying to mod a tank out, and deal with all these things, so ANY help or tips or advise would be super appreciated!! Thank you for everyone that took the time to read this!!
-Mike
I have been contemplating a project for a bit, and would love some feedback from the more experienced reefers on here as what exactly I should do. I have a 32 gallon bio cube, all stock at this point, but been up for almost 3 years. Had a recent fish die off, with only 2 saved and moved over to QT. So while I have my main tank fallow for the next few weeks, I was considering adding some upgrades to it, mostly DIY for cost purposes, lol. But anyways, the idea I have is to do some kind of overflow from the back left reservoir, through the hole already in the hood on the back side next to the hinge area, down in to a custom made overflow box (possibly of herbie design), and then down in to a small custom made sump where I want to first run the water through an ATS, and have some ceramic bioballs down there to help with bacterial populations, then pump back up through another hose and connect that hose to the main outlet back in to the tank. My problem here is I can't figure out exactly how I want to accomplish this. I done hours of research, and seen many designs from other folks tanks, but I know every tank is different, and I will need to customize it to my liking.
Option 1) I can't decide if I want to use 2 pumps to completely control my flow down to the sump, and then back up (thinking of using the IM Mightyjet Midsize AIO DC Return Pump, 538gph, which is controllable). Which in this design I wouldn't need an overflow box as I could control flow straight to the sump and back up through the use of hoses and pipes, and could set both pumps to the same setting to ensure I have the same flow out and back.
Option 2) The other thought is to use the over flow box with a u tube as the siphon water puller from the main tank reservoir to the over flow box, and then, using the herbie design, have it flow down in to the sump through the ATS and sump, then pumped back up by one of the Mightyjets. My only problem with this option is I don't know a lot about the siphon design for overflow boxes, and I wasn't sure if I could accurately control my flow down in to the sump with just siphon/overflow box. It seems to make sense in my mind that once max flow is reached in those, that it will never be able to be adjusted, especially if the Mightyjet proves to strong(even on low setting) and fills the tank faster than it can be siphoned down by the U tube and overflow. And while this option is cheaper, in using only 1 pump vs 2, it seems like the first option would give me a lot more control on the flow rates, and can just help everything go better.
All in all, like I said, this is my first go with trying to mod a tank out, and deal with all these things, so ANY help or tips or advise would be super appreciated!! Thank you for everyone that took the time to read this!!
-Mike
