Newbie Sump Help - water level

[LauriesaurusRex]

We are in the process of filling our sump in the Red Sea REEFER 425XL. this is my first sump and first saltwater tank.
My question is about the water level in the sump. How do we know when it’s full? I realize it needs to go into the compartment with the return pump, but how do we know when to stop filling? Should we turn the return pump on and adjust the level as we go? I’ve heard we need to also need to do a flow back test to make sure it won’t overflow, and have heard something about marking the full line on the side? Can someone provide some insight so I can be less anxious about this?
Thank you so much for all the help you’ve already provided! I’ll be sure to post pictures when it’s all up and running

 

[lapin]

With pump on, the return chamber should have at least 1 " of water above the pump intake. The more the better because of evaporation and skimming. This is where an auto top off is handy. Now with the pump off there needs to be room for all the water draining back into the sump.

 

[theMeat]

Sure
Fill till return section, where return pump is has enough water to it’s not sucking air. Be ready with some more water. Turn on return pump and add more water until water from tank starts to flow down drain back to sump. Give it a few minutes to level off. With water in return section on low side measure where the water in return section is. Then unplug the return to simulate a power outage. Water will continue to flow down to sump. Then measure how much flow back you have, and use that measurement to determine your max fill line so sump doesn’t overflow if power goes off.
You need a siphon break on drain, and return line, or it could get ugly

 

[RocketEngineer]

The technique I use is as follows: Fill the display until it starts to drain into the sump, then fill the sump to 1-2” below the top edge of the sump, turn on the return pump, and make sure the flow stabilizes throughout the system. Verify you have the coverage on the return pump.

By doing this, you have accounted for all the draining back possible and still have that 1-2” of head space in the sump.

 

[Scoobydoo]

The technique I use is as follows: Fill the display until it starts to drain into the sump, then fill the sump to 1-2” below the top edge of the sump, turn on the return pump, and make sure the flow stabilizes throughout the system. Verify you have the coverage on the return pump.

By doing this, you have accounted for all the draining back possible and still have that 1-2” of head space in the sump.

I have a 20g breeder display tank and a 10 g sump tank what dive pump size should I get for this?

 

[Scoobydoo]

I have a 20g breeder display tank and a 10 g sump tank what pump size should I get

 

[RocketEngineer]

One that will move the water between the two fast enough to keep water temperature and chemistry the same in both. There’s a lot of debate on this amount of flow versus that amount but most of the time they miss that point. It’s about stability. The skimmer works the same if the water chemistry is identical whether your pushing 5x or 50x through the sump. And, on top of that, the skimmer can get what it misses the next cycle through so why stress. 3-5x turnover is a good rule of thumb but don’t sweat over it.

 

[I’m Batman]

I have a 20g breeder display tank and a 10 g sump tank what dive pump size should I get for this?

Great question, I've gotten lucky twice just guessing flow and it's worked perfect, I'm sure theres a flow calculator somewhere, the most important paramater is head pressure distance. You want something that can push watet 6 feet at least back to the display from the sump through the piping/tubing.

A faster pump will just require more water in the sump, so go big and get dc controllable you have a couple extra bucks, that way you can dial it down or increase based on your tanks needs.

 

[LauriesaurusRex]

One that will move the water between the two fast enough to keep water temperature and chemistry the same in both. There’s a lot of debate on this amount of flow versus that amount but most of the time they miss that point. It’s about stability. The skimmer works the same if the water chemistry is identical whether your pushing 5x or 50x through the sump. And, on top of that, the skimmer can get what it misses the next cycle through so why stress. 3-5x turnover is a good rule of thumb but don’t sweat over it.

This is good info for me too, thanks. I have a Sicce SDC 7.0 that is rated for up to 1900 gph. The Red Sea manual for the tank says they recommend a pump that can do 1060 gph, so I calculated that I need it at about 56% power to get it up to 1060 gph, however, it’s really loud at that level. I don’t even know if my math is right in doing that, I might be way off base. Can I get away with lowering the power to get the noise level down? At about 30% power the volume is low enough to where I can’t hear it when I’m more than a few feet away from the tank, which is ideal since it’s in our large kitchen/living room area.

 

[theMeat]

This is good info for me too, thanks. I have a Sicce SDC 7.0 that is rated for up to 1900 gph. The Red Sea manual for the tank says they recommend a pump that can do 1060 gph, so I calculated that I need it at about 56% power to get it up to 1060 gph, however, it’s really loud at that level. I don’t even know if my math is right in doing that, I might be way off base. Can I get away with lowering the power to get the noise level down? At about 30% power the volume is low enough to where I can’t hear it when I’m more than a few feet away from the tank, which is ideal since it’s in our large kitchen/living room area.

The older thinking was 10x display tank volume per hour. Newer thinking is 3-6x times. Ime lower is better, and the bigger the tank the lower you should go. On my 220 I’m doing about 2x on an adjustable pump and find that to be the sweet spot, regardless of noise/heat

 

[LauriesaurusRex]

The older thinking was 10x display tank volume per hour. Newer thinking is 3-6x times. Ime lower is better, and the bigger the tank the lower you should go. On my 220 I’m doing about 2x on an adjustable pump and find that to be the sweet spot, regardless of noise/heat

Thanks! That’s making me feel a lot better about turning the flow down a little. It was really loud and I was starting to worry that I’d just have to live with the loud noises.