Sump 15 gallon

[george_fish_room]

Hello everyone,

I'm building an 80 gallon tank. I'm interested in your opinion on whether the sump is functional?

From the overflow box, the water flows into the filter socks, which are arriving soon.
When the tank arrives, I'll do the plumbing and everything will look better then. The difference compared to the picture I send, I'll change the flow of the UV lamp and the media reactor, i.e. the water from the circulation pump will first enter the reactor and from there into the UV and back into the sump. I'll probably make upgrades over time, but this is a start and I have most of the equipment which I don't use it in a freshwater aquarium.

1. Protein skimmer

2. 750 gallon return pump

3. media reactor (carbon/gfo)

4. UV lamp

5. two part dosing

6. bio media (siporax)

7. 5 gallon ato reservoir

8. circulation pump

9. heater

 

[smitten with ocean life]

@UncommonSense ?

 

[george_fish_room]

@UncommonSense ?

I'm currently testing the sump. I'm expecting the dt next week and then I'll do the plumbing. I have no experience and was hoping that maybe someone could give me some suggestions or point out a mistake in the setup. In the stores in my city, no one has even heard about sump, skimmer...

 

[smitten with ocean life]

what about you @tbrown?

 

[tbrown]

So this is a single chamber sump? The second chamber you have listed as a 5 gallon ATO reservoir if I'm reading this correctly.

It will work, yes. You could, however, add a return chamber and let the water from the UV and reactor go straight to the return chamber instead of putting all of the water from the tank straight into the return area.

Typical sumps have 3-4 chambers not including the ATO reservoir.

First chamber - filter socks - this also acts as a bubble trap of sorts to eliminate large amounts of micro bubbles from entering the display making it look cloudy

Middle chambers - skimmer or refugium or mechanical filtration

Last chamber - return pump - also the chamber typically used for ATO level.

One other thing to keep in mind - 15 gallons is fairly small. Ensure there's enough headroom left to ensure the water from the display has room to drain in case of a power failure or when you shut the pump off for maintenance. If this is a 15 gallon tank total including the 5 gallon ATO reservoir, that's not a lot of surface area to handle the additional water.

 

[Fish Fan]

As @tbrown mentioned, most sumps have several baffles to both eliminate micro bubbles in the display tank, as well as to maintain water level in the sump sections, which is particularly important for protein skimmers. My thoughts would be that you may have a lot of micro bubbles floating around in your tank, and if you weren't planning on one already, you will absolutely need an Auto Top Off system to automagically replace evaporated freshwater. If not, the water level in your sump will fluctuate, and your protein skimmer will not work as efficiently as it should.

Good luck with your build!

 

[UncommonSense]

I agree with the above! The sump is best compartmentalized into different tasks!

You’re definitely in the right track, there are a few design revisions I’d make though!

At the very least, consider a single baffle in your sump to divide up the drain/equipment chamber, and the return pump chamber!

The skimmer should be in a area which has a fixed operating water height; usually around 8” (20cm), but this varies with each specific skimmer… I recommend just using a DIY stand under your skimmer to get it submerged to the correct operating depth!

Ideally, considering that you’re going to likely want to add at least two pieces of glass as baffles; you might want to actually look at a bigger sump! — a good target is 25-33% of your DT volume for your sump!

Here’s an example of a 75g sump I built recently! — if you ignore the scribbled out baffles between skimmer and refuge chambers, simply running your skimmer on a stand to elevate it; this is essentially all you need!

Note the three baffles prior to the return chamber… The bottom baffle sets water height in the prior chamber, two top baffles serve as a “bubble trap”, keeping bubbles from entering the return pump chamber, and being pumped back into the display!

 

[george_fish_room]

The water level in the sump is 20 cm and that is the appropriate level for the skimmer. In case it is necessary I can connect the sump to a 25 gallon RO water tank. I hope the aquarium will progress and in the future I plan to build a sump of the maximum size that space allows to accommodate the equipment I will add in the future, and this will be the ATO.
Thank's everyone for the advice. I will make the corrections. Attached is a photo of how I plan to do it.

 

[Fish Fan]

The water level in the sump is 20 cm and that is the appropriate level for the skimmer. In case it is necessary I can connect the sump to a 25 gallon RO water tank. I hope the aquarium will progress and in the future I plan to build a sump of the maximum size that space allows to accommodate the equipment I will add in the future, and this will be the ATO.
Thank's everyone for the advice. I will make the corrections. Attached is a photo of how I plan to do it.

This looks like a better setup with the baffles. Personally, I would take out the bio media in the center, I don't think it's necessary.

 

[george_fish_room]

This looks like a better setup with the baffles. Personally, I would take out the bio media in the center, I don't think it's necessary.

Thanks,
it will be bare bottom tank. Fish, corals and rock scape. That is the main reason why I chose to have more bio media, more space for bacteria to colonize.

 

[UncommonSense]

Thanks,
it will be bare bottom tank. Fish, corals and rock scape. That is the main reason why I chose to have more bio media, more space for bacteria to colonize.

I seem to recall that most ceramic bio-media is made using an aluminum oxide based material, and has a tendency to leech aluminum into salt water!

This isn’t an issue in freshwater aquariums, but saltwater is more corrosive!

I recommend just using rock in that section of the sump instead of man-made bio media!

 

[george_fish_room]

I seem to recall that most ceramic bio-media is made using an aluminum oxide based material, and has a tendency to leech aluminum into salt water!

This isn’t an issue in freshwater aquariums, but saltwater is more corrosive!

I recommend just using rock in that section of the sump instead of man-made bio media!

Thanks for the advice. I already have sera ceramic rings but I was also thinking about the option of making that part as a refuggium.

 

[tbrown]

I agree with rock rubble.

 

[UncommonSense]

The water level in the sump is 20 cm and that is the appropriate level for the skimmer. In case it is necessary I can connect the sump to a 25 gallon RO water tank. I hope the aquarium will progress and in the future I plan to build a sump of the maximum size that space allows to accommodate the equipment I will add in the future, and this will be the ATO.
Thank's everyone for the advice. I will make the corrections. Attached is a photo of how I plan to do it.

Be sure to have the glass “baffles” cut 4-5mm (~3/16”) smaller than the exact inside width of the sump! — you want 4.5mm (~3/16”) thick glass at minimum, 6mm (~1/4”) thick is preferable!

This gives you 2-2.5mm of silicone gap on each side of the glass baffle, just big enough to be able to inject silicone into the gap with the glass held in place! — silicone the bottom of the “dam” baffles first, then inject silicone into the sides!

Use paint masking tape around 10mm away from where each glass baffle will sit, this is removed immediately after silicone application and wiping to make clean silicone lines! — make each of your tape strips one continuous length, so each pulls out as one piece!

 

[george_fish_room]

Be sure to have the glass “baffles” cut 4-5mm (~3/16”) smaller than the exact inside width of the sump! — you want 4.5mm (~3/16”) thick glass at minimum, 6mm (~1/4”) thick is preferable!

This gives you 2-2.5mm of silicone gap on each side of the glass baffle, just big enough to be able to inject silicone into the gap with the glass held in place! — silicone the bottom of the “dam” baffles first, then inject silicone into the sides!

Use paint masking tape around 10mm away from where each glass baffle will sit, this is removed immediately after silicone application and wiping to make clean silicone lines! — make each of your tape strips one continuous length, so each pulls out as one piece!

Yesterday, before this message, I started gluing the baffles. I had the glass in one piece and unfortunately the cutting of the glass didn't go well and I gave up. I had it on one acrylic sheet and I cut it and glued it. It doesn't look bad but I'm aware that silicone doesn't bond to acrylic the same way it does to glass. I won't glue it any further, I'd wait at least 48 hours and test it and if it doesn't move I'd do the other partitions.

 

[themcnertney]

Yesterday, before this message, I started gluing the baffles. I had the glass in one piece and unfortunately the cutting of the glass didn't go well and I gave up. I had it on one acrylic sheet and I cut it and glued it. It doesn't look bad but I'm aware that silicone doesn't bond to acrylic the same way it does to glass. I won't glue it any further, I'd wait at least 48 hours and test it and if it doesn't move I'd do the other partitions.

I had siliconed acrylic panels to glass tank and it ran for 15 years before shutting down the system. The water helps balance the load between each side of the panel. Just make sure the silicone is well and cured before adding water. And confirm that the silicone is aquarium safe. All should be good.

 

[Fish Fan]

Silicon is fine for acrylic sump baffles to glass.

 

[UncommonSense]

Yesterday, before this message, I started gluing the baffles. I had the glass in one piece and unfortunately the cutting of the glass didn't go well and I gave up. I had it on one acrylic sheet and I cut it and glued it. It doesn't look bad but I'm aware that silicone doesn't bond to acrylic the same way it does to glass. I won't glue it any further, I'd wait at least 48 hours and test it and if it doesn't move I'd do the other partitions.

Silicone to glass bonds aren’t chemical, but good silicone still does have a stong mechanical bond! — many people use acrylic baffles!

Just be aware that cast acrylic can swell up to 3% in size when submerged in water! — don’t make the acrylic baffles tight to the glass tank walls, or the acrylic’s expansion can literally break the glass tank!

 

[george_fish_room]

All this information are very useful to me. When I consider all the aspects, my decide is to order the glass partitions. Thank you all.

 

[UncommonSense]

Silicone to glass bonds aren’t chemical

Silicone to acrylic bonds aren’t chemical, I mean!

— too late to edit the post now!

To elaborate; glass:glass silicone bonds actually have a chemical bonding component silica to silica!

Acrylic:glass, and acrylic:acrylic silicone bonds are mechanically adhered only; no chemical bonding interface between silicone and plastic!