Sump questions

Sexytang

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I’ve been in the hobby 11 months now and have a 36g bowfront that has came along way and think I’m doing good for my first ever reef. At the moment I’m only running a hang on back with carbon and polyfil pillow stuffing no skimmer nothing. I’m really thinking after Xmas I’m going to build a sump for this tank and was wounding a few things. What all should I have in my sump probably won’t have a skimmer for awhile do to can’t afford one for a bit
And what size pvc pipe do I need to make my overflow with.
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AllSignsPointToFish

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Make the sump piping as large as you can fit. Half inch or 3/4" would probably work well on a tank that size.

I have heaters, dosing equipment, ATO sensors/makeup lines, carbon/purigen, return pump, and a skimmer in my sump. The only equipment in the tank area the powerheads.

Tank looks great, by the way!
 

xxkenny90xx

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If a skimmer is out of the question then go with a large fuge section for chaeto and put a cheapo home depot light bulb over it!
 

Mr Fishface

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My sump has 3 sections - skimmer -> return pumps/heaters <- refugium. My current tank has two overflows so i have water coming into my skimmer and refugium area. Before when i had one overflow i put a T pipe on the return to bring water to the refugium. A cheaper home depot light and reflector will do great but you may one day want to upgrade that as well. I used for the longest time in my refugium area a homemade alagae turf scrubber. Just a cheap fountain pump, a little pvc that led to a screen i bought at a hobby store for a few bucks. Two home depot lamps on both sides each running 13w bulbs. Very cheap and worked wonders until I was able to buy algae and a better grow light to really start my refugium.i also had biopellets in the skimmer section and a filter sock for both inlets of water to the sump.
 

ZoWhat

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Just make sure your drain line(s) are larger than your return line(s). You want to ability to drain quickly.

My 6ft 180g.... two 1" drains and two 3/4" returns.

Adjustable ball valves on BOTH drains and returns to fine tune

LFS Owner who did the install mildly tried to convince me that I only needed one 1" drain line. I knew better.

You're ability to drain quickly to VITAL. I also like redundancy in having TWO drain lines in case a stupid snail clogs the one drain.



.
 
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Sexytang

Sexytang

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Thanks for the info. I might make a diy protein skimmer with two wooden air stones and a 2ltr bottle I had a small one made with one stone on my tank but took it off was a eye sore.
 
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Sexytang

Sexytang

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Make the sump piping as large as you can fit. Half inch or 3/4" would probably work well on a tank that size.

I have heaters, dosing equipment, ATO sensors/makeup lines, carbon/purigen, return pump, and a skimmer in my sump.
The only equipment in the tank area the powerheads.

Tank looks great, by the way!
So prolly 3/4” drain and 1” return? I watched a video of a guy making a 1/2” just showing and it wasn’t much water at all.
 

xxkenny90xx

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Most returns will be 3/4", and you want your drains larger than the return. I think mine are 3/4 return, 1 1/2" drain
 
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