Waterbox sump questions

[TJ94851]

Hi all. First post here! I’m looking at stepping up to a Waterbox 110.4 EXT but have some questions on the sump for anyone with experience with them. First, I’m surprised no Bean Animal on a tank this size.

Main question is that their diagram online is confusing. It looks like the drain lines run into the main/skimmer compartment. Also, they refer to the front right compartment as being for ATO but it looks like the skimmer compartment flows into this??? Can that compartment be used for a refugium instead, maybe with modifications? Refugium is a must have for me.

Thanks for any info!

 

[mcarroll]

I’m surprised no Bean Animal on a tank this size.

It's overkill if you're running normal flow rates where you're pushing drains only to 25-50% of their rated value. E.g. a 1" drain is rated for 600 GPH maximum. About 300 GPH and up is where it will no longer be silent. Below that is the sweet zone, where the drain is dead silent. If you're running flow that low and have redundant drain pipes, you're fine.

Complicated drain setups are conceivably much more justified when you're trying to run them at 100%. This was typical in the old days before everyone had powerheads. The return pump was used for all the tank's flow – extremely inefficient, no margin of safety, but when there was no other option and you wanted a reef tank....

These days, return pumps just feed the filter section, so 1x-4x flow is plenty....and generally that fits within a manufactured tank's drain design – keeping with the "50% or less" rule of drain flow capacity.

 

[BryanM]

Hi all. First post here! I’m looking at stepping up to a Waterbox 110.4 EXT but have some questions on the sump for anyone with experience with them. First, I’m surprised no Bean Animal on a tank this size.

Main question is that their diagram online is confusing. It looks like the drain lines run into the main/skimmer compartment. Also, they refer to the front right compartment as being for ATO but it looks like the skimmer compartment flows into this??? Can that compartment be used for a refugium instead, maybe with modifications? Refugium is a must have for me.

Thanks for any info!

It looks like those drains will feed the filter sock compartment, which will drain in to the main chamber.

And while it does look like the main/skimmer chamber flows in to the ATO, I'm sure it doe not. I'm sure that flows in to the return chamber.

It just looks funky.

 

[Linden13]

I have a waterbox 230 looking at the 110 sump design it looks similar. The tank drain lines go into a thin back chamber that goes into the filter sock area. In the picture It looks like the ato area is connected but I'm sure it goes into another thin chamber that goes to the pump area that area usually has a type of sponge filter that acts like a bubble trap. Try looking at one of the bigger tank sump diagrams like the 230 the sump is more spread out and its all clear glass might give you a better understanding of how the 110 sump is set up. It does have its own separate ato. It doesnt look like there is room for a separate refugium compartment