plans for my sump (closed loop)

[firefish]

evening all,
iam changing my cabinet so i can add a sump to my tank in the next few months so i thought i would add my sump plans so you lots can check them out. advice is needed.
i will be taking everything out of the tank to swap cabinets so i will be getting it drilled. new cabinet is 1200mm, sump will be 800mm x 600mm x 400mm. (LxHxW). i thought i would get the inlet drilled on the botton straight into the 1st chamber, (150mm.) with a "t" joint to feed the phos reactor and the skimmer. 2nd chamber (500mm) with a DSB. 3rd chamber (150mm) with the return pump.



i thought i would have a Eheim return pump, which one compact300 or 5000.
for the return i thought about drilling 3 outlets, 1 in the middle for some water movement about the LR and 2 at the top of the tank.
i plan to use flexitube for the plumbing as i have read it will be less noisy.
it is ok to use flexitube for all of it?
would this all work? never had a sump i dont know if it would, all the help is very grateful.
thanks will

[cl0wn]

looking good, personally i wouldn't direct feed the reactor from the input as the media may clog quickly, a small maxijet could be used in the final chamber. i would also light the middle dsb section and have some cheeto in there. just throwing a couple of ideas into the mix, otherwise a good plan.

[michael.]

1 thing i would do myself, and this is from experience is too make the skimmer section a little larger, its suprising how big skimmer pumps are, and the pipes from the tank with the filter socks as well can be a little tight, plus i like to get my hand in there to remove the detritus which will build up, jmo:icon_wink:

[firefish]

1 thing i would do myself, and this is from experience is too make the skimmer section a little larger, its suprising how big skimmer pumps are, and the pipes from the tank with the filter socks as well can be a little tight, plus i like to get my hand in there to remove the detritus which will build up, jmo:icon_wink:

skimmer pump is 200mm long and 100mm wide so should fit in, but if i make the 1st chamber bigger i would have to shorten the 2nd chamber as i still want room at the sides of the sump to store things.
as for the return chamber i could make 100mm bigger. would that be ok.

what about a return pump--eheim compact 3000 or 5000.

i will light the DSB and have some cheato growing also iam using a maxijet 1000ph on the phos reactor now. i thought if i add a "T" i could have 1 pump less. but if it will clog up i will keep using it.
cheers will

[Timo]

skimmer pump is 200mm long and 100mm wide so should fit in, but if i make the 1st chamber bigger i would have to shorten the 2nd chamber as i still want room at the sides of the sump to store things.
as for the return chamber i could make 100mm bigger. would that be ok.

what about a return pump--eheim compact 3000 or 5000.

i will light the DSB and have some cheato growing also iam using a maxijet 1000ph on the phos reactor now. i thought if i add a "T" i could have 1 pump less. but if it will clog up i will keep using it.
cheers will

I would make the skimmer section bigger than 150 myself. Let me know when your ready to put some algaes in it because i probably will have a few different sorts you can have to get it started :D

[firefish]

ok what if i made the skimmer chamber 250mm, DSB chamber 500mm and the return pump chamber 250mm making the sump 1000mm leaving 100mm each end of the sump.

are the rest of the plans ok regards the drilled holes, flexitubes and the eheim returm pump.

thanks for the offer Timo, i will give you a shout when i am ready.

[cl0wn]

how about a bubble trap in the last section?

[firefish]

bubble trap.. what add someLR in that section.
happy new year

[wayne]

Will, how high is the glass in the DSB section and how deep was you thinking of having the sand?

[cl0wn]

bubble trap.. what add someLR in that section.
happy new year

no, add a section of glass or acrylic where the red line is in the pic to prevent a waterfall effect into the last chamber. knocks most of the bubbles out of the water before they get to the return pump.