Asking advice on Sump design and Overflow

[KahluaZzZ]

they tend to heat a little bit when clogged, but compared to other pumps in that price category, it's nothing. Mag under 7 are cooler because it's not the same design and parts, over 7 are powerful but generate more heat.
My favorites are the Poseidon (inline pumps) they're the most quiet, and they don't generate much heat, but it's a little bit more expensive

 

[TRe]

im using an ocean runner return right now because of the low energy consumption... only thing i know about eheim pumps is they go by metric lol

 

[ryanm19]

how do you like your ocean runner TRe? What size do you have, what's the noise like, and how much heat does it output? Also, are you running yours in your sump, or externally?
I would probably have to get the 2500 for my setup, if I go this route.

 

[TRe]

yeah im using the 2500 ... zero noise/heat in sump

 

[ryanm19]

any problems with parts? or it breaking down or anything like that? cause I think that the 2500 is the way I might go. What is your overflow rated at?

 

[ryanm19]

modified version

I think from the fuge inlet to the return section, I'll have two baffles in the corner to make this "fuge to return" section smaller. This will also make the return section hold more water. The first ball valve at the top will only be used incase I need to mess with the tubing. It won't be used to control flow.

 

[epond83]

looking good, for the fuge entre to the return you could make like a rubble tower (without the rubble), make the corner tower like you are talking about and have teeth cut in the bottom and have the fuge dump into the top.

Also feel free to have the first valve on the intake but with the pump turned off you won't have any water in the lines, which is why you want to mark your top off line with the pump turned off. Valves are usully the more exspensive parts so cutting down on them helps.

Also i know it's just a drawing but having the output of the skimmer face away from the baffels leading to the return will help with bubbles.

When planing this out don't forget account for skimmer hieight and deepth in water. A lot of people build little platforms for the skimmer so that is in the proper depth of water and the return section can be deeper. Also don't cut yourself short on overall hieght, gotta beable to take the collection cup off while it's set up.

 

[ryanm19]

the tower idea sounds great! I'm thinking that the skimmer will be in 10 inches of water and I'll have a stand for it to raise it whatever height I need to. This skimmer is said to do best in 8-10 inches of water.
As for the last baffle before the return section, I'll have to play around with this height and make it low enough so the sump will be able to hold excess water when the power goes out, and also high enough to make the return section hold as much water as possible. Any suggestions on this height to start with?

 

[TRe]

if you setup a auto top off you wont have to worry about the water level in the return section... i got my ATO from autotopoff.com....ive got the double switch controller, its nice because it has a second switch incase the first one fails... ive got it hooked up with a aqua lifter pump and an 18g rubbermaid container

 

[ryanm19]

So the aqualifter is connected to the ATO, and one of its tubing is in the fresh RO/DI water and the second is in the sump. I'll look into these ATOs.
I could also just get this after everything is set up and running smoothly.

 

[epond83]

Yeah ATO are very useful to have. You can set it up after everything is working well. But you might want to consider where and how big of a freashwater resivor you are going to have so you don't run out of room.

 

[ryanm19]

If I get an ATO, My freshwater reservoir probably won't be too big, I'm guessing around 5 gallons or possibly a few gallons more. I'll probably have to have it set right next to the tank, which is kind of annoying to the eye. But I could make a small cabinet or something for it. I need to add up all of my costs again to see where I'm at and if I want to spend the money on an ATO right now.

 

[epond83]

Well usually you figure out how much water you loose a day (which obviously you can't do yet) and figure out how big to make your resivor based on how many days you want to go with out messing with it.

Of coarse space aviable and looks is always a factor

 

[ryanm19]

gotchya
Ok i'm going to summarize what equipment I'm getting...
-Octopus extreme 160 skimmer
-600 gph single prefilter box from Lifereef
-Ocean Runner 2500 (I think)
^from what i've read about these pumps is that they are sturdy, quiet, and basically do their job well. So this is the pump I think i'm leaning towards.

 

[ryanm19]

I have another question on my design. Instead of having a rubble/bubble tower or a set of baffles after the fuge section, can I have the fuge drain into the bubble trap after the skimmer section?

Like this:

 

[ryanm19]

Also, the overflow box from lifereef that I am looking at is 600 gph. Is this too much flow going through the sump? I ask this because, if the flow rate is slower then micro bubbles will be able to rise and pop easier. If the flow rate is too high then they won't have time to disappear and then they will go into the pump and into the display.
Also, what do you guess the flow will be going into the display from the sump.(pump is 630 gph, there is approximatly 4 feet to get to display, I am using vinyl tubing and there will be one "T" section). This second question might not be able to be answered very accuratley but I thought I'd ask.

 

[epond83]

The over flow doesn't control the flow it only allows a certain amount. So if you have a 600 gph overflow but the pump is only pushing 100gph to the tank only 100gph will flow back to the sump. But yes i think the 600 would be good since at 4 feet of head you will be flowing at about 500gph.

As for the fug exit line that is a fine place for it. This just means more flow over the last baffel, but if the water line is kept high then you shouldn't have any problems with bubles in the return.

Also are you still planning on having the first valve on the over flow line? That just really seems like it could cause a flood on your display tank. I know with my memory one day it would get closed (even though i'm not sure why you would need to close it) and forget to open it when i turned on the pump.

 

[ryanm19]

I've removed that valve from the design. I'm pretty sure I'll get that auto top off some time, but for now, if I have a bubble problem I can put some filter pads in the baffles.
Thanks for the response epond!

 

[epond83]

filter pads could be a bad idea if they start collecting debri which can raise nitrates. i think as long as the water does fall far into the return section you should be ok.

How tall is the baffel going to be in the return area? i'm guessing 9" i would think the bubble trap should be deep enough to work, also with the T coming off the pump, if it doesn't bubble much (find out after the set up) you could route it back to the return are instead. This way there is less flow through the bubble trap but still alows control of flow to the display without stressign the pump.

You going to start building this thing soon?

 

[ryanm19]

haha, yeah I need to get all of my equipment first, I'm waiting on a used 20 gallon from a friend and the skimmer and overflow box aren't in yet. The filter pads were just going to be a temporary solution if bubbles were an issue. I was guessing the last baffle to be around 9 inches, but am not quite sure of how much depth I need to leave in case of power outage.