A Sump

Mario

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I have built a new 750L tank, 100cmx75cmx100cm and have an overflow installed going into the 100l sump under the tank. The problem is that I will be feeding my fish, flaxk and frozen foods, and everythng will just go into the overflow and well the fish wont get to eat anything.
 
How much flow are you expecting from your sump to the main display tank? I've never had any issues like this, besides, my sump has some amano shrimp in it and anything that gets washed down, including leaves, poop and some food gets the full attention of the shrimp.
 
There is about 3cm of overflow in the tank and the pump pumping water from the sump to the main tank is a 4000lph pump. The problem is that any floating food will just get sucked up into the sump from the overflow and the fish wont have time to eat it. Also what happens to the poor fish that also get sucked into the overflow? I never took this into consideration when making my sump and overflow. I plan to have small fish in here that will eventually grow larger, namely, angelfish, gouramis, pangasius sharks, knifefish, birchirs, and some eel type fish. they will all be about 5-8cm when I get them.
 
Hmm, what type of over flow is it? is it a corner weir, or do you have the kind of inverted cup fitting over the outlet on the side of the tank?

Either a larger area of overflow or a weaker flow will solve that. Use a valve to vent a little water from the return pipe in the sump.

I personally use a eheim 1650 which is about 1200 lph or more like 600 lph taking the head into account.
 
I have a pice of glass in the back left corner. It's 35cm long and 3cm from the top level of the water. Changes to this is impossible now. :crazy: I was thinking of putting a net to prevent fish from falling into the overflow. but this wont do anything for the food. I was thinking of maybe adding the food where there water return pipe is, that way the food will be blown downwards and the fish will just have to eat fast. Fast food :hyper: . I just felt that a sump would be the best filtration system, and also allow for esier maintenance, and obviously a better looking tank.

Unless I use pellets that sink. Do angels and pangasius and gouramis eat ellet food?

I have made a simple drawing of what I have, so maybe this will help.

http://phostira.org/mario/SETUP.jpg

thanks
 
the sump is in fact the filter to put it in basicc terms. It also houses the heaters and is used for water changes and also all medication if needed is added to the sump not tank. It is more often used in marine tanks but also very good when used on tropical tanks.

This way you don't have anything in the main tank so if you have fish like oscars you don't have to worry about them breaking your heaters or breaking the filters.

It works very similar to an external filter, only it's bigger, chaper and more biological than any filter for sale on the market.
 
kool......do u have any plans that i could look at im really intrested now u mentioned it

charlie
 
a basic plan is posted with the previous post, just click on the link of the pic
 
wht is it you want to know? Ask me specifically and maybe I can answer.
 
i jus wanted a pic or list of everything i would need and how much it would cost (£)

charlie
 
well the way I setup my sump, I added a piece of glass in my tank, that is 3cm shorter than my waterline. so the water would overflow into a corner of the tank, from there, I have a hole in the glass with a pipe leading into a smaller 100l tank at the bottom of the tank. there is also a hole at the bottom of the piece of glass in the tank, allowing for water from the bottom of the tank to flow into the corner "pocket" the bottom hole has a pipe connected to just below the water line of the corner pocket.

As for the sump, it's a small tank with 4 dividers in it. the dividers allow the water to flow through the filtration products I have added to my sump. The glass diiders are positioned as follows: the first piece touches the base of the tank, the second on top which leaves a gap at the bottom and so on with the rest. In other words the water makes an up down movement through the sump dividers. the filtration products I used are as follows and in this order in the sump: Blue sponge, siphorax (those things that look like macaroni), carbon, (carbon needs to be changed often), these funny spikey balls (these hold the good bacteria), and finally filter floss (this looks liek cottonwool. after the water filters through all of these it goes into a larger part of the sump where I have a very powerful pump which sends the water back into the tank.

I hope this helps. I will take some pics of the tank and the sump once it is finished, I still need to ad the top and the lights for the tank, once this is done I will take the pics and add them somewhere so that you can see them.

Oh I forgot to mention price. the sump itself cost less than $50 for the glass. the taps and pipes cost about $50 and the pump cost me $100, I got this really cheap from my lfs. it pumps 4000L per hour. You would need to get a pump strong enough for your tank and not too strong if it's a small tank as it might not be able to remove water as fast as it get's pumped back and would cause too much current in your tank. that is why it is very ideal for marine tanks.
 
Hey Mario, isnt it you who's doing the archway tank with jellyfish?
 
I don't think you will have a problem with too much food going into the overflow, or with fish being sucked into it.

I have found that my tropical fish aren't too keen on granules - they prefer flake.

If there is a problem, try putting a perspex "shield around the overflow at surface level - that way, the water will be sucked up from lower down.
 

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