Diy 2.5 Gallon Sump

[atmmachine816]

Here it is so far my thread

Any ideas on the plumbing part is helpful, keep in mind that I am only 14 so I am limited on what I can do as in the fancy plumbing things, I'd like to keep it simple as possible. I am thinking of getting 1/2" piping to bring the water out of the main tank to the sump but not sure on how to put it back in the tank. Any ideas are welcomed.

Thanks

Austin

 

[SkiFletch]

Depending on how far below the water level of the tank you're using, you could use a cheap powerhead to push water back up to the tank. You'd also need an overflow box though to control the outflow of the tank. Those are a little expensive, but if you PM me I might know a way to get around that . Only using a 2.5 gallon tank for the sump kind of limits you though... Can you fit anything larger in the space provided?

 

[atmmachine816]

Well right now I would just use it as an extra filter for my 29 Fw tank and it's about 20" below the tank maybe, what is an overflow box and what would I need to operate that small of a sump??

Austin

 

[SkiFletch]

This is an overflow box that I made myself:

It has two parts, one on the inside which skims the top of the water:

And another box outside the tank wall with some kind of device to control the water level. In this case, a wall:

What you do is connect the two boxes via a couple flexible tubes. Then you fill the inside box with water, and the half of the box without the drain with water. Start a siphon in the tubes by removing all the air, and whenever the level of water in the tank is above the dividing wall in the outer tank, water will overflow over the wall and down the drain into your sump. Then the pump pushes it back up into the tank. See, if you dont have the control of the wall you will overflow WAY faster than your pump can push back into the tank. Gravity wins over the powerhead, trust me Its a difficult physics concept to master.

The other way to make an overflow is to drill the tank just below the water level and attach a skimming fitting inside the tank wall. Most LFS' use this method. You'll probably notice all their saltwater tanks have fittings drilled in their walls that are siphoning water out. As this is probably your first exposure to sumps, does all that make sense?

Wow, sorry, I almoast forgot... Melev's Reef sump operation

Check out that website, its an enormous mass of knowledge about sumps and overflow boxes.

 

[atmmachine816]

Ok yes got it, how would you hook up a powerhead to force the water back into the tank? Do you fit a hose onto the powerhead part where it blows water out so it is pushing the water back into the tank?

Austin

Thanks for that link I will read it and if I have anymore questions I will ask them here.

Thanks

Austin

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, you have to buy a powerhead with a threaded or barbed outlet fitting and then adapt that to your return line that you decide on. Unfortunately, maxi jets do not have threads or barbs as they are nice and cheap . If I might suggest, a Via Aqua 1300 powerhead. That would more than suffice for a small sump like that . Btw, order from marindepot, cause powerheads are marked up a LOT in LFS'

Edit: that is of course if you are a US resident...

 

[atmmachine816]

So so far what I need is"
acrylic to make overflow box
filter media
divider
powerhead

and what can I use as tubing, can I use regular airline tubing??

Austin

 

[SkiFletch]

So so far what I need is"
acrylic to make overflow box
filter media
divider
powerhead

and what can I use as tubing, can I use regular airline tubing??

Austin

YGPM

What you really need is divider glass, pvc piping, a few fittings, and a powerhead.

 

[atmmachine816]

Couldn't you just use a powerhead to pump the water down to so if there is a power failure then the pumping action would stop and you wouldn't have to worry about a mess?

 

[dirtydogg]

Couldn't you just use a powerhead to pump the water down to so if there is a power failure then the pumping action would stop and you wouldn't have to worry about a mess?

If it just a power failure then no problem but a pump failure ie. the return pump and you've got a big mess.

 

[SkiFletch]

Couldn't you just use a powerhead to pump the water down to so if there is a power failure then the pumping action would stop and you wouldn't have to worry about a mess?

Nope, cause if you did that you'd siphon through anyways.

 

[atmmachine816]

O ok so I guess there is no real way to get around the overflow box, really don't want to cut another hole in my hood and then mabey use this for my hopefully new SW tank but o well I guess it's a good spring break project. So in about a month I will try to do it, in the meantime I will plan it all out. Hopefully you will be able to help me, thanks.

Austin