Need a bit of help on making a sump

[spanair]

Hello guys,

I bought a juwel 240 yesterday so I can start to make my SW withing 2 weeks as I need the RO system + live rock to go and i'm ready to start.

The thing is, I want the quarium to look as it is without the skimmer hanging on it, etc so I thought making a sump will be the answer to this.

I'm not sure what a sump consists of, but I just thought the sump is there to hide all the bits un ther the cabinet so the aquarium looks alot nicer?.

What I just wanted the sump for is for the skimmer and the RO system so it's alot neeter and is hidden out of view. But what I was wondering if the method like on the diagram (badly done in 1 min) is alright? and if so how do I get the water from the tank (with the pump) to the aquarium on top ?, do I use some pipes to lead the water from the sump via the motor into the main aquarium ?.

I just need some help on basically making a sump, i've got everything for it except the pump + R/O system.

Any help is vey apreciated or any links etc.

Thank you!

 

[ste2k3]

A sump tank is another (normally glass) tank under the main display tank. you will firstly need to remove water from the main tank. you can do this by either drilling a hole in the base of the tank (1.5") or getting an overflow box. driling is cheaper and much better. this is best done by a tank builder. your LFS should be able to do it for you or at least point you in the right direction. from the hole you will need a stand pipe which wil draw water from the surface. in the event of a powercut, only the top 1" or so of water will end up in the sump. the sump will need the extra capacity to cope with this so it should run only half full etc. when the water enters the sump, normally you will have a prefilter which mechanically removes particles from the water, then your skimmer, thenthe heater, then your biological filter (if needed) then any chemical filtration, carbon/rowaphos etc and then a return pump of around 3500lph.

as for the RO unit, this needs to be plumbed in to your water supply. normally, people put them under the sink in the kitchen etc.

a sump does make maintaining the tank easyer and looks better.

ste

 

[RamJet]

As ste2k3 stated, the RO will have to plumb into a water source. You dont want this going directly to the tank, it has no salt in it yet. One of the nicer systems I have seen is where they had the RO system in the basement directly under the tank. There was a large 55 gallon holding tank that the RO system would fill at a slow drip. A float would shut off the water when it got to a certin level. When a water change was needed, they simply had a dump valve on a sump setting next to the 55 gallon holding tank. They would mix the water and salt in the RO holding tank, then pump it to the sump.
I have also seen entire pet shops set up this same way, only with two holding tanks, one for the RO and the other for the mixed. All fresh water tanks were plumbed together and fed at a constant drip from the OR only tank. All salt water tanks were plumbed together and fed at a constant drip from the mixed tank. Really cool system, all he had to do was add salt to the mix tank in the back room. Constant water change from one location, you cant beat that. The other cool thing was that all the lights in the store were on one timed switch. Talk about taking the work out of it.

 

[spanair]

lol I know it might not be really complicate but it sounds it. Any how as i'll be going to the LFS this weekend to collect my aquarium I will ask them as they specialise in marine and have been awarded fish store of the year previously .

Ste thanks for the great help!.

Ramjet, sounds good but I dont have a basement , not to worry i'll probably make a nice set up.

I will keep you guys updated when I get my aquarium