Overflows And Sumps

[cuticom]

Well I'm getting a 4 ft tank very soon for my baby O, and the deal I made with my parents was that they'd pay for tank, stand, hood and lighting and I'd pay for everything else.

So I'm looking at filtration and after reading horror stories about O's breaking heaters and electrocuting themselves I think I'd feel a bit safer with all the equipment in a sump.

So another problem is the fact that I cant cook to save my life, as in burning toast. Anyway because of that I'm not allowed to touch any of the electric tools etc my Dad has, even though I know perfectly well how to use them, and can use them easily enough.

So I need to bypass the whole detailed overflow. But I found this and was wondering if any body could tell me how well it works? I can do this easily enough...
http/####.com/forums/attac...mp;d=1139036668

The tank will house my O, a red tail shark and a CAE until the O reaches 10 inches, when they'll be switched to a 125g tank (long story)

As for the sump I figured I could do a wet dry, into a 60l plastic storage box, a pump about 1500lph will return the water to the tank.

 

[cuticom]

Hmph link dosnt work, heres another link of the same overflow, except here its used for water changes...

http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/manage...r_Changing.html

 

[Lateral Line]

There are many things that can go wrong with siphon based sump systems, particularly if you have boistrous fish. With the design you link, I suspect the most common failure mode will be the fish will knock the siphon over causing it to fail to deliver water to the sump which will then run dry and burn out the pump. I suppose if you used sufficient sealant to hold it in place it may be okay.

Drilling a tank is not a casual job with an electric drill. Unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing, or can afford some mishaps, get the supplier to drill it. Then you will have the advantages of a drilled tank without the cuts and plasters of having done it yourself.

Incidently, the General Rules prohibit the linking to competing sites, particularly other forums. Your link was censored by the board here because some other sites were so active trying to recruit our members that their names were added to the "swear filter".

 

[darkwolf29a]

Sumps can be great, or really bad. Personally, I think the benefits outweigh the problems. Butm you do have to be able to do a lot of work. Basically, there's a lot of plumbing involved. I've set up my 55 gallon without at this point, but I will be setting one up, as soon as I get to the point where my tests are quiet, as noise is a huge issue with cascading water. Honestly, it's not for the faint of heart and can be quite expensive to get one to work right and quietly. I think I've found the method last weekend, but I had to dismantle my test unit as I had a crayfish that decided she was going to be a pain in the neck, so I needed an extra tank quickly.

Basically, unless you want to do a lot of set up work and a bit of tweaking and testing, it's not worth doing.

 

[cuticom]

What are the cahnces of my O breaking his filter and heater?

I have done sumps before but generally with acrylic tanks, and the sumps are often above the tank so I dont have to bother with overflows.

The pipe siphon/drains I've looked at look like they work. I've been reading as much as I can on sumps and basically its generally two boxes, one on the outside, one on the inside. With a siphon drain linking them. In the external box theres either a pipe of divided area that stops water draining until it's above a certain level, when it does drain.

The pipe overflow works exactly the same away...

Noise isnt a problem LOL, I have a thing about aeration, especially for my cold water fish and all of them ahve water falls and airbubblers going, adding another gurgling tank wont hurt.

The guy we're getting the tank off won't drill it and also removes warranty if we do drill it...