Sump pump rates?

[bob`_your_dog]

Sorry to wake a dead topic, but i have managed to get it as fast as possible. Now i'm just wondering to what exctent this sump is working and what it's really doing. All i have in there is 1 compartment with tons of filter floss, where the water enters, then onto anouther compartment with a bit more floss and a skimmer, it's a jebo skimmer with a 2000l/h pump, in a 50 liter tank, now this has to be skimming the same water a million times over, good bad? And then my heater and pump in final chamber. So is my sump just a means of mechanical filteration really, and is it worth the noise?

Also with regard to my skimmer, my girlfriend who been oversees gets back on wednessday, and i know the noise it makes may drive her insane or she'll just kill me! Can i run it of a timer and have it running with my lights for 13 hours a day? It's not a biological filter and it's produceing quite a bit of waste, also many people dont have skimmers at all, and i've heard some people say it's better to under-skim.

 

[Navarre]

Its really a grey area as to whether its better to underskim, overskim or not skim at all. My system ran skimmerless and did so quite healthily until just before Cristmas (in fact all my troubles with my tank have occured after i added the skimmer ). I had very specific reasons for not skimming though as i used Natural sea water and i felt i would be defeating the object of this form of water if i were to skim.
Since then i also read about the Mineral mud systems that were increasingly being used with skimmers atached, (something that even the manufacturers now agree should be done when 12 months ago they raved it wasnt needed).

I have added an unefficient skimmer to underskim and test the sort of results that skimming in a MM system would show before iupgrade to the 220 galon tank.
The fact that my skimmer is well known for not being the best around did stop it from removing enormous amounts of nutrients from the water

As for running a skimmer on the setup you have is a different question though. I would say that your system needs a skimmer on it as its not designed to run without a skimmer. Perhaps you could put the skimmer on a timer to work during the hours that you will either be in bed asleep or out at work?

If the sump is large enought then maybe convert to Mineral mud with algae and try it skimmerless?

 

[Aquascaper]

I have had similar problems working out my return on my sump

I've gone from a hard pipe system running at 750l/hr to a flexible hose system running at 2500l/hr, and it's only taken me 2 weeks to figure out

One thing that has come from all this hassle is an ingeniuos little device i've made that helps to reduce water noise down the outflow pipe and increases flow rate

First get a length of flexible ribbed hose:

Cut away the hose, leaving the ribs in place:

Attach to the top of your outflow pipe:

This not only stops stuff from climbing down the pipe but it also spins the water as it flows past the ribs and down the pipe creating a vortex meaning that the water spirals down the sides of the pipe allowing trapped air to flow back up the middle. This increases the water flow and reduces noise

HTH (it sure made my living room quieter)

(Patent Pending)

 

[bob`_your_dog]

I'm not 100% sure i follow where you place that Flexi hose. Do you have it in you tank leading to your overflow pipe? or do you have it in you sump exiting the pipe? Because i cant really figure out what is going on in your 3'rd photo there. But i would really like to implement this idea, sounds great

 

[bob`_your_dog]

Sorry i had all my photo's of this thing but they all got deleted, and now my overflow is all plumbed in. So here's a basic drawing, very bad drawing.

If you're looking at me tank from the front view, all you would see is the inlet pipe, the flexi- and t-pice to sump are all behind the tank. It's a self primed system, once you get it started.

It uses 25mm PVC hard pipes, and flexipipes

 

[Aquascaper]

My system relies on gravity feed and consists of two outflow pipes that run out the back of the tank then down, into the sump. The outflows are at the water level and only allow water to flow to the sump if water is being returned to the main tank by the sump pump. In the event of a power failure the return pump stops, no more water comes back from the sump therefore the water level drops to below the outlet and stops flowing preventing flooding of the sump or draining of the main tank. My suggestion for what to do to your tank is in your other thread here

Side view of my system showing positioning of the spirals: