Thoughts On Building A Sump Filtration

[ox5477]

Hey all. Well I've thought more about building a sump filtration system for a tank in the near future. I would do it for my 55G and try to get the ugly HOB Filter out of there, as well as the heater in the tank. Basically I think I have an Idea of how this coudl possibly work, but not 100% positive. But here are my ideas....


Use a powerhead (Hagen 50)to suck out water from the top of the tank down a to a basin (most likely a rubber made container, possibly a 10G tank for ease and simplicity.

In the tank I would contain two types of filtration devices:
1) Sponge (2 layers preferably)
2) Another Bio Filter (Forgot Name, will edit later)
3) A thin substrate if would help contain bacteria

Also, I will place my heater in the small tank.

At the end, I will place either another powerhead ((Hagen 50)(to pump back up the 55G) or if people do not think that this will be sufficient power to pump the water back up to the tank, then I could use a small fountain pump to push the water back up. (ie. like this Fountain Tech FT-250)
Would this work or would I need a pump that pumps more gallons an hour to push back up to the tank? (My engineering tuition tells me so but just wondering if anyone could comment)



So that's pretty much it for the plan I guess, sorry I have no cool little diagrams like a lot of people make, but I don't think it's that hard to imagine what I'm trying to accomplish. All comments and suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Maybe if I can get this to work, then I'll update this with pics of building the Sump Filter and make a DIY thread for this.

 

[SmileyMan]

Bad idea to pump water out, Also a powerhead no built to handle the back pressure to pump back in, Have a read of this

Never use two pumps, one in the display tank and one in the sump, to move water between each tank. It is impossible to get the flowrates exactly the same, so in a short period of time one of them will either overflow or drain. One needs to use an overflow, stand pipe or siphon box.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, use gravity to do your work on the way down, avoid pumps. You might also want to check out melevsreef.com for more sump info than you'll know what to do with

 

[dylema]

For the overflow have a look at this and see what you think.

Dylan