new sump setup help!!

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Jereli

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 24, 2010
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Los Angeles, CA
i need alot of help setting up a sump. i really know nothing about setting these up and pumps required. first off i currently i have a 60 gallon tank with fluval 405 filter and HOB cpr bakpak skimmer..i will be moving my tank to a new home and now would be my chance to install a sump since i will have to empty my tank for the transition.

my question is...what kind of sump/filtering would be recommended and what kind of skimmer...i would like to hide the skimmer in the sump as well as the heater..i would prefer less equipment in the display tank.. i dont want to cheapest equipment as i dont want to keep upgrading but not the most expensive..i would like a decent somewhat basic and decent setup that would work good.

any suggestion i would greatly appreciate as i am going to probably need alot help and be asking questions.
 
The best thing is to make your own with a standard tank. What size 60 gallon? 48x13? 36x18?

Get glass baffles whatever size you want/need and install them yourself. This will allow you to have the exact sizes you need. This way you can maximize refugium space without cutting into the pump or skimmer sections too much.

I use an Eshopps overflow box and Rio return pump.
 
Well I do have an old 20 gallon tank I suppose I can use..But yes its a 48x13 I believe. Its acrylic. How about a Eshoppp wet dry filter WD-125cs or the 150cs. Are those any good? And Is a wet dry different from a sump? Sorry New to the whole sump thing
 
A sump is a tank underneath the display tank that water drains into and is then pumped back up. In a sump you can have a wet/dry, refugium, skimmer, pumps, heaters, reactors, and many other things. Wet/dry is a type of filtration that is usually in a sump. In what I refer to as a modern reef aquarium a sump is used but not wet/dry, at least not bioballs. People found that if they took out their bioballs the only difference was less nitrate. Some replaced it with live rock, some simply don't use wet/dry at all.

Here is a picture of my sump. On the left you can see the 'bubble section'. This is where all water that goes into the sump is dumped. The overflow box drains into this section, as well as the skimmer, auto top off, and reactors. The middle section is the refugium. There are multiple types of refugia but the usual is used for nutrient export. To achieve this you put lots of 6500K lighting over this section of the sump and grow macroalgae (chaetomorpha is best). The last section is for pumps. The main return pump, skimmer pump, and reactor pumps are housed in this section. To the right of the sump you can see the 2-gallon reservoir for the auto top off.
img_1169068_0_0a467086b1d609830d1c958ccfbe0e84.jpg
 
Thanks for the info..i probably wont be buying that wet dry system then..thanks for the links I will read them and post any further guestions after reading
 
Ok I got done reading the articles and have a much better undertanding on sumps and overflows..now I am thinking I should have just bought the tank with build in overflow but I didnt since I knew nothing about it...anyways is there any off the shelf systems, sumps, overflows and pumps, that you guys would recommend? I really dont want to build one as I dont have access to such tools I might need
 
Tools are just a caulking gun for a tube of silicone, a glass cutter (if you don't get it pre-cut), a utility knife, a flathead screwdriver, and maybe a hacksaw. It is really simple.

Off the shelf sump systems are very expensive and IMO a waste of money. For a fraction of the cost you can make your own sump and put the other couple hundred bucks towards lighting, more rock, etc.

I use an Eshopps oveerflow box. I did modify it in a few ways, but it is a great product and I would happily do it again.
 
Is there any examples as to how to design one.. Also will I still be able run carbon in a sump system
 
There's a few pics in my profile as well.I also use an eshopps 800 gph sython overflow,its a nice piece of kit.
 
Its design is based on the needs of the tank and the equipment you will be running.

You can definitely run carbon (although many people recommend not to unless it is demonstrated to be needed). You can put it in a filter bag and drop it in the sump or put it in a reactor. I have one reactor full of it to help clean the water before it gets to the GFO and purigen.
 
the links provided above gave me alot of information to building a sump so i think i will attemp to build 20 gallon long sump since i have an old 20 gallon laying around. will a 20 gallon long be okay as sump for a 60 gallon?.. i been looking at the eshobbs and the 800 gph seems about the best choice for a 60 gallon..i am asumming i will only need one correct? so now my next step would to find a return pump to match 800 gph?
 
or would that overflow of 800gph be overkill on my 60 gallon since its rated for up to 125 gallon tanks..or would the 300 gph be just as fine since its rated for up to 75 gallon tanks?
 
Base the overflow box on the actual flow the return pump from the sump will provide. I use the 300 with no problems. You actually want the flow through the sump to be relatively low so that the water has time to be cleaned.

The bigger the sump the better. I would get the biggest tank you can fit under the display.

Check that the 20 is not too wide. I had to go with a ten gallon sump since I didn't have enough width in the stand to go an wider.
 
So then does that mean I can go with the eshobbs overflow 300gph and a return pump of atleast 300 gph for my 60 gallon aquarium? So its basically As long as the gph on my overflow and return pump match correct?
 
I will measure my 20 gallon to see if it would fit...i was looking into the eshobbs 300gph with a Quiet One 2200 pump rated at 296gph... Or eshobbs 800gph with Rio 2500 Plus pump which is rated at 782gph.. Are any of these setups good?
 
I would stick with the 800,You ideally want 10x60(dt)gph for turnover,you can quite easily set you sump up with 2 flows from your dt to your sump so you have slow flow through fuge and high flow to the rest of your sump,if your not using a fuge then have high flow through out.I have a 60g (uk) tank and 2 sumps with 800gph going to my sumps,around 35% goes to the sump with chaeto and the rest to my other sump housing skimmer,heater,and return pump.
 
If I use one eshobbs overflow of 800gph will that that rio pump work well or what kind of pump would be best suited for that overflow
 
Remember that you lose a lot of flow with height. I have a Rio 2100 on my 45 with the 300gph overflow with no problems. Most pumps will have a shart showing the flow rate of the pump at different pump heights.

I would have low flow through the sump either way. It is most critical for the fuge, but High flow through the whole thing will just blast water right past all your filtration. If you have enough flow for a reef in a given sie tank and have all of that flow coming from a sump a fraction of the size, that sump is going to have massive amounts of flow. The only reason I would have all the flow in the display provided by the return pump from the sump is if it is a really nice show tank (like in an office or retail store) and you don't even want one pump inside the display.
 
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