Return pump space

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Stlrockguy

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Jul 4, 2013
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Springfield, Missouri
I'm building my sump out of a 55 gallon tank. I am using a mag 12 for my return. The baffles I am using are 10 inches tall. How much space should I make my pump area
 
Typically you want the return section to be the smallest. But big enough to fit your pump.
 
I'd make it bigger. That is only 1.8 gals, and you may see significant evap in that small space. But if you have a pretty accurate ATO, then you should be fine.
 
I'd make it bigger. That is only 1.8 gals, and you may see significant evap in that small space. But if you have a pretty accurate ATO, then you should be fine.

I don't completely understand. Will each of my 3 chambers in the sump evaporate at different speeds. I know my skimmer area is going to be 10"x12"x10". Just trying to get the most out of my fuge area
 
I don't completely understand. Will each of my 3 chambers in the sump evaporate at different speeds. I know my skimmer area is going to be 10"x12"x10". Just trying to get the most out of my fuge area
Your chambers will all stay the same level because your return pumps must fill those until they overflow to get the water back to the return pump. therefore if you have less water in the system your return pump area will be lower.
 
As I mentioned, it does depend on the ATO your gunna be using. Some have a larger hysteresis curve (the difference between turning on and shutting off), while some are much more accurate (less hysteresis). If your going to rely on manual resupply, then I'd go bigger. But a decent ATO should make the 1.5 gal (I knocked off .3 gal for the size of the pump) sufficient. But I wouldn't want the pump touching either wall either. That will make it louder. maybe a wee bit wider might be called for.
 
Ok. What ato system would you recommend. I haven't thought that far yet was going to manually top it off but I did plan in adding an ato
 
Make your baffles 12 inches tall im running a 55 as a sump also 1st chamber is 12x12x14 in 2nd is 12x12x18 return is 12x12x15 this gives me apx. 10 gallons as a return area The return is where all of your evap will show try to make it as large as you can
 
Ok. What ato system would you recommend. I haven't thought that far yet was going to manually top it off but I did plan in adding an ato

I like the tunze ATO system. Less to fail on you in my opinion although i don't research much in the ATO world
 
I like the JBJ ATO. I've been using them for years on multiple systems without incident. I too, would make the return area as small as possible and use an ATO.
 
Does it do a good job. They are only rated for up to 100 gallons

I have about a gallon a day evap rate in my 210 gallon tank and it does just fine replenishing that. been running it for a month or two but ive never really seen a bad review on the tunze unless its crying about the price lol
 
The 100 gallon rating is because in a 100 you have much more surface area so a 1" drop in a 100 vs a 55 will be a much larger amount of water therefore the pump with run longer to refill the tank. In a chamber that say 12" square like a return chamber, then its only replacing maybe a quart of water at a time when it turns on. It wont hurt the tunze to run on your 55 sump at all. It will work great my pump only runs about a minute at a time on my Tunze ATO
 
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