DIY sump question.

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FDshoes

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
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This is my first attempt at building my own sump. The reason for this attempt was to be able to get my skimmer and heaters out of sight. I also don't know ic its the best set up but gonna give it a shot. The water is gonna flow from left to right. And the question that I have is that I am planning on having the skimmed in the middle compartment then planning on having it empty into the right compartment where the return pump will be. Since I am planning one the skimmer being the only way water gets into the final compartment does the intake pumps capacity for the skimmer and the capacity of the return pump have to be equal?
 

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I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the skimmer being the only way for water to get into the return section. Then again, I'm not that familiar with skimmers. From what I understand you will want to be able to have the water just flow to the last section without forcing it to go through a skimmer before getting there.
 
My initial thought process was that I wanted all the water that returns to the tank to be fully filtered. If you look at the picture the compartment to the right has a taller piece of glass seperating it so only the water that has gone thru the slimmer will end up in there.
 
The slimmer that I have has a 2000 L/hr intake pump feeding but my current pump that I use for the return to the tank is 2400 L/hr. Basically the question is do pumps always run at rated capacity or is also based on the actual water supply?
 
Pumps do not always run at the rated capacity. The biggest thing that will slow your return pump is gravity (how high does it need to pump to get the water back to the display?) That will slow down the return.

You do not need to have all the water going through the skimmer before returning to the display tank. I don't think that would be recommended either.

With that last section a bit higher, all I can see happening is the water in the skimmer section (and other sections) getting to be the same height as that last partition.
 
That is what I am hoping happens my concern was that the return pump would drain tha last section before the skimmer can supply it. The pump has to overcome abt 5 feet of gravity lose and its a 1 in pipe for friction lose.
 
Not sure If this will help but here's some pics

from, Adam
 

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your best bet is to route the water from your skimmer back into the first section before the baffles this will also eliminate bubbles entering the return section,your skimmer section water level will always be the same level and water will flow over and into the return section at the same rate as your return pump pumps it into the DT.You need you skimmer section water level to stay the same so the skimmer can work correctly!!
 
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