my FINAL sump thread

[scottayy]

I think there is a miss communication. Where is your noise? I thought it was coming from the end in the sump where the water from the tank goes... If it is straight down all the way from the top of the tank then you really can't shorten the fall unless you add in some bends. Mine happens to have bends in it so I can change some things around. I wouldn't recommend dropping your overflow lower.

Nope, my brain was just moving too fast and I was talking about another part rather than the previous noise.

The previous noise was the gurgling, which I seemed to have taken care of with the airline tubing. This was in the outside overflow box that hangs on the back.

The recent noise is the sound of water cascading through the grooves on the inside overflow box. It has settled down a little but it is still a little loud. The water on the inside is not even with the water on the outside.

Your build is great,but IMO,you know what they say about opinions,you might won't to revise one thing.
The plastic containers you are using will contract and expand with the weather and pressures inside the containers.I think you will find that you will continue to have problems with leaks and possibly cracks in the containers eventually.
I would suggest replacing them with a an 20 gallon aquarium.You could still cut the sides out of the containers where you have the pipes and insert them in the aquarium to give you your compartments.
I'm sorry and honestly I think that is a concern you should have.

Valid point. I'll wait until that happens before I replace it, because honestly, I am burnt out!

 

[scottayy]

Just wanted to update you guys.

I put the water pump on a piece of foam padding and that cut down the humming vibration noise. Then I took the foam piece out of the overflow box and put a piece of pvc through it and siliconed it to break the fall of the water in the 3rd container.

My sump is now almost dead silent! Occasionally I'll hear a drain sound, but that's once every hour or couple of hours. I'm very pleased.

 

[scottayy]

Well, I sprung a leak while tugging on the container to make my skimmer fit. I decided that this will probably happen a lot (after trying to find the leak many times ) and to buy a sump. I got an acrylic sump off of ebay 30x9x15 that looks like it will work beautiful. And 18 gallons. Can't wait for it to get here cuz I have to keep tending to this leak.

 

[Ricksreef]

Well, I sprung a leak while tugging on the container to make my skimmer fit. I decided that this will probably happen a lot (after trying to find the leak many times ) and to buy a sump. I got an acrylic sump off of ebay 30x9x15 that looks like it will work beautiful. And 18 gallons. Can't wait for it to get here cuz I have to keep tending to this leak.

Don't want to say I told you sh,what the heck I told you so.LOL

Glad you're making the change.

 

[scottayy]

Don't want to say I told you sh,what the heck I told you so.LOL

Glad you're making the change.

Me too. It was fun to do though. I don't regret doing it. I learned a lot.

 

[scottayy]

new sump is here
time to play

 

[Ricksreef]

new sump is here
time to play

Good for you.Post pictures when you have it running.

 

[scottayy]

Will do.

But boy I had my work cut out for me! The only way it fit was to take the tank off of the stand and put it in through the top of the stand. So much work, but probably totally worth it.

I have it all set up and ready to go but I have some RO/DI water making right now. Have to replace what I took out and then fill up the sump. Should be ready to go tomorrow though.

 

[scottayy]

And I have my new set up setup. It's so purdy.

From left to right
Input chamber, filter sock, skimmer
Refugium, heater, sand, macroalgae, lamp
Return chamber, pump, bag of carbon, auto-topoff
auto topoff reservoir, stand (only had a hacksaw!), and things i use often underneath

I may have to drill a hole through the sump for the auto topoff line though because i think the sump might be too high for the gravity feed

Oh, and I knew those old encyclopedias still had some use in them!

 

[carey]

looks great! It's so orderly and organized. LOL It's like a bomb went off under mine.

 

[scottayy]

Yep, looking to see what I can screw up next.
It must be the new position of the drain pipe or something but it's gurgling pretty bad. Looking up a hofer gurgle buster. I wish I could just buy one, or have someone make it for me. I'm tired, lol.

 

[scottayy]

I ordered a sump inlet assembly for my filter sock
free shipping on orders over $50. I couldn't think of anything else to order that was probably the only time that'll ever happen

 

[scottayy]

what to drill acrylic with?
i need to get that tubing through the sump so the auto-topoff gravity feed will work

 

[scottayy]

I made a Hofer Gurgle Buster and dang I'm impressed! It's not quiet.. it's SILENT!

The bad news is I lost about a quarter of my flow but that's OK. Compromised for the silence.

 

[scottayy]

OK, so here is a picture of my sump.

You can see the bubble trap.. however microbubbles are still getting through that and up my return line into my tank, and it's very ugly. The microbubbles are coming from my skimmer which is already broken in (it's been over a month).

I was thinking I could put a sponge between there to stop the microbubbles?

Suggestions?

 

[Ant329]

Im having the same problem with micro bubbles.. Annoying...

 

[carey]

I have a sponge type pad that is between my refugium in the center and the return section on the right. I have never had any micro bubble issues.

 

[Smitty]

I don't want to take anything for granted so I want to make sure, the return is the far right of that picture, right next to the return?

If so I think a very porous sponge should work as well.

 

[scottayy]

The return section is on the far LEFT in the above picture. The bubble trap chamber there has a 10" high piece of acrylic and then the second piece (furthest to left in the picture) goes to the top of the sump but lets water in 1 inch off of the bottom (or maybe higher, I can't remember).

Thanks carey, smitty

I'll look for a sponge then. I was looking around in dollar general today and they all had anti-bacterial properties or something that made me think chemicals are on them. Is there a particular brand I could look for?

 

[carey]

I just started using these

Cut Your Own Filter Pad | Floss & Foam Filter Media | PetSolutions