Brenden
Aquarium Advice Addict
coldfish: Those work great but keep in mind they need to be replaced because they "dry" and get brittle.
Sump Plumbing Questions
- Thread starter elzool
- Start date
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G
Guest
Guest
i want to put a 10 gallon glass sump on my 55 gallon tank(to hide some of the equipment) is that to small for a sump?
ColdFish
Aquarium Advice Activist
Thanks for the tip Brenden. I had no idea. This is my first attempt at a sump/fuge. My sump is acrylic so no problems there. What am I looking at for useful life on the fuge?
elzool
Aquarium Advice Regular
Dumb question time
If I have a float valve in the sump return area, will I still have to do top offs in the aquarium?
If I have a float valve in the sump return area, will I still have to do top offs in the aquarium?
ryguy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
No. That does it for you. Provided you have your float hooked up to your RO
The level in the main tank will always stay the same, your sump level however will fluctuate.
The level in the main tank will always stay the same, your sump level however will fluctuate.
elzool
Aquarium Advice Regular
heh, yeah it'll be hooked up to that
Why would the sump level fluctuate if there is a top off in the sump?
Why would the sump level fluctuate if there is a top off in the sump?
ryguy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
There are a couple ways that top-off systems work. Some are strictly a float valve that is plumbed directly to your RO, and some are a pump that has 2 sensors that detect the water level.
If your RO has a auto shut-off solenoid on it, then a simple float valve is the cheapest and easiest. you just manually set the height of the float and when the water begins to drop below the set height, the float drops and opens the valve, and soon enough, you're back to your desired level. You won't ever see much fluctuation with this system because the float opens right away and keeps you constantly topped up.
The other one with a pump and sensors, is more expensive and more hassle in my mind, although it may be the only option if you can't plumb your RO all the way to the tank. You would have a receptacle beside your tank with fresh water that would have a pump in it. When the sensor detect a lowered level in the sump, it would turn the pump on until the other sensor detected the appropriate level and shut the pump off.
This method still requires you to manually fill the receptacle, but it's your choice how large of one you have....you may be able to only fill it once a week.
If your RO has a auto shut-off solenoid on it, then a simple float valve is the cheapest and easiest. you just manually set the height of the float and when the water begins to drop below the set height, the float drops and opens the valve, and soon enough, you're back to your desired level. You won't ever see much fluctuation with this system because the float opens right away and keeps you constantly topped up.
The other one with a pump and sensors, is more expensive and more hassle in my mind, although it may be the only option if you can't plumb your RO all the way to the tank. You would have a receptacle beside your tank with fresh water that would have a pump in it. When the sensor detect a lowered level in the sump, it would turn the pump on until the other sensor detected the appropriate level and shut the pump off.
This method still requires you to manually fill the receptacle, but it's your choice how large of one you have....you may be able to only fill it once a week.
elzool
Aquarium Advice Regular
Luckily I have a bathroom sink on the opposite wall, so I have plumbed the ro/di unit into that.
As I am paranoid about water flowing everywhere I have the incoming line to the ro unit going through a sprinkler timer which is set to only come on once a day for an hour. It comes on, flows through the ro unit and out to a tee.
One line of the tee goes to the float valve should it need topping off.
The other line is a longer length of tubing with a shut off valve on it that I can pull out when I need to do a pwc and can then hook up that line to a trash can and fill it up. I would just have to turn the timer on manual and let it flow. I may get another float valve just for the trash can so I can walk away. Course I'll prolly walk by it every five minutes 'just in case'.
Hopefully thats the right way to achieve this.
As I am paranoid about water flowing everywhere I have the incoming line to the ro unit going through a sprinkler timer which is set to only come on once a day for an hour. It comes on, flows through the ro unit and out to a tee.
One line of the tee goes to the float valve should it need topping off.
The other line is a longer length of tubing with a shut off valve on it that I can pull out when I need to do a pwc and can then hook up that line to a trash can and fill it up. I would just have to turn the timer on manual and let it flow. I may get another float valve just for the trash can so I can walk away. Course I'll prolly walk by it every five minutes 'just in case'.
Hopefully thats the right way to achieve this.
ryguy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
What you are describing is essentially my setup. I have my sump float valve and a Tee running from the RO to a rubbermaid tub with another float valve on it. I put a small ball valve on the WC line before the flaot in the tub, so I can just flip that switch when I want to get my tub filled and walk away. Once you check everything for leaks, you should be fine to let it do its thing. The float valves are rated at a higher pressure than what the RO is running so your only concern should be the bulkhead fitting of the float and the line fitting into the float. I had to modify my floats so the backpressure didn't cause continuous leaks at the joints. Small little O-rings and a flush sanding job was all it took. No leaks!!
I also have a 3/4" bulkhead at the bottom of the rubbermaid tub. It has a valve on the outside and I keep the tub elevated. when it's full, I slide a bigger rubbermaid tub under the 3/4" outlet and drain the RO water into another tub for SW mixing. This allows me to not have to disconnect the RO plumbing at anytime and gives me a larger bucket to decrease "sloshing" when carried for PWC's.
I also have a 3/4" bulkhead at the bottom of the rubbermaid tub. It has a valve on the outside and I keep the tub elevated. when it's full, I slide a bigger rubbermaid tub under the 3/4" outlet and drain the RO water into another tub for SW mixing. This allows me to not have to disconnect the RO plumbing at anytime and gives me a larger bucket to decrease "sloshing" when carried for PWC's.
elzool
Aquarium Advice Regular
Well, I have my stand in place, the ro system set and plumbed, the megaflow sump in place, have that plumbed and just now thought about shimming the stand.
doh!
ok, so i'll shim it up today put this stuff back in and hopefully this week I'll get a tank and water going.
i want to put a refuge beside the sump for pod production and have found i don't have much horizontal room, but have a lot of vertical room. what's the opinion of tall refuges?
I figure I could go 16" deep, 6-7" wide and maybe 24" high. I'd throw two bulkheads on it around 20" high and let them gravity feed back into the return section of the sump.
Is there any problem going that tall? my only concern is the small amount of water movement.
doh!
ok, so i'll shim it up today put this stuff back in and hopefully this week I'll get a tank and water going.
i want to put a refuge beside the sump for pod production and have found i don't have much horizontal room, but have a lot of vertical room. what's the opinion of tall refuges?
I figure I could go 16" deep, 6-7" wide and maybe 24" high. I'd throw two bulkheads on it around 20" high and let them gravity feed back into the return section of the sump.
Is there any problem going that tall? my only concern is the small amount of water movement.
Brenden
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you go too tall the light will not be able to penetrate the algae for good growth.
elzool
Aquarium Advice Regular
hadn't thought of that....
initially i wanted pod people and chaeto in the fuge, but i didn't want to light it, so i rethought it and decided that I just want pods in there.
whats the easiest kinda light to light a fuge if one were to light it for algae?
initially i wanted pod people and chaeto in the fuge, but i didn't want to light it, so i rethought it and decided that I just want pods in there.
whats the easiest kinda light to light a fuge if one were to light it for algae?
noteworthy
Aquarium Advice Freak
All this talk of durso standpipes... you really dont need one.
I just hooked up my overflow. Its a cpr type. I have the drain line go to a ball valve.. then to a t section for air release.. then to another ball valve.
I set the first ball valve closest I can to where the tank goes down instead of up. So I set it too small so the water rises.. once I have a point of reference I open it up just enough to make the level fall some. Then I'm golden. I have a small piece of pipe and an endcap drilled with an air hole on the top of the t section air release. the purpose of the second ball valve is to force the air to go up the pipe and not into the sump. I turned it to where the water barely comes out of the t section hole.. then open it up to where it doesn't come out. TOTAL SILENCE from air. No durso standpipe. All I'm using is the foam prefilter that comes with the overflow.
I just hooked up my overflow. Its a cpr type. I have the drain line go to a ball valve.. then to a t section for air release.. then to another ball valve.
I set the first ball valve closest I can to where the tank goes down instead of up. So I set it too small so the water rises.. once I have a point of reference I open it up just enough to make the level fall some. Then I'm golden. I have a small piece of pipe and an endcap drilled with an air hole on the top of the t section air release. the purpose of the second ball valve is to force the air to go up the pipe and not into the sump. I turned it to where the water barely comes out of the t section hole.. then open it up to where it doesn't come out. TOTAL SILENCE from air. No durso standpipe. All I'm using is the foam prefilter that comes with the overflow.
