Flowing water from Sump to Main Tank

[Squado]

IF I were to setup a sump underneath my main tank in the back below the fuge (wood stand), how would I setup the flow of water? I thought about just using two of the same ph's at the same flow, but if one of them ever broke the other would just empty the main tank. How could I setup a flow system to make sure that the water is dispursed without the chance of anything overflowing if there was a problem with one of the ph's? TIA....

 

[angelscrx]

Don't use two power heads first of all. Use an over the back overflow box with u tubes to drain the tank. The use either a submersible pump or plumb one in to return back to the tank. flow depends on how much you are draining and how fast you want it to flow through the sump. You can always throttle the pump back if you are filling the tank faster than it can be drained.

 

[Squado]

so basically to setup the sump I am going to need:

10 gallon tank, pump, overflow box, tubing?

 

[Ziggy953]

That about covers it! I agree with Angelscrx, don't pump water out of the tank, let gravity work for you. If you get a 600gph overflow, and a single return pump in your sump you should be fine. Your return pump should be no more then 600gph at the "head height" it is returning. Example: your return is pumping back 4' straight up then the pump you get should not pump more then 600ghp at 4'. If you use a 600gph overflow and get a pump that pumps 600gph then you should be just fine and have good water flow. HTH

 

[ferretttt]

One other thing I added was a valve to prevent backflow when the power is off. I used a one way sump pump vavlve from Home Depot and some extra tubing and clamps. I placed it above the return PH. That way, I can turn off for feeding or in case of a power failure ( I also have a UPS for battery backup)

 

[angelscrx]

Make sure you have enough room in the sump incase you do get some back flow incase the power goes out. If you keep the return close to the top of the tank and drill a little hole close to the water line this will creat a siphon break.

 

[ellisz]

siphon hole works just like check in terms of it stopping water from back siphoning from the tank to the sump. A lot cheaper too. Less moving parts equals less chance of failure.

 

[Squado]

What size sump do you guys recommend for a 29 gallon tank. I also have a 5 gallon refuge on the back, which im only using for macro and pods (34 gallon tank altogether so far.) I know the more water the better, but what size do you guys think is average? Thanks...........

 

[angelscrx]

A ten gallon sump would be fine for your tank.

 

[BillyZ]

You also need to set it up so you don't flood your main if the the main's overflow is clogged for any reason. Most will do this by putting the return pump of the sump in a seperate chamber. The main chamber of the sump flows over a wall that is a little lower than the rim of the tank. This way, if the main tank's overflow is clogged or loses it's siphon then the return pump only pushes up what is in it's own chamber rather than the entire volume of water in the sump.

 

[angelscrx]

You also need to set it up so you don't flood your main if the the main's overflow is clogged for any reason. Most will do this by putting the return pump of the sump in a seperate chamber. The main chamber of the sump flows over a wall that is a little lower than the rim of the tank. This way, if the main tank's overflow is clogged or loses it's siphon then the return pump only pushes up what is in it's own chamber rather than the entire volume of water in the sump.

Great point. Also you don't want your sump completely full either. If you lose power and get back siphon it will flood the sump. I keep my sumps below the half full mark. When I lose power the sump fills to about an inch from the top before the siphon breaks kick in.

 

[Squado]

Thanks, I think ill get started this weekend on it......

 

[Squado]

Does the quality of the overflow box really matter. I know that with most things that you get what you pay for, but dont they all pretty much just keep a continous syphon? I found one on ebay that was pretty cheap and was wondering if any one had used on of these before?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hang-on-Overflo...ryZ46310QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Also, Im having some trouble understanding the idea of the syphon break. How exactly does this work?
TIA