skimmer on a sump?

[thisanthrope]

still in the process of setting up a micro 10 gal reef. I have LR and LS, I have also found a small protien skimmer that was inexpensive. what I want to do is have one 10 gal tank with the reef in it and another container next to it that holds maybe 3 gal to do all of the skimming. Is this what a sump is? and how do I transfer the water from tank to tank without one getting too much water and overflowing?

will the current of this tank to tank system be enough to provide current for soft corals and such?

is there any thing else that should be in the sump tank besides the skimmer to be carbon filtering?

isnt there corrosive things in the inner workings of a hang on filter that I would be using to filter through carbon?

[michealprater]

I am going to bump this for the sump experts.

[BillyZ]

thisanthrope, that is indeed a sump. You can check out a local article here for a little more info.

now, i'll try not to sound too confusing with this, but to keep your tank from overflowing during this process you'll be using whats called an overflow box. The general princible is the box collects water from your main tank as it rises above a set level. That water flows into your sump where a pump, pumps the water back to the main tank. so as long as your pump doesn't pump more water than your overflow box can handle, you wont overflow.

Note: The water level in your sump when you set it up needs to allow "room" for a power failure. If the pump stops pumping all the water in any hoses will flow back down into the sump. so be sure to leave room for that and test to see how much the water level in the sump will increase when you shut the power off to the pumps.

i'm not sure what you're refering to in the last part of your post. I have a hang on filter that I use for additional water flow and the occasional chemical filter addition. I don't know of any corrosive materials in hang on filters. Are you refering to nitrate build up?

[thisanthrope]

thanks for the info, I need to go to LPS and have someone show me what your talking about. I dont quite get the overflow....seems like if there is a container hanging off the lip of the tank, water rises and floods all the way around not just into the container. I check out the article.

the hang on filter I was referring to is the kind you would use for a FW tank where it sucks water up and filters through carbon inserts and spits it back into the tank. I was concerned about metal parts.

thanks

[fishfreek]

I am the author of the particular article mentioned above.

If you want to see my 'simple' overflow and sump setup please click on the link below.

http://www.vafishfreek.com/gallery/Sump_Photos

The overflow I use is a "U" tube overflow. I got the overflow from www.lifereef.com

U tube overflows are fine as long as you check on them reguarlly. Maybe once every few weeks change and clean the sponge in the back of the overflow and keeep an eye on the U tubes to make sure they dont fill up with algae.

[loganj]

Shouldn't be any problem running the HOB filter for circulation and the occasional carbon use. I probably wouldn't leave the carbon in all the time. Anything you put in there will eventually become bioactive and start making nitrates.
The theory for the overflow is pretty simple. It's just a siphon. The inside box, set to the water level you want to maintain, fills up. The U tube acts as a siphon to the outside box. As you know, a siphon will equalize levels. The siphon in the overflow trys to equalize the water levels between the two boxes. But, the outside box has a drain into the sump so it can never fill up. Make sense?
I think you'll have better success if your sump is below the main tank instead of beside it. I'm using a similar setup with my 20g tank and a 10g sump...works great. Like fishfreek said, a little overflow maintenance will keep things flowing. I usually just put a bag of carbon in the sump and rely on the flow through the sump instead of running an HOB filter though. For circulation in your tank, you might look into either the MiniJet or MicroJet PH's. They are pretty small and will provide good current. I used MaxiJets in my 10, but they took up a lot of room. The LR and the skimmer is really the only filtration you need.

[thisanthrope]

hey thanks a bunch for the help, I fully understand the use and construction of a sump now and the nitrates produce when using bio balls and the like. I also found these links extremely useful if you would like to pass these along for the next sump illiterate.


http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.htm
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/gt/index.htm
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/gt/index.htm