Help with sump. Sump newbiee

[CTFlowerhornLover]

Have a sump, and ive never set one up before. I got a bunch of pics so if anyone knows what im supposed to attatch please any advice. I was tols i could hook up my eheim professional 2 canister filter to it somehow. Im going to be hooking it up to my 21 drilled 10 gallon tank system. I have a drain and fill system already prepaired. Also an air system because i am also going to be using sponge filters in each tank. Check out my pics n give any suggestions pls!! Debating on trying to hook up pvc or regular hose. Dont know!!!

P. S. Only freshwater fish will be used! So only filtering fresh water. Also, there is no conpartments, just loaded with bioballs

 

[jsoong]

How big is the sump? And where are you placing it? <For a gravity drain, it needs to be lower than the tanks ... and the tanks are pretty close to the floor on the pic ... unless your sump is located in a room below.>

how are you hooking up the tanks? Does each tank has an individual return, or are you ganging them up?

I have problem visualizing your setup. Are the last 5 pics that of the sump? or a representative tank?? <if that is a tank, I see potential problems.> Maybe a schematic will help.

If you are ganging the tanks up, they need to be all at the same level, otherwise all the water will drain from the top tanks to the lower tanks. If you are ganging, you need at least 2 drains to the sump, one for each level.

You need some way to control water level inside the tanks, and a way to break siphon in the return in case of power failure. <It appears that your return is above the tank & not in the water - or is that airline nipples? Anyways, an airgap in the return will work as antisiphon device.

If you want to run also a canister as a filter, you would run it in the sump (treat the sump just like an ordinary tank for this hookup) to pick up debris. You cannot have it in line with your system (problem with water head pressure, unbalanced flow causing floods, etc.)

 

[CTFlowerhornLover]

Im only goin to use 14 tanks, top 2 racks, they are bottom drilled and have overflow tubes, they will drain into pvc that will ne slightly tilted so the water flows down due to gravity ito my sump. My fill system will also be pvc that will rest above each tank ad constantly release water into each tan as it drains. The sump will rest in the bottom rack of my system n the 14 tanks will go on the top 2 racks. Does this help a little?

 

[CTFlowerhornLover]

Yes the last 5 pics are of the sumps of holes and etc. Not gangin them up all have their own return.

 

[jsoong]

That is an ambitious build!

Having separate drains helps simplify the water level management of the tanks. I only have one comment on your return plan: if you are going to use one return pump for the 2 sets of tank at different levels, you will need a way to regulate the water flow to each tank. With the tanks at 2 different heights, more water will go to the bottom tanks than the top. <If your pump isn't powerful enough, or if there is not enough resistance in the bottom row of outlets, there will be no flow to the top ones at all.> So I guess you will need some kind of tap/flow control for each tank. It will be a bit of a pain to balance out the flows, but I suppose it will only have to be done once.

 

[CTFlowerhornLover]

Lol each tank also has ita own tap ill take some more pics tomorrow. Its meant for 21 tanks buy i decided to drop it to 14.