will this sump work?

[bigfish93]

This is a 10 gallon sump that I plan to build for my 29 gallon FW tank. What do you guys and gals think? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[bigfish93]

I will also have a Fluval 205 canister filter with an inline heater. I know this might be over kill but I believe you can never have too much filtration

 

[sgc0286]

Looks pretty good. The wall with the hob filter needs to be higher than the bubble trap.

 

[mfdrookie516]

i think you're going to need to use something different where you have the hob filter. it looks like the water will overflow in to the refugium from the first chamber, right over the filter. Did you just put it that way so it could be seen or did you not think about that yet? Seems like you would need a piece of glass or acrylic going across the refuge lengthwise to provide a place for the filter to hang so that you dont have water going over it... make sense?

 

[bigfish93]

thanks mfdrookie, i didn't really know where to put the HOB filter. I will try and put a piece of glass across the refuge and see how that works

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I am very interested, please keep up with the progress.

 

[BigJim]

What is the purpose of the HOB filter? If you're just keeping it seeded for emergency use, good. If not, I don't see a use for it. I'm also not sure of the water-tightness of the exterior motor housing. There's a chance you could fry your motor if it gets submerged.

Other than that, looks good to me.

 

[CaptainAhab]

I think you're going to be challenged to get 3 chambers out of a 10G tank.with baffles no less. You evaporation in the return chamber is going to be unreal. You may be topping off every day. Not to mention trying to even fit a pump into a chamber that small.

Miss a top off and you fry your pump. I'd do 2 chambers max

 

[jsoong]

I also don't understand the use of the HOB. You should be able to get all the water movement you need in the fuge with the return pump, the HOB is redundant. <If you want to keep a filter seeded, just pull the pad & put it in with your scrubbie things.>

I also agree with Capt'n. No need to go 3 chambers. Remove the baffle where the HOB sits, and you can have the entire area as a fuge.

For the return pump, you might want to invest in an auto-shut off model. <Or have an auto shutoff switch.> A 10 is small enough that evaporation can drop your level in your pump chamber enough to fry the pump. Alternatively, you can dispense with the bubble trap & have a single compartment sump ... prob a better design for a small sump.

For reference - my 30 gal sump is single compartment (except for the biomedia basket on top like you have), and I need to top up weekly before the water level gets too low for the pump. <That is an enforced weekly pwc for me ...>