new sump build.

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dimdim

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Joined
Jan 29, 2013
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Ontario Canada
okay, im going to try my hand at my first sump build with a ten gallon tank i have laying around. it will be for my 35 gallon reef tank. mainly want it to have a rather large refugium.. heres my plan.
3/4" diy pvc overflow with ball valve
1/2" return tubing running 3 ft vertical
can use a 500 gph adjustable flow pump or 265gph adjustable flow pump for return

i am planning a VERY inexpensive build heres a mock diagram :)
i plan on using 2 1.5 L bottles as baffles. one with slots cut out around the top at 8 inches up from the bottom of the sump. for the intake of the sump to overflow out the baffles through the top into the refugium
next bottle place in opposite corner from intake, with slots cut at the top 7 inches up from the bottle of the bottle place my return pump in the bottle
slots are lower in return for water to constantly keep my return pump submerged.
will this design work?
 

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i want to do a dsb of 4 inches for denitirification and some cheato algae for phosphates and few lr rubble pieces, would a dsb need sandsifters? if so would any nassarius snails, sand sifting starfish, or any other sand sifting creatures? was going to the penguin 200 on the fuge for flow. which pump do you think would work better? and if the shafts are not ceramic can i not use them in saltwater?
 
I have a mag pump in my sump. Alot of people dont like them because they use stainless screws on them and they rust. Also put out alot of heat. Both things are true. Ive never had a problem with them, but i have 200+g of water also. You shouldnt need to add flow to your sump. The water draining in and being pumped out should be enough. If you do want more flow through your sump, get a return pump thats a lil bigger. Just remember to not make it to fast, otherwise you algaes wont uptake the nutrients as efficiently as youd like.
 
The shafts on my pumps are plastic, that okay for saltwater? And what do u mean build it to fast? Order is install sump. Run for 1 week empty, the. Add deep sand, another week then add chaeto and a light
 
I meant to notmake have the water flowing through the sump to fast. You shouldnt need a powerhead in the sump. The shafts, theyre plastic? Not ceramic? Im just curious. They should be ok.
 
Let's not keep propagating the myths about macro algae not being able to uptake nutrients in fast flow, it does not matter if 200gph or. 1200 gph or even 2200gph algae extracts nutrients by absorption not capturing like Lions with Antelope. If your ever to the beach just look where much of the macros are. Surge zones and low tide mark where waves crash constantly. Anyway just trying to keep things clear.

Cheers, Todd
 
So i got bad news . The pumps i ordered will deteriorate over time. Grrr! Mad at those ebay sellers. What should i do! I need a relatively cheap pump !! Either that or a hob skimmer fuge combo.. Any help???
 
I have a 36 gallon DT and a 10 gallon sump, (so a similar size system) and I use a Mag drive 9.5 as a return. I bought the pump used and have had it on my tanks for probably 5 yrs. They are durable and reasonably priced. Mag drive makes a 500gph but you shouldn't throttle them back too much, they aren't made for that. I'm thinking that won't be too much though since my system is 950gph, although its split and run thru a chiller on one side and a UV on the other which really slows it down.
 

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