Sump/Fuge setup

[71lockard]

Hi, here are some pictures of the equipment I bought. The last one is of the display tank. I think I have a pretty good idea of how to proceed, but measure twice, cut once...

I want to make sure which side of the tank is which. The one with the hole on top is the intake? If I added a closed system to this, would the output from the sump/fuge go into that?

Thanks.

 

[Krish]

The tank looks great Tony! Yeah the chamber with the hole is the inlet. Looks like a nice setup and like I said, it's almost the exact same thing as mine except mine is made of acrylic and the chambers are a little different, but same concept. The overflow you have is the one I use to have, but changed over to the CPR. The reason why was because I use to lose too many small fish in it and the CPR doesn't allow for that as much. Nevertheless, the one you have, operates better IMO, as you don't need an aqualifter for it to keep it's siphon. Do you know how to prime the pre-filter? If not, let me know. It's real easy...

 

[Krish]

Sort of like this...Some more art(LOL)

 

[71lockard]

Thanks Krish! That helps me a lot. I do not know how to prime the prefilter. I need to purchase the PVC and fittings tomorrow, is schedule 40 what you used?

 

[Krish]

Yes...Schedule 40 or anything close to it will work. That's what I used. You will also need about 10 inches (to be safe of airline tubing to prime the prefilter. Here's how you do it...

You'll hang the prefilter over the tank.

Push a piece of airline tubing (like what you use for air pumps/airstones) through the "U" shaped tube up to the top like in the pic below(LOL more art)

Allow the water to enter into the prefilter from the tank and cover the end of the "U" shaped tube atleast half way up.

On the other side of the prefilter (which sits on the back of the tank) do the same whereas atleast the bottom of the "U" shaped tube is covered with water as it will help it to keep its siphon.

Suck long and hard on the airline tubing while pulling it out of the "U" shaped tubing slowly allowing all of the air to be pulled out of the "U" shaped tube and water to enter the back portion of the prefilter.

Once this is done, your "U" shaped tube should be filled with water and you are set. It will never lose siphon again until you completely pull the "U" shaped tube out to clean.

*When you begin to fill the back portion of the prefilter, water will drain in the sump. Don't worry. Just make sure that the "U" shaped tube is submersed when priming the prefilter

 

[Krish]

I forgot to mention that once you have the prefilter primed, the water will be held in the tube and will not drain out. Once the power, for instance, is cut to the return pump, the tank will drain into the pre-filter and down into your sump until the water level in the tank has dropped below the "teeth" of the prefilter. What you would have left is water in the prefilter on both sides (front and back) and water in the U shaped tube and it will stay like that until the return pump is turned back on and the water level rises above the teeth, pushing water back down into the sump. So make sure when you fill the sump, you don't fill it up like you would a fish tank(LOL). Leave the return chamber atleast half way up, once the pre-filter is primed and the pump is ready to go. Once you turn that pump on, the water level will drop in the sump and rise in the tank, which will then equal out. After that, then you can adjust your water level in your sump to your liking. Just don't fill it too much, because remember, once the return pump shuts off, the tank will drain itself back into the sump until the water level is below the teeth. So you could turn on and off the pump to find your "sweet spot". Another thing about the pre-filter is, if you lower the prefilter into the water, the water level in the sump will rise and the water level in the tank will drop and vice versa. So by adjusting the prefilter up and down you can set you water level and sump leve to where you like it. I hope that made sense to you(LOL)

Do you have the return pump yet? I think that prefilter is rated somewhere around 700-800 gph. I could find out for you for sure. And when you go to start up that sump, keep a jug of water on hand incase your sump starts to run dry before the water gets back to the sump. You should be fine though...

 

[Krish]

Tony, you said that you had a catalina 1800 and 2200 in your pm...Is this the 2200 you have below in the pic? If so, the 2200 is rated at 581 gph and the 1800 is rated at 476 according to http://www.proclearaquatics.com/power.html All you'd have to do is find out how much gph your skimmer requires to run properly and that will tell you which pump is for which (sump return or skimmer)

 

[71lockard]

The box is different, but it appears to be the exact same pump. There is a chart on the box that lists the gph volume w/ distance. I am headed to Home Depot in a few minutes here. Going to buy all of the plumbing supplies. Somehow, I see more than one visit to HD today, thank goodness it is two minutes away.

One more question, if I create a closed-loop, like I saw it here: http://melevsreef.com/closedloop.html Will the 2 pumps that I have run everything. Do I need the wavemaker device, like in that example? I plan on removing the two AquaClear powerheads from the display when this is ready, can I still get away with that? Thanks. Tony

 

[Krish]

One more question, if I create a closed-loop, like I saw it here: http://melevsreef.com/closedloop.html Will the 2 pumps that I have run everything. Do I need the wavemaker device, like in that example? I plan on removing the two AquaClear powerheads from the display when this is ready, can I still get away with that? Thanks. Tony

Do you mean using one of the 2 pumps you have? If so, the two pumps you have you are going to need...One for the skimmer and one for your sump return so making a closed loop won't really be an option unless you got another pump. If that is what you meant then yeah. Or you could use a "squid" like Marc did @ Melev's reef coming out of your sump return pump and split it in two, or just run into a sea-swirl like I did if it is random flow you want. Nevertheless, you are going to want good coverage in your tank so you more than likely will need something for extra flow. I think DonW has about 10,000 gph of flow in his tank which is somewhere around 100-125 gal. I can't remember exactly, but that's a lot. It would all depend on what you are keeping and like me who is just going with a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) setup, that much isn't necessary IMO. I guess you will have to hook everything up and see how it goes. I am planning on maybe adding more flow to my tank. I'm just giving it some time to decide how else I want to go about it doing it. HTH and good luck...

 

[71lockard]

Got it, I read that article again a few times. I will wait on the flow considerations until I have the sump up and running. I looked closer at some of your pictures and others. I am going to use 1" pvc tubing from the overflow to the sump. For the return I am going to use 3/4" tubing. Do you think that will work? Is there a disadvantage to using tubing vs. pvc? Thanks!

 

[Krish]

Got it, I read that article again a few times. I will wait on the flow considerations until I have the sump up and running. I looked closer at some of your pictures and others. I am going to use 1" pvc tubing from the overflow to the sump. For the return I am going to use 3/4" tubing. Do you think that will work? Is there a disadvantage to using tubing vs. pvc? Thanks!

Want to hear something funny...Look at the update on my thread (Krish's bahamian blah blah blah LOL) and see what I did today. They say to double the pipe size on the input so 1 inch would be right for a pump with a 1/2 inch inlet and for output, it could stay the same as whatever's on the return side. As for tubing vs PVC, I rather the PVC. It's just better IMO, but does not necessarily mean it's the best unless you go by the fact that everyone I've seen so far uses pvc for the same application...

 

[71lockard]

That sucks about the flood, hope it did not cause any major problems for you! I'm nervous about flooding myself. I want to be very careful here...

In your pictures of your sump, don't you have tubing going into the sump bulkhead/pvc fitting, it is labeled "from overflow". I want to do the same thing. I have some PVC and tubing. I want to attach one end of the 1" to the overflow box pvc fitting and run the other end to a similar fitting attached to the bulkhead on the sump. Then the first pump will be in there for the protein skimmer. The other pump will be in the return area and attached to a tube running back up to the tank. They gave me another fitting I am assuming is for the return, I was going to attach the return tube to this and place in the display, here is a picture:

It is the piece on the right.

 

[Krish]

Everything sounds good to me. The black piece all the way to the right is your return spout which will connect to your return pump. You see that little hole right above the nozzle head itself, that is to break the siphon after the power is cut to the return pump. If that wasn't there, your tank would drain itself back into your sump and onto the floor until the head of that nozzle is above water level so make sure to keep that hole clean. Here is your picture where I circled the hole... So remember, your tank will drain back into the sump after the power is cut to the return pump and won't stop until that little hole is above the water level



Here is the same spout on my CL that leaked(LOL)



I'm going to run downstairs an take a picture of my prefilter where the hose attaches to it and a closeup of where it attaches to the sump for you...BRB

 

[Krish]

Ok here is how my pre-filter is connected. It is actually the same exact tubing/hose that came with my old pre-filter like yours which I kept. You could see the PVC coming out of the bulkhead (which is glued) under the overflow and how the hose slides over it. And on the sump, it's the same thing...

 

[71lockard]

Sweet, that is exactly what I want to do. Thanks for the quick response and pictures. I am on may way and will post some photos as I go along. One more thing, I have the miracle mud and live rock. I want to add the water and that stuff and let it sit on its own for awhile before connecting to the main system, correct?

 

[Krish]

No problem...Glad to help.
I've never used miracle mud although some others here have. When you say add it and let it sit, you mean in your fuge section? It may be wise if that is what you mean to let it settle because if it's muddy in there from the miracle mud and your sump is running, it will be transferred into the tank probably. I'd add it though because remember, that stuff is going to cause you water level in your sump to rise. So I'd put it in, let it settle, and then you should be good to go. Good luck setting it up and getting it running. My wife and I are babysitting tonight so i'll be heading out myself. I'll check in from there house between playing games with them(LOL) to see how things are going. I think you'll be fine though. Good luck again...

 

[Krish]

Any luck yet Tony??? I hope you haven't run into any trouble and it's all up and running...

 

[71lockard]

Hi Krish - no luck yet. I got sidetracked with work... I am going to try and get it up and running today. Thanks, I'll keep my progress posted here.

 

[Krish]

Hi Krish - no luck yet. I got sidetracked with work... I am going to try and get it up and running today. Thanks, I'll keep my progress posted here.

Good luck!

 

[71lockard]

Well, I have been confused about the height of the baffles and which chamber is which. I contacted aquariumlights.com, where I got this kit and they told me that I have the chambers right, but the protein skimmer usually hangs on the return area in their set-up and they use the bio-balls in the incoming chamber, which were included. Don't the bio-balls produce a lot of nitrates? I thought I read that on here somewhere. Won't hanging the skimmer on the return area defeat the purpose? Or will it not be able to skim all of the water? That means both pumps would be in the return area with their config. I can hang it on the incoming chamber anyway if I wanted, there is plenty of room.