Building a Sump

[sal lynity]

I want to build a sump and needs some help and advice. I have a 20H mini reef with fish and wants to make a 10 gal sump. I want to move the skimmer down to the sump because it's taking so much room in my tank.
First of all, the overflow box. I got some acrylic panels from Lowe and I'm going to do some cutting and gluing and sealing to make the box.
My Problem: How do I keep the flow of water to and from the sump equal? I mean if the pump is not pumping water back to the tank fast enough, the overflow box will get empty and the automatic siphoning action would stop. Then I would have to mess with the J looking siphon tube to get things going again. (That's how I see it in my mind anyway)
How do I know what gallon/hour pump to get? Or how do I control the rate that water leaves the tank?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[broomer5]

Tommy,
Do a search on the web for DIY overflows.
This is one piece of equipment you better build right .... if you're planning to do it yourself.
There are plenty of sites that detail the correct way to build one. Most folks buy it.
Some make their own.
I've seen good one's built - and some I would not ever put on any of my tanks.
As far as balancing the flowrates - there's no need to worry about this too much.
However deep the teeth in the inner box of the overflow are positioned in relation to the tankwater's surface - is the point where water will flow.
The return pump governs the whole thing.
As water flows up into the tank - it will begin to flow down the overflow.
100gph up - 100 gph down.
The overflow must be able to handle the discharge flow from the return pump.
Search the net - search for keywords
Overflow, reef tanks, sumps, etc ...
You'll find a lot of good reading and drawings.

 

[richard rendos]

Put a ball valve on your return line between the pump and the tank. Control the flow rate with this. If your overflow gurgles, try turning down the flow rate. If you get air bubbles trapped in the overflow tube, turn up the flow rate. Keep playing with it until you get it right.

 

[njdiver]

There are some decent DYI Overflow ideas on About.com as well.
-Scott

 

[sal lynity]

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone
My DIY overflow box is pretty decent. I saw one in a fish store that was going for $80. Looked pretty simple to make. So I just got a sheet of acrylic glass for $5.99 at Lowe's and epoxy and silicon. Did some cutting, gluing, and sealing and I got me a overflow box
I was worried about keeping the flow rate to and from the tank at first. But the cool thing is that it adjust itself. The more water is pumped back to the tank, the faster if leaves. Kind of cool how it works.
I put the return hose from the sump on a hook about 2 inches of the water surface. So when the pump goes off, only about an inch of water gets siphoned back down to the sump (sump won't overflow).
It took me a while to play around with everything to get things going right. I had to deal with preventing the sump or tank to overflow. To keep the tank from overflowing (when the siphoning stops and the pums keeps pumping), I stuck the return water pump about an inch under water in the sump. So about an inch of water will fill the tank before the pump reaches surface. Just enough that my tank won't overflow in case the siphoning stops.
At first, the noise was unbearable. There's the girgling sound of water and air going down the pipe. Then there's the water from the pipe hitting the water surfacce in the sump. Then there's my SeaClone Skimmer that sounds like a tornado. And the water falling from the skimmer sounds like Niagra Falls. Then there's the sound of the water pump. And I have this setup in my bedroom <img src="graemlins//freak.gif" border="0" alt="[freak]" /> But after some tweaking, the sound became bearable. The SeaClone still sounds like a tornado though.
Overall, I love the sump. My water temp has dropped 5 degrees (from all the water flow I guess). I was able to move my heater and skimmer down to the sump (cleared some room in my main tank). I also got a pretty cool filtration thing going in the sump (bio-balls, filters, charcoal).
Richard, where can i get those ball valves? I don't think I need it now but maybe this will solve the girgling sound of air and water going down the pipe.
My next DIY is a light hood
Thanks again y'all <img src="graemlins//silly.gif" border="0" alt="[silly]" />

 

[bluemarlin]

Go back to Lowes for the valves.