Can I pull this off?

[pyro383]

I am thinking of building a sump, and will use it for filtration, media, heater and skimmer. Tank is 45g tall, I think I can put a 10g rubbermaid in my stand. Now, my question is, I like to have my water level in the main tank right at the bottom part of the plastic trim on top, I know 2-3 gal more and it will be at spill over point. With the overflow box it will be covered so that no critter or fish can make it through and stop the syphon. But if it did and main pump continued running it could overflow if more than 2 gallons is in the sump. Is it worthless to only have 2 or 3 gallons in the sump? Should I raise the pump in the sump so that I have at least 3-5 gallons in the bottom before it hits the pump? I am in the design stages right now and I cannot have any spill over or the wife tosses the tank.

 

[pyro383]

bump

 

[cap'n pete]

Raise the pump. I would have the sump about half full. Keep in mind the sump has to have enough empty space to hold whatever the overflow will give it upon power outage.

 

[broomer5]

pyro383
There's always a risk of flooding the floor when you have a tank with a sump/overflow/return pump.
There's also always a risk that having any tank in a room will get the carpet wet.
That goes with the territory - put a big box of water in a room - and there's always a chance of something going wrong.
Now, if one takes precautions, plans for power outages and takes the necessary steps to prevent the flood ...... the chance or risk drops considerably.
Once you play out the "what if this happens" scenerio in your mind, and install/maintain the pieces/parts of the system properly, and test it occasionally - having a sump is pretty safe in the living room.
Top 10 things to insure it's reliable system.
1) Size overflow and return pump for the tank and for each other.
2) Insure your return pump "pushes" enough water up to the tank to eliminate air bubbles becoming entrapped in the U tube of the external overflow.
3) Drill siphon break holes in the return line spraybar or fitting just under the normal operating level in the display tank.
4) Use check valves in the returnline ( optional but good ).
5) Make sure your sump can comfortably handle the "draindown" gallons.
6) Clean and prefilter sponges on a regular basis ( if you have them ).
7) Position the overflow inner box height to the correct depth in the tank. Wherever the low point of the teeth are located is your poweroff level. Somewhere above this point is your normal operating level for the display tank.
8) Buy a good reliable return pump.
9) Buy a very good reliable external overflow that does not need anything to assist it's performance.
10) Test the system often - shut the power off and make sure everything works the way it's designed to work.
I wouldn't say it's worthless to have a 2-3 gallon sump for a 45 gallon display tank - just not very effective.
You could hide the heater down there.
You may find that you have to run a very low output return pump though. Running a higher flow pump may cause a lot of turbulence and cause airbubbles in the tank.
All depends on the flowrate and design of the sump.
Raising the return pump up off the bottom of the sump is another option - but very frequent topoffs would be necessary if you have a high evaporation rate.
On my 75 gallon tank ~ I run my 14 gallon sump 1/2 to 3/4 full.
I've yet to have a flood, run the tank over, run the sump over or dry for that matter.
Attention to the details reduces the chance.
But even the best plan, system and maintenance schedule - still allows for the "risk" to be present.
No way around it.

 

[njdiver]

Pyro,
A few ideas. If your going to put the return pump in the sump, I have seen a lot of folks make a small section in their sump which holds say 2 gallons in normal operation for which the return pump lives.
Basically you have your return line from the tank come into the larger section, and then a wall that spills over into the shallow section with the return pump. If you lose suction in your U tube and the return to the tank stops, then water will also stop spilling over the "wall" and into the chamber with the return pump. (Some people also add a third section where the water enters the system for which to add some foam and such.)
In my system, my return pump is actually an old fluval filter, so its not a submerged pump. The intake to the pump is set shallow in the water so that if I lose the return on the suction it will suck dry before spilling over the main tank.
-Scott

 

[spud]

pryo383,
I am fairly new to this but I also have a 45 gallon tall that I am wanting to set up. I have had it for a freshwater tank, but now want it as a SW tank. Any recomendations as to what kind of filter system, etc I should use. Also if you have any pics of your tank I would love to see them.
Thanks
Spud

 

[pyro383]

I will have pics up by the end of this weekend. I am using the emperor 400 with no problems but thinking of doing a sump to hide most of the equiptment

 

[dindi]

IMO why go through all trouble? Get a ecosystem type filtering system...again just mo

 

[pyro383]

whats an eco system?