How Many (gph) From Tank To Sump???

anthony17

anthony17

Member
IM planing on getting a sump/fuge my main tank is a 55gallon FOWLR and im going to get a 20gallon sump/fuge IS THAT OK and i was told to do 800 GPH to my sump and split it on the way down having a valve going to the sump side and a valve going to the fuge side with the return pump in the middle is all this info correct and good for my tank???
THANKS
ANTHONY
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
You don't pump water to your sump, you pump it from your sump to your main tank. The size pump you need depends on how many gph your overflow can handle.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
the sump would be the area with the pump that takes water back to the tank. you should split the overflow line to take some of the water to the fuge and some to the skimmer area.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member

The Sump
Water enters on the right and flows to the left and gets pumped back up to the tank.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
yeah, that is another good way. unfortunately, on my new tank, I have the sump between the fuge and skimmer. so what I decided to do, with Squidd's help, is to split the return line so that 1/3 of the return goes to the fuge and 2/3 goes back to the tank.
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
Anthony, that one is fine. but if you only have one overflow, you'll have to figure out how to get water to the skimmer area AND the fuge. the water has to go to the sump last.
one way is to split the overflow line so that water goes to both.
the other way would be to split the return so that some goes to the fuge (like I posted above)
a third way would be to put a pump in the skimmer area that takes water over to the fuge.
if you haven't made your filter yet, I'd probably suggest making it the way that Wax has his.
 
anthony17

anthony17

Member
i was planning on to split the water going into the tank going to the fuge and to the sump the i goes in the middle then back up
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
you're confusing me. the part in the middle where the water goes back up IS the sump. you don't need water going directly from the tank to the sump. the water needs to go to the skimmer area and fuge area, THEN the sump.
 
anthony17

anthony17

Member
so the diagram i posted was wrong then???
so main tank - fuge - sump - back to main tank
right or wrong ???
sumps/fuge's confuse me
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
no, the picture you posted is fine. but realize, in the picture, there are THREE areas: the skimmer chamber, the sump, and the fuge.
the water from the tank must go through the fuge and skimmer before going to the sump. the sump takes the water back to the tank.
if you only have one overflow, and your sump is between the skimmer and fuge, you'll have to decide how you're going to get water to both before the water gets to the sump.
 
anthony17

anthony17

Member
ok im lost now i thought the skimmer area was the sump area right or wrong if wrong then where is the sump area i see skimmer area fuge area and return pump area right???
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
WRONG!
in the picture link you posted,
the far left is the skimmer chamber
the middle is the sump
the far right is the fuge.
so.....water from the tank needs to go to the skimmer first, then the fuge, then the sump (which has the pump).
so if you have one overflow and the sump separates the skimmer and fuge, you have to decide how to get water to the skimmer and fuge before the sump.
go back up and read the 3 ideas I gave for achieving this.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Hehe. I call the whole physical tank the sump.

The skimmer ran me about $250.
I guess going by pontius' way of describing it, the water in MY "sump" goes from a skimmer area to a fuge area to a sump area then back to my tank.
 
anthony17

anthony17

Member
ok yea yea yea i think im following you here so what im going to do is the water coming from the main tank , im going to split those valves so that half the water is going to the skimmer and half is going to the fuge wich all leads to the sump is this correct yes or no???
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
If you have water coming from your main tank split to go to the fuge on the left and the skimmer on the right like in the picture anthony posted, you would end up with micro-bubbles when the water spilled over from the fuge to the pump area... I think anyway.
 
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