Putting a SUmp on my 75Gal

[kjord97]

Well, I finally ordered my parts to set up my sump. Caught a sale and got some items cheap.
Picked up a
ESHOPPS PF 1000 Overflow Box - Up to 200 gal. - Dual - 9 in. x 3 in. x 10 in.
Mag Drive 950 Pump with 10 ft. Cord
Was going to go with the Life Reef but spent many hours on saltwaterfish, reefcentral and wet web media and I just cant seem to find myself spending $170 on a life reef. (Yes I called them, $119 for lifereef, $ 29 for silincer, and shipping).
The forums and anthony calfo recommended saveing money and going with the Eshopps, it is just as good.
The overflow is rated at 900gph but really only does about 800 and it has 1 1/2" of adjustments. The pump is rated at 950 gph but will really only do about 600 gph at the 5 ft i need it.
I am thinking of using one of my 29 gal tanks as my sump. I was going to go with my 45 gal tall, but I dont think it is wide enough from front to back. Bu then again a taller tank might be better.
I will need some help hooking it all up I think. I believe I am going to use 1 inch rubber hose and plastic clips.
Wet Web Media guys said to never use a check valve, they always fail. SO I will not be using one, just make sure the sump can hold what water I need it to hold. That is why I am thinking of going with the taller sump.
What do i use at the tank for my return? What do I put on the end of the hose to make it stay in the tank?

 

[kjord97]

Well I ordered my parts on Friday monring and the operator told me I would get them Tuesday. Well Saturday at lunch time my parts showed up. WOOOHOOOO
SUnday lunch time it was time to head to True Value. I played around with plumbing parts for about an hour in the store and decided I had everything I needed. I ended up using regular PVC since they did not have 1 1/2" hose in stock. I think I made a good choice.
Here are some pics of the setup. I used 45 degree elbows for all my turns so I would not decrease flow by to much. The intake was built out of 1" PVC and the return was out of 3/4" pvc.
I did a few pump power failure test and the overflow box maintained siphon just fine. This morning I noticed one of the duel tubes had alot of air in it. I cleaned it out and then lowered the skimmer box lower into the tank, this dropped my tank water level down which was ok, it also made it a little quieter, and seemed to increase the flow and the bubbles went away. Will have to see how it looks this afternoon.
OK so during a power failure I am fine, sump holds plenty of water. QUESTION, what if the siphon fail's???? Will my entire sump be pumped into the main tank and flood??? How do I prevent this???? Can I raise up my return pump higher into the tank so I dont loose as much water???? Currently my return pump is sitting on the bottom of my sump, I was thinking i would put a piece of PVC on the intake side of the pump and make it suck water from higher in the tank. What do yall think???
First pic is of whole setup.
Second Pic is of the whole setup with sump.
Third Pic is Sump
fourth pic is of the potential intake pipe.

 

[kjord97]

Can anyone answer these questions?
QUESTION, what if the siphon fail's???? Will my entire sump be pumped into the main tank and flood??? How do I prevent this???? Can I raise up my return pump higher into the tank so I dont loose as much water???? Currently my return pump is sitting on the bottom of my sump, I was thinking i would put a piece of PVC on the intake side of the pump and make it suck water from higher in the tank. What do yall think???

 

[gatorwpb]

The sump looks great!
I cant speak to the siphon issue because I have the standard AGA tank overflow setup and its never lost siphon.
But I have my Mag 7 return pump sitting on the glass. I dont see why you would want to pump up the water from closer to the surface as I dont think that elevation cheange would cause any noticeably less water loss. I sometimes get a floating film in the sump section and its easier to clean out because its on the surface. If I had the pump closer to the surface, it might pump that up to the display.
My only other thought is using a different bulb for the fuge other than a 50/50 because you dont need the actinic for cheato growth (assuming you have cheato in there).
Get something in the 5k-7k range and you should see even better cheato growth rates.

 

[kjord97]

the 50/50 bulb will be coming off and something in the 8k range will be put on. I plan on growing some mangroves in the refugium. My buddy has a similar setup and his mangrove trees look great.