Returning to my favorite hobby...

[kingtriton]

Hi, as the title says I'm returning to world of saltwater aquaria

I used to have a 75g FOWLR tank about 6 years ago and had it up and running for about 5 years prior to me having to move and sell it to my dismay, but life had to be lived so I had to put the hobby aside for a while. Good news is now I am back!!!
Anywyas, I happened to run into a nice little 55g that I will be starting over with, I know I will get larger later on but that will come in time. So this time I'm going to pursue to recreate a live reef system. I am definately taking my time with this and am in no rush to populate the tank. I just finished adding Red Sea Salt to my water and even let it sit for a day in my buckets before I added it to the tank. Well now the water and a 40lb bag of Carribean Live Sand is in the tank. I have 2 Emperor dual bio wheel filter systems hanging on the tank loaded with carbon, along with 2 heaters. I will be picking up my protien skimmer and about 20lbs of LR on friday (I will be adding 20lbs of LR each weekend for 4 weeks to give me a starting total of 80lbs of LR) and will start cycling the tank as soon as some of the rock goes inside (and yes with dead food)
Ok so heres my question...I've been watching videos on Youtube and also reading up on DIY sumps, so Im also going to give it a shot on friday, it all seems simple enough to put one together, now I have never used a sump but really want to give it a go! I understand for the most part how it works, I will house my PS and heater in the sump, along with some bio filtration media (haven't decided on which kind yet) So I get the sump for the most part, but Im not quite understanding the drain from the aquarium into the sump, is the water flowinto the sump created just by gravity? I mean does the water enter one of the tubes from the aquarium and just flow into the sump and then the pump in the sump pushes it up and back into the aquarium? Also if that is the case how strong of a pump do I need to get a nice flow going without something overflowing (if that is possible) or the sump drying out (if that is possible)
I hope I am being understood here lol...well like I said I'm in no rush to add livestock to my tank, just trying to get this whole sump thing right, Ill keep my emperors for the extra filtration as I don't think it would hurt. So if anyone has any knowledge on the whole sump thing and could give me an answer on my specific question about it, would be greatly appreciated

P.S. I'm just going to do a 10g sump for my 55g as I dont have too much room underneat, I could possibly squeeze in a 20g but I think 10 would suffice with my emperors hanging on the side.

 

[king_neptune]

WB

 

[king_neptune]

oh and to answer your sump drain question....
there are 2 ways to do it...well three but the third is absurd....
1. Drill a hole below the water line and place a bulkhead to allow water to drain via gravity.
2. a hang on siphon, this can back fire....by either draining too much water out of the tank incase of power outage(probided the feed is too low) or by getting air bubbles in it and thus breaking the siphone. Wich burns out your pump....not before it pumps the fuge dry and spills over the top of your tank onto the floor.
3. a pump inside the tank which will feed over the top and down blow. which is just dumb...your definetly gonna drain the whole tank in the event of a power outage.
my vote....buy some bits from glassholes.com and dril the tank. they are $15, or you can go to a store and have them do it for $30-50 a hole.

 

[eric b 125]

also, as far as the sump is concerned. i suggest you go with the largest you can fit in your cabinet. you want enough room left in the display tank, so that if your over flow should fail (clog w/ algae, a few snails, etc) the return pump wont over flow the DT. also, should the return pump fail, you want a way to break the siphon automatically, so that water doesnt get sucked out of the DT to your sump and flood the sump. there are a lot of variables when considering a sump. if you are planning a reef, you may want to incorporate a fuge in your sump.

 

[kingtriton]

Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/2968242
oh and to answer your sump drain question....
there are 2 ways to do it...well three but the third is absurd....
1. Drill a hole below the water line and place a bulkhead to allow water to drain via gravity.
2. a hang on siphon, this can back fire....by either draining too much water out of the tank incase of power outage(probided the feed is too low) or by getting air bubbles in it and thus breaking the siphone. Wich burns out your pump....not before it pumps the fuge dry and spills over the top of your tank onto the floor.
3. a pump inside the tank which will feed over the top and down blow. which is just dumb...your definetly gonna drain the whole tank in the event of a power outage.
my vote....buy some bits from glassholes.com and dril the tank. they are $15, or you can go to a store and have them do it for $30-50 a hole.
hey thanks for the response King Neptune! Thats exactly what I needed to know..yeah I think Ill take your advice and go with the 1st option...Ill just take it sot a glass driller...and let good ole gravity do the rest

 

[kingtriton]

Originally Posted by Eric B 125
http:///forum/post/2968259
also, as far as the sump is concerned. i suggest you go with the largest you can fit in your cabinet. you want enough room left in the display tank, so that if your over flow should fail (clog w/ algae, a few snails, etc) the return pump wont over flow the DT. also, should the return pump fail, you want a way to break the siphon automatically, so that water doesnt get sucked out of the DT to your sump and flood the sump. there are a lot of variables when considering a sump. if you are planning a reef, you may want to incorporate a fuge in your sump.
ahh ok, thanks for the heads up there...maybe Ill try and squeeze a 20g in underneath heh, and definately will be looking into the fuge in the sump...like I said Im new to the whole sump thing, so Ill figure it out hopefully doing enough research come Friday (

payday)

 

[culp]

do you have any pictures of your old tank?

 

[kingtriton]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/2968403
do you have any pictures of your old tank?
hmm sorry no pics of old tank, it was a sad day though....
I was at work and the cable guy was given permission to enter my house without anyone being there to install cable. Well....I was shocked when I got home and found my tank completely flipped over and funny enough there was the brand new cable wire running behind it. Glass shattered everywhere, dead fishies

and dead rock also. I had that tank up and running and well established for 5 years in the same spot so I know it wasnt the stand that gave way....it was still in one piece but completly turned on its side along with the aquarium.
Come to find out after I calmed down from crying and cursing up a storm lol....the cable guy thought hed be able to move it away from the wall and flipped the tank!!! Needless to say I recieved a healthy sum from the company for the damages (which included the floor damage from that much saltwater everywhere) but I wouldve rather have kept my poor fish

Well anyways I had to move and its been a while since then and any pics I had Ive lost due to multiple wipes of harddrives etc....but Ill have pics of my new one when it gets up and running with something in it lol

 

[sickboy]

Wow, that is a CRAZY way to lose a tank!!!
Most of the hang on back overflows are pretty reliable once the siphon is established, but drilling is a better option.

 

[king_neptune]

Originally Posted by sickboy http:///forum/post/2968430
Wow, that is a CRAZY way to lose a tank!!!
Most of the hang on back overflows are pretty reliable once the siphon is established, but drilling is a better option.

Drilling is so easy and cheap, there is no reason not to. Just follow my thread on how I drilled. I did 2 holes in under 30min.
I was all worked up over nothing. It was really easy.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary

 

[kingtriton]

Originally Posted by King_Neptune http:///forum/post/2968440
Drilling is so easy and cheap, there is no reason not to. Just follow my thread on how I drilled. I did 2 holes in under 30min.
I was all worked up over nothing. It was really easy.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/349033/neptunes-125-reef-diary
thanks much for that link, I read it and was very helpful...I will attempt it this weekend

 

[eric b 125]

hey there triton: i had a bit too much vino last night so i think my post came off a little jerk-offish. i'm planning a sump/fuge right now and it has been my experience that building one isn't as easy as it seems. there are a lot of things to take into consideration. those overflow things i was trying to explain in my stupor last night were just two things that weren't as obvious to me as the other things to think about and i was just trying to help.