Thinking About Taking The Plunge????

mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
ok im thinking about taking the plunge and doing a sump/refgium for my 75 gallon to have everything hiden and from what i hear an excellent way to keep a reef type tank
but before i even think about it i have 2 questions
before i come up with more

1.are there any plans i can find for my 75 gal or do i have to guess pretty much at what i need?
2. being that i live out of town in the country how can i stop the overflowing of the sump in the case of a power outage because we have them a lot out here?
VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!
thanks for any and all help
 
A

alix

Guest
i was just thinking about your last question... we live out in the sticks too and we have outages all the time, we had to buy a generator, but they can cost a lot of money. look into it, i dont know if maybe you could just buy a small one for your tank?
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
i heard there is something you can do to your piping to stop the syphon and stops the overflow from happening
any ideas?
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
Run a large enough sump so that when operating the waterlevel is not right to the top.
So in emergency power soutage situations the max the water will overflow OUT of the Dsiplay tank can be held in the sump.
You can also drill a small hole in the outlet right below the waterline, so if power goes out, it will only overflow till it reaches the hole and breaks the siphon.
Flooding is not an accident, its poor planning, or poor engineering. Not to sound like I am on some high horse but most every situation of sump floods, its poor planning. All equipment is just doing what its intended.
 
dawman

dawman

Active Member
I also live out in the country and power tends to go out more than I like . My sump is designed to run up to a 200 gallon and my tank is a 135 . Well , when I unplug my pump the sump will overflow . So I let it fill to the top and used a powerhead to pump the excess water to a bucket to see how much would overflow . For me it was only a few gallons , so I put a bulkhead fitting towards the top of my sump and piped it to a rubbermaid container . After all done I topped off the tank and simulated a power failure [unplugged pump] , the extra few gallons went into the excess container and worked great . I just pumped the water back into my tank. THANK GOD I did this because a week later the power went out for five hours !!
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
well i dont know why i started this thread there are a ton of threads about this im taking the time to read the good ones
sorry people i should of looked around 1st
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
ok this is what i have to work with
the door way in my cabinet is
18 1/2" long x 20" high
cabinet itself is 48"longx 17 1/2"widex 2' to the bottom of my tank
thinking about a 20-30 gallon sump/refugium if anyone has some oppinions or advice or plans or even pics
did alot of reading last night saved pics and saw some plans but like i said before more help is always better then not enough
but i wont drill!!! my DT anyways
so a good overflow
pump
plumbing ideas
lighting opions
plans
baffle ideas
protein skimmers(that is unless my aqua remaro with a 1200 series pump will work)
honestly the only thing i know i want right now is a DSB and chaeto for my macro algae and alot more LR
but this is were i need my help
i will do my work myself(of course) but i want to learn from evryone else to get the best info to do it right without messing it up
thanks

ps it will probably be a winter project maybe unless i cant keep my hands off which for me will be hard to do
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
ok ive also been checking out tanks
here is what i have so far
options since i want to store a few things underneath 30 gallons to long
but a 29 gallon leaves some room30x12x18 but with it being 18" tall i dont have much room to move things around in the sump or clean out the protein skimmer? it will be tight
or 20 gallon high 24x12x16 which will fit great!
but is it enough water containment if i were to loss power i dont know?
but its going to be one of the two
which one though or do you all have a better idea?
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
what does everybody think about this overflow?
i can have two instead of have just one with two pipes coming from the bottom and i can place one on each side of the tank

600 gph capacity
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
ok here is a plan i just got off of another site
thanks for the info cj7eagle
but i was thinking about using egg crate to help keep in my chaeto in the refug
and possibly do a higher sandbed go DSB
it is a 20 high like i was looking at

 
murph

murph

Active Member
For the return pump I would suggest mag drives. I have been through more than a few return pumps and mag drive and capcom brands have been the only ones that have lasted.
If you want to run two 600 gph hang on overflows a mag 9.5 should do the trick. Overkill on the pump GPH wise is better than purchasing too weak a pump. If the pump is to much GPH for the overflows you can always rig a ball valve to direct some flow back to the sump.
To weak of a pump and you will find that the U tubes on the overflow will begin to collect air at the tops of the u tubes. This can lead to siphon break and this is your major concern as far as water on the floor. Otherwise these hang on overflows are 99 percent reliable and will function fine even with power disruptions.
On your return line from the pump drill a small hole in the pipe just under water level of your display. This is your siphon break (necessary in only the return line from pump) in case of power outage.
The overflow in the picture is fine. I would avoid the CPR brand which are more expensive and from what I hear much more prone to siphon break problems due to there reliance on a air lift pump to operate.
For start up have your hang ons plumbed and U tubes primed. Have sump filled to capacity. Turn on return pump. You will notice water level in sump fall some what. Make sure no air is trapped in U tubes and overflows are draining. If water level in DT starts to get high and looks like its going to come over edge of display turn off pump. This means return pump is to strong for overflows and you will have to rig up a ball valve to direct some of the flow back to sump rather than up to DT.
Hopefully this wont happen you will be good to go. Now just let system run and observe for a few minutes. Make sure U tubes have good siphon and any air bubbles are quickly drawen through and down to sump. If not your pump is to weak and air will collect in top of U tubes risking siphon break and water on floor.
Ok provided everything has gone well to this point take note of the water level in your sump. It should have fallen somewhat. Take a black marker and draw a line at this water level on the side of your sump. This is your top off point when adding water. Do not exceed it.
Now for the fun part. Simulate power outage by unplugging return pump. You should here the hole you drilled in your return line suck a little air. This is your siphon break working as planned. Now wait as overflows drain down to the level you have set your inside tank boxes to and then stop draining. The water level in your sump should have returned to capacity without coming over the edge.
If all went as planned your done. Plug return pump back in and sit down and enjoy your tank for awhile.
 
mrinelfrlz

mrinelfrlz

Member
Originally Posted by Dawman
I would go with the Coralife skimmer .
thats the one i was thinking of too
so do you think i shouldn't try to use my aqua remaro then?
 
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