Different sumps and how you have set them up

[livingart]

i inserted that into the description J

i have found adding filter wool to my sumps helps clarity, it does have to be cleaned often though

[suphew]

a trickle filter will never in my opinion clean the water as clear as canisters.

unless you have a massive current inside like reef tanks.

i found taht clarity was an issue, despite my water being very clean and good quality.

so adding canisters and internals clears it up rapidly.

i dont top up my tank, it over flows daily with my changer

I'd be interested to know why you think a sump wont give you clear water?

And also how having massive currents would help? The strong flow in reef tanks (amongst other things) work to keep detritus suspended in the water column so it goes over the overflows. This is because reef tank overflows are designed to take the top layer of water out of the tank where the proteins are. It is very easy to make an overflow to take water from the bottom layers of the tank just as a canister filter would.

When it comes right down to it, the way to get the clearest water is to use carbon and lots of it, a sump will give you huge capacity for running carbon. Any carbon you run in a canister or internal filter will be at the expensive of biological media.

[henward]

i found in reef set ups, current is much more and particulates tend to circulate more and have less time accumulating at the bottom fo the tank and substrate.

in freshwater set ups, where big current is not as desirable, i foudn that they tend to accumulate at the bottom,

though i found in my set up, i dont get that problem anymore cos i have too many bottom dwellers, and no point in the bottom is unstirred.

but in saying that, the overflow catches only so much.

by having 3 more inlets that suck in particulates, then it gives less chance for particulates to get to the bottom.

also filterwool in my sump trickle set up tends to quickly get clogged, by adding more canisters in the tank, this is distributed through out the system, so i dont have to replace as often as before.

just my experience.

my tank is 72 high which i speak of, not overly high but i find that if i dont have the internals and the canisters, i cant feed as much and water is not as clear.

im not talking about very small particles, im talking about visible chunky fish poo.

now, as for murkiness, i dont have that problem i find filterwool is sufficient without the use of carbon.

[henward]

Also, how else can you design an overflow to take water fromt he middle of the tank?

i am lost there.

cos isnt an overflow designed to take water at the surface of the tank - hence over flow dereived from OVERFLOWING?

if you took it at the middle, then this would have to be a siphon action whcih would stop if there was a pwoer cut or water level is not enough?

confused.

i find that putting more filterwool doesnt work either,

cos it jsut blocks and the bottom layers dont actually get used, the water just goes tot he sides of the filterwool portion thats clogged.

so regular filter woold change is best IME.

i also reuse filterwool 4 to 5 times before disposing of it.

as you reuse, you have to clean it more often.

after 3 to 5 times, i have to clean the filter wool every 5 to 6 days.

then i throw out.

brand new wool can remain viable for much more i found.

[livingart]

what you have set up henward works for you

i feel Fish keeping is a balancing act between bio load and filtration

lots of fish, lots of food = lots of filtration

large faeces may indicate the fish are not utilising most of the food it is eating or it may be reflective of the way they digest their food

the use of flow in the tank will direct particulates to the overflow

in the 1.2 deep tank i use powerheads to sweep the bottom

cos it jsut blocks and the bottom layers dont actually get used, the water just goes tot he sides of the filterwool portion thats clogged.

that means the wool is clogged, staging different grades of sponge above the filterwool will make it last longer

a syphon standpipe will pick gunk off the bottom

[Navarre]

I use a mix of these as the MAC crawl people saw in my 6x2x2

so not a big tank but well stocked with 3 adult chocs some geophagus around 250 mm and some big plecs lionheads and EBJDs

Not heavily stocked but getting up there as all are "messy".

My "spray bar" is on the bottom of the tank turning around 3000l hour this pushed "detritis" forward and up into the water column and into the two overflow chambers I have(wiers). These are packed at one end with bioballs and ceramic noodles and bio mat at the other. Both have a cover of filter wool which I change weekly. These are in effect big trickle towers. they flow to a sump which has a layer of filter wool on top then bio mat stacked and works at about 2/3 capacity when running...so is in effect a "wet" chamber. this "spills" into a baffled area where the sump pump and heater are contained and this runs at about 1/3rd capacity to accomadate pull down.

I also run an FX5..becasue I can... and as I said big messy fish.

It works for me and is realatively low maintainance.

I top up with my water changes and lids help alot to slow flash off

I used argonite gravel and oamaru stone in the background and this gravel vaxed to remove any crudd.

The spray bar is drilled about 2-5 mm below the water level in operation with a small hole that means there is some back flow when the pump is switched off but once hole is exposed it breaks syphon.

HTH

[livingart]

nice setup nav

can you do some pics?

the extra hole is what i use to stop syphon effect

[Caryl]

I have an overall view of the tank 8)

Never occurred to do a closeup of the workings sorry.

[David R]

Posted this countless times before, but might as well show it again:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/ ... /Sump2.jpg

(and as with every other time I'll grumble about the stupid size restriction on the images...)

Thats how both the sumps on my 5' and 6' tanks are set up. I'll try to take some pics soon. I'm nearly ready to buy another big tank, and I've been designing a completely different sump with a massive amount of submerged media, a trickle tower fed by its own pump and a chamber at the start under the mechanical media for fine particles to settle in. Will post pics of that when I finalise the plan.

[smidey]

not mine..... yet. this has a small tank included for fry or separating fish & it runs an 8 foot tank.

[Navarre]

Thanks for photo caryl

on the right side of the tank by the sticky temp gauge you can see one of the weirs that is used as an overflow. 100x 100 box from top of tank to bottom with bulk head at bottom

Also because the angle of the photo you can see ...just...the spray bar running behind the rock work at the back (White pipe runing right to left or left to right at back of tank

In the first open cupboard you can see the sump tank which is just visable as is the tray for holding the filter wool on top of the bio matt stack

for scale as I said tank is 6x2x2 and stand is 600 at where tank sits with a small lip above that to help hide substrate workings etc. Rest is dirty ol red pine

Same principal as Davids drawings but towers are incorperated into tank to help reduce under tank height.

Smideys set up ..to be...is also very clean and tidy..lol.

But I would be tempted to load the first baffel with sponge/filter wool to reduce particulate matter

[smidey]

Smideys set up ..to be...is also very clean and tidy..lol.

But I would be tempted to load the first baffel with sponge/filter wool to reduce particulate matter

when i get it built i am tempted to move the "tank" to the right so it will be next to the pump & have two filtration/media compartments at the "water entry" end. What do you think?

[Brennos]

This is what I was thinking to run in my sump, as Living art took the time to draw how my sump should look (thanks a heap mate) I want to try and incorporate carbon for clarity, aswell as bioballs and noodles, and pumice., and some sort of PH buffer, to try and stabilise my rain water

[David R]

I'm not sold on carbon being the only way to clear water. I think a well designed sump with several layers of mechanical filtration (starting with coarse foam or filter bags and going down to something like 50micron floss) would work pretty well. I guess it really depends what is making your water unclear...

[livingart]

don't think it was said it was the only way

i only use it every now and again, ose it in a filter bag for ease of removal

i cracked the bottom on an eheim canister so cut bottom off and used that as a small tower full of sponges to filter water before going into sump