Habitat - Indoor :: New to SUmp's

[BUBS86]

Hey Folks
I'm dropping this into the forum for your guys approval since I'm so new to sumps. I want to make sure that this system will work ok and maybe you guys that have experience in this area can pick out some problems you may see.

so for a back story, this will be a 55 gallon sump filtering a 150 gallon tank. I'm gonna try and explain this as simple as I can breaking it down into sections of the sump. HERE WE GO!!

Chamber 1: will be my mechanical media using a 20ppi or 30ppi foam for a combo of the 2, this section will be above water level and will just have water rain over and thru it.

Chamber 2: will be my chemical media using Seachem Purigen, this media will be submerged.

Chamber 3: at this point can be used for a couple options, one being to house one heater to have a pre-heat or my second option is to fill with Seachem matrix or pond matrix. I'm lean more towards this option

Chamber 4: is to be filled with your run of the mill Bio-balls, they will be fully submerged and I'm possibly going to be running multiple air stone wands under the bio ball media to give them lots of oxygen.

Chamber 5: I plan to run some basic low light plants to aid in filtering, its extremely hard to have live plants in a turtle tank for some of us because they destroy everything, so hopefully I can have live plants to take advantage of their filtering abilities and not have them killed off by the turtle.

Chamber 6: will be the return housing two pumps and two 300w heaters as well as some more air stones.

well I thank you all for taking the time to put your "Constructive" 2 cents in. there are more things I need to sort out with design but they are the small picture items, for now I just want to look at the big picture and go from there. thanks again.

[steve]

I don't know much about sumps but that looks fantastic. Does this replace any other filters? You might want to add a UV sterilizer in there as well.

[BUBS86]

this is the filter and replace a canister or any other form of filter. I plan to run a uv light on each return pump, there will be 2 pumps averaging 1200GPH

[ljapa]

I have a 55 gallon sump I built myself a bit over two years ago.

I knew nothing and know little more than my experience.

A few comments:

Unless your return is a splash bar, you won't be able to have the water level full. If the return is underwater, it will siphon some back into the sump when you turn the pump off, even with a siphon break. You'll want room to allow for that.

I too have plants. You will want more of a barrier between the plants and the return. Otherwise, leaves that die can block the pump.

I've got two glasses separating the plants from return about an inch apart. It's the perfect space to put one of those Marineland blue/white filter media things. That gives me a large surface for bacteria and a prefilter for my return pump.

I love mine. I grow plants and shrimp as food.

[BUBS86]

so your suggesting I add another weir between chamber 5 and 6 to prevent debris in chamber 6 to be intake by pump? as far as the siphon I plan on running check valves on the return lines.

[ljapa]

so your suggesting I add another weir between chamber 5 and 6 to prevent debris in chamber 6 to be intake by pump? as far as the siphon I plan on running check valves on the return lines.

I don't think you need three panes like you have between chambers 4 and 5, but two with the ability to put filter floss in between can be very useful.

The other thing that buys you is the ability to grow floaters in your plant area if you want. They really suck out the nitrate.

[BUBS86]

that's great.. thanks for the tips. I'm hoping to be able to do some stuff like that.

[VeipaCray]

1. I think you're very light on mechanical media. Unless your intake to the sump goes to filter socks first.
   
2. Your bio chamber is not for bio balls. Bio balls are designed for a sump with a trickle filter not where the water will submerge the media from the bottom. You'd be much better off with ceramic rings here. To keep them in place a simple $1 mesh laundry bag with a zip tie will allow you to corral the bio rings in the chamber. You can then yank the entire bag out when it's time to rinse / clean them.
3. The problem with sumps is that they allow for a ton of bypass. You don't need all the chambers to separate medium. Using media bags to contain the purigen (you need to anyway) you can plop the media bags anywhere in the sump post the mechanical filtration and water will pass over the media.
4. I'd suggest you don't heat the water until it's in the return pump chamber. Put all of your electrical cords (heaters and pumps) in one section. Easier to clean the sump and safer.
5. You need to do the math on the volume of water during a power failure. MAKE SURE there's enough free space in the sump to handle the water that will enter the sump during a power failure. Setting the baffles too high could yield a giant puddle on your floor.
6. You don't need the three section divider between chamber 4 and 5. In marine sumps that's called a bubble trap. We don't have microbubble issues in freshwater. You just need a single baffle to set the water height. Trust me crud just gets stuck between those baffles and they become a PITA to clean.
7. Turtle waste sinks in freshwater. You feed a sump by surface skimming. This works well in marine setups as the SG of saltwater causes waste and protein to float where it will skim off into an overflow and down to the sump. How do you plan on getting turtle and fish waste from the main display tank down to the sump filter? Sumps are great for marine tanks and planted tanks (fish waste is retained for plant fertilizer).
8. You'll want a way to measure temperature in the display tank or the overflow for the display tank to control the heaters on the bottom. If you rely on built in heater thermostats, make sure you adjust accordingly and set them a bit higher than normal. The display tank water will be cooler than the sump water.
9. Is your return pump submersible or external? If it's external, consider one last bit of coarse sponge before the bulkhead leading to the return pump to catch any debris large enough to mess up the pump...ESPECIALLY if you're planning on plant matter growing after the mechanical filtration.
10. POST PICTURES!

[VeipaCray]

Here's how I'd build it (assuming you want the plants):

[devilduck]

I tend to put purigen in the final parts of the process usually right before the return to the tank. It keeps the purigen from expending too quickly.

[BUBS86]

ok some design changes have been made since the original post. had this up on another forum and on Facebook group and got tons of feed back. chamber 3 will be filled with seachem pond matrix and chamber 4 will still be used with bio balls but I will have aeration under all the balls to give them lots of oxygen. chamber 1 has been cut down so if a failure were to occur and the mechanical media were to become blocked or plugged it will just over flow and dump into chamber 4. also I plan to run filter pads which will be 2" thick when stacked in there. in the pic you can see I've cut that third baffle out and left just enough to keep the substrate in for the plants. I've also cut the other baffles down so the tank will just even water level instead of filling one section and over flow onto the floor. heaters will be kept in the return section, I will have 2 temperature sensors in the display tank and thermo stats hooked to them controlling the heaters. both pumps will be internal and the baffle between 5 & 6 have teeth cut into them to hopefully catch be debris and dead leafs before they go to the return. also plan on having some foam on the pump intake. still mulling over what to do about catching mid and low water column waste and water. I'm hoping to get a whirl pool action in the tank with the returns, also throwing the idea of circulating pumps or possibly run a siphon system at the bottom then run into the sump. still up in the air on that.

[Eltemp]

Take a look at how aquaponics systems suck from the bottom of the tank with no need to worry about siphoning an doverflowing your sump while. They use a sideways tee open to the top where the side of the tee 3xits the tanks sets the water level while a pipe connected to it running to the bottom takes the waste from the bottom. I ranmine this way for a year till I got tired of maintaining the sump and switched to a canister filter. I like the idea of plants in the water column to help clean it, that I wish I still had n a a canister filter.