Freshwater Sump - Advice Pls

[VSGenesis]

Hi guys,

Just to give a clear picture what I'm thinking of doing.
I have about 14 tanks on a rack. 4 Gex S and the rest Gex M tanks.
I'm using matten style filtration and others the normal sponge filter.

I'm thinking of doing a sump where all these 14 tanks will go through this sump and then back up again. I understand disease strikes one tank the rest will be in trouble. I plan to get uv before and after sump but that will not be so soon.

Forget about plumbing for the tanks. That I will do and update my blog another time. I want to have a sump build and let it circulate itself.

I am a total noob in this. The idea is to have filtration and a nitrate absorbsion compartment. Please please criticise and/or comment.

Refer to picture.

I intend to have my friend supplier to do this for me. It's going to be glass. Size, 75cm x 45cm x 30cm

A: Filter Pads/Filter Wool
B: Spare Compartment
C: Bio Balls (If B is not use, the bio balls will fill that compartment as well)
D: Media/Carbon/Etc
E: Refugium (Java Moss, Marimo Balls, Duckweed, basically plants that absorbs nitrates)
F: Filter pad about 5cm thick and 10cm long. That divider between E & F, I'm thinking of having grooves like a comb.
G: Return

Please comment if I am out of my mind or this is not feasible at all. Once set up, I'll just pump the return back to A compartment. It'll just run like that till I get my plumbing down for the tanks.

[ganet]

to use a sump, you need overflow system for each tank, are you going to DIY 14 over flow pipe or drill 14 hole on your tank? and there is a lot of piping need to be done plus your rack I'm not sure can hold another sump tank. it can be done but a very big project, for me, i rather redo tanks, get 3ft tank and divide, drill hole together, i think the cost will be the same. anyway, good luck and waiting for your result.

for the sump, i suggest to switch D E, so all poop will fall in E instead trap inside your bio media.

[VSGenesis]

to use a sump, you need overflow system for each tank, are you going to DIY 14 over flow pipe or drill 14 hole on your tank? and there is a lot of piping need to be done plus your rack I'm not sure can hold another sump tank. it can be done but a very big project, for me, i rather redo tanks, get 3ft tank and divide, drill hole together, i think the cost will be the same. anyway, good luck and waiting for your result.

for the sump, i suggest to switch D E, so all poop will fall in E instead trap inside your bio media.

Hi there, thanks for the suggestion.

I will reconsider the location where I will place the refugium. I am still researching, learning, getting feedbacks and advice from others as well like what to add to the refugium. Being that its a freshwater. I'm looking at that area as somewhat a Nitrate absorption area. Not 100% but somewhat reduce the Nitrate. Water changes will still be needed. I've seen a guy who did everything diy and place bamboo shoots.

Other feedbacks I got was the space between the dividers of 2cm (cleaning). I will reconsider that as well. I've actually redrawn the above and hand over to my colleague to help me get a quote from the supplier.

Once completed, water will just circulate within the sump as I've yet to plan on the plumbing for the tanks. And yes, you are right. I will be drilling a hole from the bottom of the tank. It'll be similar to what this blogger did http://guppyroom.blogspot.sg His is customise glass tank though. If I were to do overflow for each tank...my friend said he'll give me nickname as Mario. =)

[stormhawk]

Simply put, you need to do some serious drilling for the tanks already present. As for the sump, the layout is fine, just be careful in how you place the media. Problem is that if you pack the stuff too densely and water is not allowed to flow past easily then you might get a choke point somewhere. 2 cm gap between the panels is a little small unless you want to put some elbow grease with a small flexible brush to clean those zones. Muck tends to gather right at the bottom of the first 1/3 of the sump, basically right below area C.

As for the refugium, you will need to place a light. For ease of maintenance and to prevent algae on either sides growing, you have to mask off those areas with some Oyama paper. I would suggest growing a plastic perforated pad with algae like what Santa Monica is doing in his thread for algae "scrubber". This just requires a simple light and the algae removes nitrates really quick. If you don't want that then just hornwort with decent lighting. Only animals you can keep there would probably be some hardy Yamato shrimps but I wouldn't recommend this. You'd have to worry about them escaping into neighbouring compartments. Just leave hornwort there to grow so you can regularly harvest some for your tanks or just dispose of the excess.

[VSGenesis]

Hi storm,

Been awhile since I heard from you. Married yet? Haha.

Anyway, understood. For the tanks, I don't think I will be doing overflow box. Too much plumbing. I will try out on one of the tank. Either drill from the back where the waterline is or from bottom and then a pvc to the waterline.

In the beginning, the idea wasn't about having a sump. I was thinking of draining all 14 tanks at once so I can do water changes. Just plug a hose from rack to bathroom. I have a pump in a container where I store water. It's connected to a hose, a pvc pipe and a couple of elbows to top up the water in the tanks. It saves me time from scooping the water from the container to the tank. But the thought crosses my mind, why don't I just do a sump.

Refugium, probably just sand, bacopa, hornworts, cabomba or something.

Your feedback is always great.Thanks storm, I will look into designing the plumbing and get some comments on it. At the moment, I'm just playing with the idea of doing the sump only. Just wanna play with a sump so future house can have a 4ft tank! =P

[stormhawk]

Haha VS,

Don't add any sand to the refugium, leave it bare bottom so it's easier for you to maintain. If you get any stray sand particles into your output pump you can have serious issues. If you must, just use coarse gravel in the refugium zone, like pea gravel.

[VSGenesis]

Hiya Storm,

Alright, I took ganet's and your comment on having the space between the divider increase to 5cm. I changed it a bit and I came up with the attached drawing. Can comment a bit on the height of the divider?

You know, I realise that another alternative is to make wet/dry trickle box with acrylic. Take a used aquarium and with some adjustment add the box in. Haha. I know my drawing is weird. I use what I have so ya. LOL.

[stormhawk]

The drawing is alright, plan looks good. However, the output from your guppy tanks should flow straight into the trickle box, then the output flow back to each of the tanks. I saw clear trickle trays at C328 on one of the shelves. Should be sufficient for you to DIY this with a 2 ft tank and some pieces of acrylic/glass + silicone sealant.

You can also incorporate the Henri de Bruyn filter as shown on Killietalk. Here's a picture off the web of someone's de Bruyn filter.

http://fins.actwin.com/killietalk/mo...1/jpg00013.jpg

Add that tray to the top most part of the trickle filter. You can place some mosses on it and they will also act as nitrate absorbers.

[BFG]

Another tip is to make sure your sump can contain any extra water when the pump is switched off. A poor designed sump might not contain the extra water when the pump is switched off thus the water would overflow out from the sump.

[VSGenesis]

Thanks guys. Really appreciate helping noob here who have no idea what he's doing. Plans there, confidence there, execution soon but disaster or not later update. But promise I ain't doing some crazy rack that will top over and flood my room. LOL.

I'm scalling it down and using my 2ft tank that I have. Went to Defu to purchase the glass and have it cut. Went to Kelantan Road but close when I reached at 6pm. Defu being close and considering cost of travel, heck it. Bought the glass panels. No polishing though cos I want it immediate. Necessary? Don't think so right? I mean I'm doing this sump to "main-main" only. Cos I wanna learn from it and use that experience when I get my own house.

BFG bro, I know what you're saying. But because the return is within the sump I'm not gonna drill any holes as shown in the picture. I did however drill holes for my plastic gex tank to play around how the plumbing will be like. Will update in a few days time.

Cheers guys.

[VSGenesis]

Hi guys,

Alright, finally done it.

Tank Size
60cm by 30cm by 36cm

Glass panel
I went to Kelantan Road at 530pm and the shop was closed. =(
Went to Veerasamy Road. Called the guy, he said no problem. I came and the man say come tomorrow. WTH?!!
So I gave up and went to Defu instead. Within same day it was ready without polishing. They are able to do normal size tanks but will no longer do those big size ones. I bought a little bit more.

Silicone
I search this online and I have no idea which was safe. Selley had a few. Wet area etc but it states clearly not for aquarium use. So I settled on DAP Aquarium. Got it at Rivervale Mall.

Process.
Well, I made a bit of mistake with my calculation. It should be about 2mm shorter. I had to sand it for an hour before it fits. Use the silicone. It was a mess! Use my fingers. Still a freaking mess. I found that its all about being patient and holding it right. If I do it right, the silicone is even and goes into the gaps nicely. The bottom part needed more silicone. I waited an hour before reapplying again just to be sure.

24hours later. I put in my egg crate. My filter wool, media, bioballs, carbon, fillter pad, sand etc.
Was told to let it sit for 48hrs before I add stuffs. Guess I was too eager here.

Fix the PVC pipes; at the return, I made a rainbar. Drilling holes on the pvc so it pours evenly onto the filter wool and rains half onto the bioballs. The bioballs is 50% above water.

I tested temperature and its 1DC higher. This is most likely due to the pump.

The sump is running well. I added 2 fish and plants. Placed my lights for 8hrs period.

Now, I was told to convert that refugium area into a media chamber. I just need to add another glass panel to do so. But for now, I just let it be. The water is about 80% from another tank. That's why I added the fish. The media is used in another tank as well.

No noise but if I place the rainbar higher, it makes a pretty nice noise of water falling. Lullaby to me. Hehe.

So there you go. Pictures will be in my blog in a few days. The one picture I attached is before I made some changes. So thanks to my friends, you know who you are for giving me advice.