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guggas
06-23-2016, 11:05 AM
So, im considering building my own sump out of a 40 breeder. This would be for a 120 gallon display. I've not built a sump before though and I wanted to get some thoughts from you on my design. In addition to whatever thought you may have, some of my specific concerns are: is this way too much filtration for a 120g? This would be about 5 gallons of bio media, I would probably use the 3 gallons of bio balls I have, just because I have them and 2 gallons of new ceramic. A 40b is 18 inches wide,so i would have 8 sheets of 13"x 18" Poret foam. My tendency is to pack as much "stuff" into the design as possible, but that much media is expensive. My thought in putting in the baffles is that it forces the water to zig zag vertically through the media instead of just going straight through, but it would also increase the water speed through the sump, i think? Maybe it would be better with less baffles. Anyways let me know your thoughts.

98938

rickztahone
06-23-2016, 03:18 PM
Your "perforated acrylic" should be shorter than your first acrylic dividers and the others as well. There really is no need for all the under/overs in this type of configuration.

All you really need is the first section to enter the sump, that under is fine, however, I would place one over with nothing in it and then start the poret foam but all butted up against each other. That media section is very packed and I'd recommend reducing it. I preferred to go with a horizontal configuration and put my ceramic rings in mesh bags. This is how my sump looks:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/2/1633/26069651352_bddbfa4491_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FHFM6s)DSC04480 (https://flic.kr/p/FHFM6s) by Rick Vasquez (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138339753@N07/), on Flickr

Somewhat difficult to see but here is a video showing it better. Go to the 2:00 mark roughly for sump configuration:

https://youtu.be/pByBmchDaus

guggas
07-07-2016, 03:03 PM
Thanks for the reply Rick. Did you wind up going with the DC4000 pump or something else? How many GPH are you running through your sump and what size drain pipes are you using? Are those 3 1" pipes? I want to go with bean animal, but it seems the minumum required gph for A 1" full siphon is pretty high. I wonder if I could do 1" bulkheads and neck down to a 3/4" drain after the bulkhead and get away with lower flow. Thoughts?

rickztahone
07-07-2016, 05:16 PM
The BA system allows you to run ANY gph under the max flow. So, even if your pump only did 200gph, it would handle it. Mine are all 1" and the open channel as well as emergency are adapted up to 1.5". In retrospect I could have done 1" all around no problems. I went with an eheim 1260.workhorse of a return pump. I also have a backup for it

guggas
07-07-2016, 06:56 PM
Ok, maybe I'm not understanding the Bean then. I was thinking that a 1" drain would require about 900 gph to maintain a full siphon. So if I were to get a pump that was only doing say..800 gph my "full siphon" drain wouldn't be running at a full siphon and get noisy. Here is a quote from your "lets see those sumps thread"

'Because of the overflow I plan on doing I need a higher gph. If it is too low it messes with the dynamics of the bean animal system. Factor in baffles and bends and media, I'm probably looking at a lot less than the 750 target. Additionally, that pump allows me to dial it down since it is a dc pump and it has a feeding button mode where you push it and it turns back on by itself 30 minutes later which I will need due to the weir setup.'

Can I just turn the gate valve on the full siphon down to flow say 600 gph and it still be silent? I see your pump is rated at 635gph and you have big drains...I guess thats proof of what you say...I just dont understand how you can maintain a full syohon with that big of pipes with only a 635 gph pump. Can you help my brain?

rickztahone
07-08-2016, 10:50 AM
I am not sure what I was referring to as far as messing with the dynamics of the BA system. However, you can run a lower gph pump, no problem. You can't EXCEED the overflows capacity but you can go under it

guggas
07-11-2016, 06:41 PM
Ok, after looking at your comments and pondering for a while, here is my revised plan for the sump. There are less baffles and I went down to a 29 gallon sump. i think a 29 gallon has enough room to fit plenty of filtration and can still handle the runoff from my tank if i have a pump failure. It will be cheaper because the sponges I will be buying will be smaller. The first two layers in this design would be "mechanical" filtration and would be swapped out or cleaned frequently as needed, the other four layers would get cleaned less frequently as "bio" filtration, then a baffle perforated from top to bottom, then a 4" inch empty area that may or may not be filled with bio or ceramic rings later. That leavs me 12.3 horizontal inches for two heaters, which would need to go up on an angle to fit and of course the return pump. the smaller footprint sump would allow me more storage in the cabinet for other stuff. Thoughts?

99248

rickztahone
07-11-2016, 08:27 PM
You really don't need the perforated acrylic. The sponges itself will hold up just fine.

farebox
07-11-2016, 10:42 PM
To hold my poret foam in place, I used egg crate cut to tight fit in the sump walls after the last piece. That's all I needed to secure the poret foam in place.