Help 92 gal Tank Sump

[underwaterforest]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions the sump appears to be working great. The new spray bar is also working alright, not as good as the higher pressure one but satisfactory and decent dispersal unto the media. I just finished painting the stand and canopy and it now looks much better. I can't wait for it to be full of beautiful discus now. Here is a picture of the whole setup.

[caparzo]

Looks sweet.. a couple of questions though, what did you use on the base of your tank.. it looks like a blanket to protect the glass, also what are those "shreds" you have under the poly fiber ?

[underwaterforest]

That blanket you are seeing is just some cheap colored wrapping paper that I put up as a temporary background film. I am thinking of putting foam on the bottom and back for tank insulation and still may do that. The shreds you refer to are actually a local product sold as "Bio Bale" for sump media purposes, it pretty much just pvc pipe shavings. Overall it works pretty good and doesn't cost that much, plus it is locally made.

[tcyiu]

You might want to try moving the heaters into your sump for the ultra clean look. If you're at all nervous about heaters touching the plastic totes (I would be), you might want to place the heaters on a pyrex cooking sheet or a porcelain plate. Can probably pick one up at the local thrift/Goodwill store.

Also, what is that car radiator thing in the tank? LOL

Tim

[underwaterforest]

Thanks for the suggestions Tim. I was thinking along the same lines about the heaters in the sump but I'm not too big on aesthetics for this tank right now, soon I will be. The radiator thing you are seeing is just the reflection of my blinds on the glass of the aquarium, sorry for the bad pic. I will post some pics of the whole aquarium w/ fish next week.

[tcyiu]

The radiator thing you are seeing is just the reflection of my blinds on the glass of the aquarium, sorry for the bad pic.

Haha. I was thinking: Ooooh!!! New hi tech thingy for the aquarium. Don't know what it is, but I want one. :-)

The reflection looks A LOT like my passive heat spreader on my nVidia graphics card in my PC.

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Cooling.../dp/B0014HSPEQ

:-)

Tim

[underwaterforest]

Here are some more pics BF(before fish) of the tank. I just created a nice drain fill system with 3/4 food grade vinyl tubing and a spare 1800 gph pump I had. I really like the new drain fill system, it can empty my 90 gallon tank in less than 10 minutes, SWEET! The only thing that is slowing the process down is the low water pressure in my house, maybe it's time to get a 100 holding tank and then I can fill and drain the whole tank in less than 25 minutes. The fish are coming tomorrow YIPPEE!!! Keep you all updated.

[underwaterforest]

Here are some pictures of the tank AF (after fish). The fish have been in the tank for only 24 hour so their colors are very pale still. The fill/drain system works great and the new fish don't seem to be to afraid of it at all, actually they group around it. I will post future pictures in the picture section but I thought I would bring this thread to a close with a few pics.

Alex

[Northwoods Discus]

I made a DIY sump for a 100 gallon acrylic tank in my basement. It is built into a wall and the back of the tank is in the furnace room. I drilled the tank with a 2 inch hole saw. I used an tub drain as the bulk head. I put the plumbing at the level that I wanted the tank to stay. This was tricky. This empties into a plastic laundry tub with baskets of media such as bio balls, gravel, and sheets of filter pad. Layers were separated with old plastic container lids with holed drilled in them. Placed below the sink is a 29 gallon tank and receives the water from the sink with the straight drain piece only. The pump sits in the 29 gallon.
The spray bar is set at the water level in the tank and a hole is drilled on the top to prevent the reverse flow of water when the pump stops to do water changes or if the power goes out.
One important reason for the largest sump you can have is when the pump is off water continues to flow into the sump from the tank until it goes below the level of your intake. If your sump is too small to handle the amount that comes from the tank it ends up on the floor.
I am not an expert on sumps but I have 3 of them running on different tanks. 2 drilled and one with a siphon. Its all about the flow.