My First Sump

[energyguy]

Setup so far:
55 gallon oceanic
Aquamedic protein skimmer.
Mechanical filtration.

I want to get rid of the mechanical filtration and add a sump.

I have a 20 gallon tank and would like to know what kinds of pumps I should get and if there is a site out there that tells me where to put the acrylic dividers.

[madman19710]

mag pumps are good do a search on here for sump designes

[Reefland]

energyguy,

For a return pump, I don't think the MAG Drives can be beaten. They are relatively cheap, relatively small and reliable. In your case of a 55 gallon running with a 20 gallon sump, I think a MAG 7 would be a great choice.

Here is a great how to on putting a sump together and has some baffle ideas too.
http://www.sjpdesigns.com/NewReef/sumphowto.htm

Is your tank drilled or are you going to use an external overflow?

Scott Z.

[energyguy]

I got a mad7 and built an equivalent sump with my protein skimmer that you attached. I will let you know how it is running in a couple of days.

[Bamm Bamm]

What kind of corals etc are you planning on keeping?
I'm running a mag12 for a return on my 55 and also a mag9.5 for a closed loop.I'll be upgrading to a mag18 soon=) I need more flow.. That's why I ask i think a mag7 would be ok for a regular tank with softies etc. but otherwise your going to want more flow unless you want to run a bunch of powerheads.

[energyguy]

I was thinking of just a FOWLR, fish only with live rock. I have two power heads already. Does a closed loop use two pumps? I was thinking of just using one pump and just using a gravity flow for output. I have a mag 7 on the way to pump the water back into the tank.

[energyguy]

My sump is overflowing.... please help!!!

[Reefland]

Can you explain that a little bit more? What kind of overflow box did you get? What kind of return pump are you using?

[energyguy]

I have 58 gallon oceanic glass that doesn't have any holes drilled in it. I got a

CD-790091 Continuous Siphon Overflow (1" Bulkhead, 800 gph).

I am using a mag 7 return pump.

I havent setup the overflow because I don't know what kind of PVC pipe to get for it.

[Reefland]

If you haven't set up the overflow yet, how do you have water draining into your sump?

In order to regulate the flow draining from the tank and the water pumped from the sump, you have to use your overflow box. To plumb it, you can either use schedule 40 PVC or flexible hose connected to the overflow.

Scott Z.

[energyguy]

I got a siphon going using just a u tube to a hose. So should I just get a pvc long enough from the bottom of the overflow box to just above the sump then a 90 degree bend to the sump and a length of pvc to the sump and then another 90 degree bend into the sump because all I was give for the overflow was a 1" bulkehead. My mag 7 was not getting enough water also.

[Reefland]

Yes, keep in mind though the more bends the water drains through, the less capacity your overflow will have.

Hooking up a drain to a U tube with no internat surface skimmer will not work. There is no way to balance to flow in and out and will cause 1 to overflow; you must use some type of overflow box.

Scott Z.