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55 gallon sump design?

4K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  Kathyy 
#1 ·
So I just picked up a used 125 that I'm going to setup for a harem of peacocks(probably otter point jakes). My plan at this point is to setup my old 55 as a sump.

I'm looking for some suggestions to make sure I get it as good as I can.

1st section; overflow drains, heaters, a baffle to set the water level so the heaters stay submerged.

2nd section; biomedia most likely reef rubble for nitrate reduction and buffering.

3rd section; fuge but I'm not sure how I'll use it.

4th section; return pump. separated from the fuge by eggcrate instead of a baffle.

Thinking smoked glass for baffles if I can get to reduce light pollution and algae troubles outside of the fuge.

seem reasonable?
 
#3 ·
Hmmm you've got a point. What to grow in there is another question. With the hard water I'll be running for this system the plant choices will be limited. I'm trying to figure out if some sort of bog or tidal plant that is in an emmersed form might do better at nutrient fixing.

The various mosses would be nice but don't tend to be super fast growers, although it does grow fairly quickly in my higher light tanks, but gets hair algae mixed in with it. Subwassertang(sp?) is another option. The advantage with the mosses etc... is that they are easy to trade in at the LFS for credit.

I was thinking of seeding the fuge with gammarus and RCS as well.
 
#4 ·
You're planting the fuge as a nitrate sink, correct? Will wisteria (hygro difformis) grow in your water? It grew like a weed in a tank I was running with a KH and GH around 9-10, pH around 8.0. It grows fast if you give it enough light and sucks up nutrients like crazy.
 
#9 ·
I like your idea of using a sump for the fish in question.

My only suggestion is use some sort of media baskets for the rock rubble, so you can easily remove it and clean it out once and awhile. It will accumulate a lot of dirt.

I would also wonder about the benefits of a refugium. Your going to be keeping a lot of big fish that produce a lot of waste. I doubt that any refugium you could construct in a 55 could keep up with them. You might consider building an algae scrubber, since that can do a lot more in a smaller space.
 
#10 ·
That's a possibility but I'm not sure how you'd integrate an ATS in the space.

Since a 29 is really smaller than I wanted to go. I'm planning on reinforcing the floor to hold a bigger tank. I'm thinking the 55 is too tall. It would fit inside the stand but wouldn't leave much headroom for maintenance.

So now I have to track down a 40 long or something similar.
 
#11 ·
I have a 55 gallon sump under my 75 gallon tank and I love it personally. It is a reach to get down into it and do regular work, but not a headache. It also slides out of the side of my stand (DIY stand built with this sump in mind) so I can do major cleaning.

Freshwater sumps can be kept very simple. All the baffles in a saltwater set up are really so that the skimmer has the ability to work, cut down on micro bubbles, and a handful of other things that just don't apply to a freshwater tank.

I wouldn't bother with smoked glass, or any glass personally. But if you do go with baffles, just stick to a 'low tech' lighting option. Water wisteria/water sprite/mosses will all grow in low light. That will essentially negate algae issues. The water wisteria and such will grow super quickly too.

I have one baffle in my sump. The water drains into a section that is about 18" long via a 2" overflow. There is a 4" plexy glass baffle that keeps the sand in this area. I have water sprite planted here and some moss. I have a colony of red cherry shrimp that stay here so they don't get eaten in the main tank. I then have a couple pieces of foam (15/30 PPI) that are 2" thick. They fit nice and tightly inside the dimensions of the tank. I then have a mesh basket with pot scrubbies, shower scrubs, foam from my canister, ceramic media from the canister, etc. After the bio media I have a couple heaters and a couple adjustable return pumps. I also keep a sponge filter in this area and purigen.

Not the best photo, but it is a simple straight through design that keeps my parameters within spec without issue.



I have a large stocking in my tank too, nearly 60 fish.



The sump level varies, but never anywhere near the return pump or heater. It may drop an inch or so between water changes. When I do water changes, the overflow drains the main tank to the lowest point it will be. I just fill the sump up to a couple inches below the rim and then click the pumps back on (after draining the sump of water for the water change).

I have an auto top off sensor in the main tank that prevents the return pumps from overfilling the tank in the event that the overflow gets clogged.

I think a straight through sump design is more than enough in a freshwater set up. It is just a giant area for mechanical and bio media. There isn't much more you need in a planted freshwater tank.
 
#12 ·
I have a 55 gallon sump under my 75 gallon tank and I love it personally. It is a reach to get down into it and do regular work, but not a headache. It also slides out of the side of my stand (DIY stand built with this sump in mind) so I can do major cleaning.

Freshwater sumps can be kept very simple. All the baffles in a saltwater set up are really so that the skimmer has the ability to work, cut down on micro bubbles, and a handful of other things that just don't apply to a freshwater tank.

I wouldn't bother with smoked glass, or any glass personally. But if you do go with baffles, just stick to a 'low tech' lighting option. Water wisteria/water sprite/mosses will all grow in low light. That will essentially negate algae issues. The water wisteria and such will grow super quickly too.

I have one baffle in my sump. The water drains into a section that is about 18" long via a 2" overflow. There is a 4" plexy glass baffle that keeps the sand in this area. I have water sprite planted here and some moss. I have a colony of red cherry shrimp that stay here so they don't get eaten in the main tank. I then have a couple pieces of foam (15/30 PPI) that are 2" thick. They fit nice and tightly inside the dimensions of the tank. I then have a mesh basket with pot scrubbies, shower scrubs, foam from my canister, ceramic media from the canister, etc. After the bio media I have a couple heaters and a couple adjustable return pumps. I also keep a sponge filter in this area and purigen.

Not the best photo, but it is a simple straight through design that keeps my parameters within spec without issue.



I have a large stocking in my tank too, nearly 60 fish.



The sump level varies, but never anywhere near the return pump or heater. It may drop an inch or so between water changes. When I do water changes, the overflow drains the main tank to the lowest point it will be. I just fill the sump up to a couple inches below the rim and then click the pumps back on (after draining the sump of water for the water change).

I have an auto top off sensor in the main tank that prevents the return pumps from overfilling the tank in the event that the overflow gets clogged.

I think a straight through sump design is more than enough in a freshwater set up. It is just a giant area for mechanical and bio media. There isn't much more you need in a planted freshwater tank.
I think you've got more clearance under your stand than mine :( I'll take some more measurements though as it would be nice to make use of the tank.
 
#14 ·
OK so I back on this project after a long break(well not a break really , just busy with more pressing things). What I'm looking at doing at the moment;

I'll be using a standard 29 from petco(already have) and an old 10 as and ATO reservoir. I'm using a deepwater aquatics BLDC5 for a return pump. A used Eshopps overflow.

So I'm looking for a few suggestions from you experienced sump builders. I'm not worried about microbubbles so baffles will be limited to what's necessary to set water levels etc...

First section will be highest and set a permanent water level primarily for the heaters. I'm not a fan of filter socks(need to be changed too often) I was also thinking of placing a small bucket of aragonite sand as a removable DSB(benefits are questionable but I don't see any detrimental effects) and possibly a place to put some clams to help filter the water. I have to figure out how big to make this section and exactly how high. I was thinking 9" long(to accommodate a 5 quart painters mixing bucket) and 15" high(heaters are around 12" but I thought a little extra was good as insurance for a longer replacement heater if I end up with something different in the future).

Second section(fuge) and third(return pump) are a little more of a question. I was thinking of not separating them with a solid baffle(allows more volume in the chamber which will see the evaporation(although with an ATO this may not be important). Thinking of making an eggcrate platform in the fuge section and placing the reef rubble on top(will allow me to siphon detritus from underneath without tearing everything apart. Then I'll put some subwassertang on top for nutrient export and selling to the lfs and adding some scuds/mts and whatever else for microfauna.

How to separate the second and third section to reduce the chance of something clogging the intake of the return pump is something I haven't worked out yet. Originally I was going to use eggcrate for the baffle as this would stop the subwassertang from being sucked into the pump as long as I kept it trimmed.

Thoughts/suggestions welcome.
 
#15 ·
I took the grills off the intakes of my pumps and put a short length of PVC drilled with many holes covered with a prefilter sponge on the intake. Works great. The pipe was a bit loose but putting as many zip ties on as needed snugged it up perfectly.
 
#18 ·
Well the purpose behind putting them in the bucket is so they have sand to bury themselves in. The golden clams I've had in the past weren't much bigger around than a silver dollar and didn't seem to move very far from where they initially buried themselves. There is another species of clam/mussel that's supposed to be hardier(and also doesn't have a parasitic larval stage) but I don't remember the species at the moment(I'll have to do some searching later).
 
#19 ·
Not my thread but more or less what mine looks like. Some people seem to put the sponge on a couple of right angles to keep sponge out of muck but that also means the pump is going to start nagging for more water sooner.
UG Jets Pre-Filter does not fit ? Cichlid-Forum
 
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