Reef Ready Sump - NO INSTRUCTIONS?

[skeety]

OKay.....just shelled out QUITE a bit of money on an Oceanic Reef-Ready sump (model 1)...and low and behold...there are NO instructions. That's right...not poor instructions...but NO instructions.

Can anyone help me?

Seems like for what I paid..it'd come with some help...but all I have is a certificate of inspection, and a parts list.

ANy help would be appreciated.
(I already tried their site...and while they have a picture of my product..that's all they have. http://www.oceanicsystems.com )

[wharyat]

Welcome to TRT!

Not familiar with that product, have you emailed or called oceanic?

Good luck

[icebear]

they are nice looking setups. i guess you'd just put your overflow tube in one end and your return pump in the other...

[skeety]

no phone # for Oceanic....but I have e-mailed them. Their reply was
"We are currently working on instructions. We can fax you what we have so far"

very reassuring...(sigh).

I don't have access to a fax machine, so I asked if they could e-mail them to me, or post them on their site. Haven't heard back from them.

My dealer told me it's a pretty typical trickle (wet-dry) filter. most of it looks intuitive...just got a bunch of washers/connectors that I don't know where they go. And with 80 gallons sittin' on top...not really sure I wanna GUESS. heheehe

maybe if I coudl find instructions for a SIMILAR device...I could make a more educated guess. Any tips on instrucitons for other trickle/sump pumps that you know of?

[icebear]

i was a goofball and built my own, so each part did what it did cause i either got lucky or "cause i said so"....lol

[skeety]

I'm kind of new to salt-water...so this kind of pump is new to me.

Since you built your own...can you maybe point me to somewhere that explains the basic parts? maybe I can map those parts to what I have, and have some better luck.

I know that a tube will come down from my reef-ready fish tank, into the sump. And another will come out of hte sump and back into the tank...as those parts are obvious...but any other info would be of use.

if you happen to have any diagrams you can e-mail me, that'd be great to. My e-mail is mike.soda@lmco.com

[icebear]

hmmm... i went really SIMPLE with my diy sump and pesterd the heck out of Doug while making the complex (to me) parts.
I tried a quick search for DIY sump discussions with pics.

Basically all i used with my sump was a 30 gallon tank, and i siliconed 2 baffles into it, put the return pump in the right side and the inflow on the left, made the overflow box out of 2 plastic 'catch boxes' and a large Whisper uplift tube.

I'm not really sure what use i could be if you have assorted connectors and stuff. i would guess that most of it is for optional equipment......to add on later... skimmer, uv filter, cal reactor...etc...

[rottielover]

I have the model 2 sump, basically the same thing except I have two overflow "inputs".

You should have gotten two "bulkhead" fittings. One is for the hole in the side of the sump, and one is for the glass piece that goes on top of the sump on the other end.

I'll go thru my pics and see if I can find you something that will help out..


Let's see. I installed the bulkheads so that the threaded ends go out from the sump. You might want to remove the foam insert that came with it, if you keep it in there, be prepared to clean it quite often (once a week most likely).

I got rid of the bio balls "box" (black box usually sold as an "option"), and instead I used short PVC pipes with threaded ends to keep the splash to a minimum.

I also modified my sump by adding a glass panel near where the overflow water enters the sump so that I could have a "mud bed" in there.

I think pic;s would help you out the most, Let me see what I can find. Be back to post in a while.

[rottielover]

Ok, I'll see if these help you out. I don't have many pics of the sump, as I normally take pics of the tank, but I can snap a few shots to help you out if needed, just ask.

1st Pic - Very old shot of sump, skimmer in the "clean water" side not hooked up. You can see the bulkhead fitting in the side of the sump, use the rubber o ring and place it in the water side of the sump use thread tape or compound and hand tighten bulkhead

2nd Pic - Newer shot when I hooked up the skimmer and moved it to the mud bed, you can see the mag 9.5 in the "clean water" area to run the skimmer, the Mag 18 is to the left out of view, I purchased PVC thread connectors 1" to 3/4" reducing to reduce the 1" bulkhead to 3/4" hose barb, I used 3/4" hose to connect the return pump.

3rd pic - Mud Bed and Heater visiable

4th pic - Skimmer cup, you can see the return lines from the overflow, but I didn't get a shot of the bulkheads and glass. Note- my sump is now completly OPEN on top, and no loger lighted.

5th bmp - rough drawing of how my tank is setup with the sump.


Let me know if this helps out!

[rottielover]

Forgot ...

I removed the bioballs box, heard that these were a nitrate factory, I added 1" PVC pipes with threaded fittings to the overflow bulkheads, I also sawed "air breaks" into them, this "puts" the water down into the sump level and keeps it from splashing all over.

When I purchased my sump it was a clearance item from the LFS and they gave me the "options" (bio balls box, glass top, plumbing kit) free with it.

If you didn't get the plumbing kit you might have to purchase the bulkheads and tubes.

[rottielover]

OH YA

IMPORTANT NOTE: I installed a 1-way valve on the return between the pump and the tank. If you don't install one and shutoff the power to the pump the tank will drain into the sump to the level of the output in the tank.

In my case since my output in down at the sand bend 125 gals would drain into a 30 gal tank (essentially what the model 2 is) and then onto the floor...

[burkleman]

Maybe if you listed or took pics of all the pieces we could instruct you on how to put it together. with out know exactly what parts you have it would reather hard.

[btang]

Sounds like you got this from a LFS? I would be looking to get this help on the setup. Thats why we pay a premium price at the LFS, to get the personnel customer service. Can they help?

[skeety]

VERY helpful! Thank you VERY much!

[Tim224DT]

Hows that sump working out for you???


Tim