The sump

[derosier]

Finally got my sump built, installed and running!!!! What a project. Wouldn't have been so bad, but I couldn't find a place here willing to drill my glass sump tank (just a standard 10Gal I had laying arround). So I broke the end of it out, cleaned it up and siloconed in a piece of acrilic (that I alread had cut a hole for the bulkhead in).

Few lessions I learned:
1. Not even the LFS will necessarliy know where you can get a glass tank drilled at.

2. Vinal tubing can be very uncooperative!

3. Playing with PVC is fun (and easy BTW).

4. Use an acrilic tank so you can drill it yourself.

I don't know what all the fuss is about loud pumps...the sound of the water falling from my tank to the sump is loud enough to make me go deaf, let alone being able to hear the pump. I did manage to get the sound from the over flow cut to almost nothing by using a standpipe, but still the water dumping from the vinal tube into the sump is VERY loud.

If any newbie here is interested in taking the plunge from their old methods to a sump, let me know, be happy to tell you about my DIY sump project. Hopefully I will soon have photos online. I've just been too busy playing with my tank to get a website going.

Anyway, glad I took the plunge!

[Alice]

You might try some baffling in your sump as well as extending the pipe that returns to the sump so it's closer to the water line. Sumps are great but I'm sure glad the new one I just plumbed was acrylic

~Alice

[Kinesthesia]

I had the same problem, could not find anyone to drill my 20 gallon tank/sump. So, I switched to a submersible pump. I run a hose from the bulkhead down into the sump, and mine is designed to have 6" of water standing on one side for my future skimmer, so I just put the hose down into the water and there's no noise.

First there was the water falling into the overflow, solved by a standpipe.

Then I could hear my external pump, but now my sub pump is silent.

So, now I can hear the fans in my canopy... I guess once I drop the voltage a bit to quiet them, I'll be able to hear the fish burp after feeding time....

[DaveJ]

I like alices idea of extending the pipe.. you might also want to get creative and add a flute or something. The idea being to put something on the end of the pip to deflect the water in a "precise and military" fashion into the sump. Might try a half-pipe or even float some foam. If you have a pump that pumps the water in, you could probably extend the pipe into the water, not sure that gravity would do that though...

[derosier]

I played with my new sump a bit yesterday, and I got my bubble problem under control. Didn't mention it, but I was getting lots of bubbles swept back into the display tank, I guess that's the price you pay to run 500 gal/hour through a 10 gallon sump (which of course is probably holding closer to 7 gallons...) I already had things very well baffled but too much flow for such a short tank. I stuffed a bunch of bio-balls into the first bubble riser area to breakup the flow a bit and allow the larger bubbles to collect and rise, and then in the second bubble riser area I stuffed some corse filter padding, and some bio-balls over it; this takes care of the last bit of bubbles. Now I only get a very few micro bubbles back into the tank, not enough to bother me.

As far as the noise goes, I can't seem to make it much better. If I put the hose into the water I get lots of air exploding up out of the water from the hose. The air coming up in such a violent fashion causes the water to splash and make lots of noise. Lots of air is getting sucked down my overflow through the hose. Which BTW has to go more or less horizontal for a while to get to the sump. Actually, from the barb fitting, the hose curves down, back up, and then finally back down into the sump, probably causing some of my "trapped air" problem. Anyway, I have the hose pouring right at the top of the water so it doesn't fall very far but still allows the air to escape. So far this is the best position from a flow and noise stand point. Frankly it wouldn't be so bad if my sump was enclosed, but as it is sitting right out in my living room next to the tank... Next time I will think ahead and get a stand that I can put a sump under.

Good news is I can hear the fan I put on the tank to cool it down. **** it runs hot now! Keeping the A/C on in the house so it stays near a constant 75 degrees + a fan on the sump is required just to keep the tank at 82. Someone here mentioned that the Velocity series of pumps runs hot and I think they are right. Other than that I think the pump is great. Perhaps if I could get a bit of air circulation around that pump maybe that would help...

And now I am dossing kalk...my new top-off system works great! I've got a 5 gallon Rubbermaid, with a small Mag pump inside to pump top-off via hose to my sump. The pump is controlled via a Ultralife float switch in the sump outlet chamber. Each top-off run only goes for a few seconds putting an estimated 1/75th of a gallon (5"x5"x1/8" if you want to check my math ), in per run. I guestimate that somewhere about 1/2 gallon goes in per day (haven't really done the numbers yet).

Question: I should be getting that 1/2 inch of white water (with the rest all clear) on the bottom of my top-off container, right?

And the best news--the tank looks great! (And that's all it is really about anyway, right?)

- Steve

PS And if you got this far, thanks for bearing with my long-winded ramblings...