Advice on building a sump/ wet dry filter

[firestorm]

I might be obtaining a free 60 gallon square aquarium from work. It already has I know one hole drilled on the bottom of the tank (there might be 2, I can't remember) So what I wanted to do is instead of covering the holes, I was thinking of using either my 15 gallon tank, or a 20 gallon tank for the sump. Now I just have almost no idea how to build one. My boss said he will help me out with some of the plumbing supplies. I deal with many sump systems and stuff at work, but some of them I absolutely hate how they were built. The only other problem as well is I don't want the intake at the bottom of the tank, since I plan on using sand as a substrate in the tank. I can build things easily when I have some sort of instructions to follow, but am not good with figuring this stuff out myself lol. Any help would be great, thanks

[Boom]

Where in the tank are the holes located? If they are near the back or a corner, and there are two holes, then I suggest building an overflow and a durso standpipe. One hole would be the drain (durso standpipe) and you could plumb the return line thru the other hole, to have it come out anywhere you want at the top of the tank. If there is only one hole, just drill another one. But do ensure that the glass isn't tempered first (the tempering could have been done after the original hole was drilled).

Plumbing a sump is not that hard. I also knew absolutely nothing about them. I did a bunch of research on the net and talked to a few guys at my LFS's and before I knew it I was buiilding my own. You can see my 180 tank project post for details on how I did mine. It's basicaly a simple system to drain water from the tank into the sump, filter it, then pump it back into the tank.

Boom :boom:

[firestorm]

Thanks, I will check the holes again today when I go in. I know how to put the intake and return, but it's just building all the little compartments themselves and stuff in the sump box. What would be the most effective way? I also wanted to make this tank into a planted tank, but found out that sumps will create alot of CO2 loss. How can I prevent this and make as little CO2 loss as possible?

[Boom]

As far as the compartments in the sump go, set up the filter media similar to what you would in a cannister filter. Tthe way mine is set up is so the water drops onto a coarse sponge, which will trap all the larger particles. This sponge is easy to remove and will be rinsed often. After the water flows thru that sponge, it will go thru about 5 gallons of bio balls below and beside it. After the bio balls, the water will flow through another med sponge, then some filter floss pads to polish it, before going to the "compartment" where the pump is to return the clean water into the tank. The "compartments" in my sump are just made by siliconing glass strips to the side walls of the sump, then I cut and place egg crate (light diffuser) to seperate the areas. You can make as much room as you want between the ares to hold the filter media. You probably will want to put your heater in the sump as well, so that you don't see it in the tank.

Hope that's clear

As far as the CO2 concerns, I have never had planted tanks and don't know much about it. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

Boom :boom:

[Parachromis1]

If you want to keep Co2 levels high in your tank, just make sure their isn't a lot of splashing, that's how the Co2 disperses into the air.

You dont have to do an over flow box either.

you could plumb something to the top of the tank from the hole, and have water rush down it, but have it high enough, so if/when the power goes out the sump won't overflow.

[Drydock]

If you want to keep Co2 levels high in your tank, just make sure their isn't a lot of splashing, that's how the Co2 disperses into the air.

You dont have to do an over flow box either.

you could plumb something to the top of the tank from the hole, and have water rush down it, but have it high enough, so if/when the power goes out the sump won't overflow.

Ya, I have a sump and I burned through my first 10 lb canister of C02 in 2 months... and that is AFTER I minimized the splashing in the tank and to the sump. If you can, fit a lid for your sump as well to keep the gas in. I'm hoping that my new adjustments will help me slow that one down and still run CO2 in the 20 ppm range.

I keep my overflow as high as I can without overflowing my tank, but then the fish swim through the egg carton grate So I have found a happy medium where there is as little noise, little cascade as possible.

My drain pipe exits near the bottom of my sump so that it is below the surface level, minimizing splash. I use a bunch of pot scrubbers for bio media and then I have a T off my return that goes into a filter sock for polishing. It also helps you control the rate of flow back to the tank to balance with what your drain flow is.

The returns are all below the surface level in my tank, so they don't agitate the surface there. The problem is that in a power out situation, they will drain my tank into the sump. I have room for about 20 gallons of water in my sump, over and above the typical operating level if that happens. I would be inclined to run a return line outside the back of the tank and over the top and drill an anti-siphon hole in it. You can get check valves and what not, but everyone I talked to when I was setting up my tank says they will fail after a while and it's not a piece of equipment you can exactly rely on.

[firestorm]

What if I were to hook the CO2 system up so that it is in the sump, going into the last compartment before it goes back up through the return? Or is there any way of actually hooking your CO2 into the return line? I might do an overflow, but checking today it only has one hole drilled in the bottom, but the hole isn't in the corner. So I would have to drill another hole in the corner if wanting to do it this way. I would however prefer having my return on the outside of the tank, with the nozzle resting over like with a canister filter (I already know enough to drill a small hole in the return to prevent overflow) . I actually have some spare tanks that were being used for who knows what, outside in my garage. They should do fine if I cut them down to the sizes I need, to silicon in the sump for my compartments. So basically for the compartments I want to have the glass about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up to the height of the sump, then put eggcrate for the rest of it? I will have to pay closer attention to detail with the sumps I work with at work (at least the ones I like the set up on) and figure out if that same set up will work for me. Thanks for the info so far guys

[Drydock]

What if I were to hook the CO2 system up so that it is in the sump, going into the last compartment before it goes back up through the return? Or is there any way of actually hooking your CO2 into the return line?

My CO2 line goes into the intake of my return pump. That way, the impeller diffuses the bubbles into tiny bubbles and they get deposited directly into the tank. The water returning to the tank should have the highest concentration of CO2 (Theoretically) It also saves me from having a powerhead or diffuser in my display tank.

The challenge is, that standing water has a CO2 level of about 3-5 ppm. As the water gets agitated, even going down your drain pipe, dumping into the sump, and anywhere you would get cascade, you will have CO2 being released out of the water. So yes, best place to add CO2 is the return pump, but a lot of what you are trying to accomplish will get stripped out as water enters your sump.

[werner]

Are you sure you're not adding a lot of unnecessary complication and expense here? You can use a sump with CO₂ if you really want to, but just 'cause the tank was free and has holes drilled doesn't mean it's the best option...