Parachromis1 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 So as many of you know, I love my cichlids. HOWEVER, they are dirty as hell, so I made some adjustments to my sump today. The whole concept of my sump I got from a good guy who goes by the name of Chris. (canucklehead Many of you know him and he definitely knows his stuff. While I was down at his house last year picking up a few fish from him, he showed me his sump setup on his 180, and explained how it worked. Because of this I was inspired to do the same thing, and well, it works very well for how cheap it is. The sump is a 58 gallon Hagen tank. The drawer system has poly wool in the first drawer to take out impurities, coarse foam in the second drawer for mechanical/biological filtration, and the bottom drawer is full of bio stars, bio balls, and ceramic rings (biomax) This works very well, I just need more bio media in the future because doing 50% water changes every second day is quite a bit of work. Its the drawer system shown here: I did however, switch out the return hosing so I could get more flow. We all know how dirty big fish are, especially mine. I am also switching over my complete design in a couple weeks, when I get a new tank to proceed with. I need one with actual baffles this time, as i'm doing a phosphate remover as well as a UV sterilizer to make my already perfect water now 110%. I switched the original 1 1/4" return hosing with some 3/4" spaflex. It was a pain in the butt switching the hosing over, and making different adapters fit, but I increased my flow by around 30% I would guess. Here is the new hosing: All comments and positive critism welcome!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 (edited) Quinn this looks and sounds great but the pics are a bit hard to see. Can you maybe take some more pics and a step by step of how the water flows out of the display tank and thru the sump and back in? As you know I set up a sump on my 180 which seems to work very well with my dirty africans, but anything I can do to make it better I'm interested in. Thanks! Oh, and to increase your bio media capacity, switch out the bio balls for pot scrubbers, I'm told they have like 20x more surface area or something like that. I intend to do the same in mine. Boom :boom: Edited January 11, 2009 by Boom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 Thanks for sharing, Quinn. A shot of the open drawer would be nice for us visual learners. I am not very knowledgeable on sumps, but I noticed that you used tubing instead of the hard plastic pipe. What are the benefits/drawbacks of that? Looking forward to more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Hey guys, sorry I did this write up in only a few minutes. Ill have to grab the camera off of my mom before she heads to Mexico. Greg: I used soft tubing because it was cheap, and I didn't wanna break my budget. As for pro/cons, there has been a few of each. It is definitely way easier to use than spa flex, because when you add a little heat to it it'll bend in any way you want it to!! A big con would be that the drawer system is a little tall, and sometimes the stupid hoses slip out've it and make a mess on my fishroom floor, draining my tank part way. Ryan: I can try and get some better pictures for ya, it is a pita though as my tank is against the wall and i'd have to climb on top of it to be able to take pictures of the overflows. I could try for better under tank pictures too, but its a really really tight fight, everything under there is pretty damn snug. And as for the pot scrubbies, I have like 150+ on the way from the states for a fraction of the price we would pay here My overflows are also jam packed with bio balls as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rED O Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 I got this when I clicked on the pictures Sorry, an error occurred. If you are unsure on how to use a feature, or don't know why you got this error message, try looking through the help files for more information. The error returned was: Sorry, but you do not have permission to use this feature. If you are not logged in, you may do so using the form below if available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Thanks Quinn, bio balls in the overflow is something I was considering doing on my 180. Do you find you get much build up in there? That needs to be cleaned out regularly? That would be my only concern. Boom :boom: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Thanks Quinn, bio balls in the overflow is something I was considering doing on my 180. Do you find you get much build up in there? That needs to be cleaned out regularly?That would be my only concern. Boom :boom: Yes and no Ryan. I mean they're will always be buildup down there in my opinion due to the fact that every particle in your tank flows over into the overflows. You would think there would be quite the buildup of wastes, but in fact there is only a little at the very bottom. I have a high flow rate and the water keeps mixing the crap up and bringing it down the durso. I have an old FX5 intake tube I shove down in the bio balls every once in a while to get all the crap out, and it works too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Did a little bit of work to my sump over the last little while. I was having problems with the tubing as well as waste building up in the overflows due to lack of waterflow through the bioballs in the overflows. I took all the biolballs out and put them in my bio tower. I also replumbed the whole setup. I used a a "T" and tee'd off my pump to both outputs, and now I also have no deadspots in my tank! It works like a charm. The bendable tubing I was using before was making me angry so I scrapped it and used 1" PVC for my drains. I also plumbed my pump and put a union valve on it incase I want to take it out to clean it. The return plumbing is 3/4" And of course the tank Next up is painting the back of this sucker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Since the photos are so small, here's my photobucket. my photobucket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsgofishn Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hey that looks pretty neat! Your drawer system looks tall, are you still doing 50% water changes every second day? So your tank has 2 overflows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted April 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hey that looks pretty neat! Your drawer system looks tall, are you still doing 50% water changes every second day? So your tank has 2 overflows? Well I haven't done one in a week lol....I should do one every 4 or 5 days now. And yes it does. Its a 0ceanic Reef Ready. The tower is pretty tall too, I've got 10 gallons of bioballs in the bottom drawer, 4 square feet of Japanese mat in the second, and in the top I have more mat, thick coarse foam and poly wool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 What type of pump are you using, and what made you go down a size in return size? I just picked up a mag 12 for a sump of mine, and the pump says to use 1.25" ID tubing for both lines for maximum flow, even though the pump itself only has 3/4". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsgofishn Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 What type of pump are you using, and what made you go down a size in return size? I just picked up a mag 12 for a sump of mine, and the pump says to use 1.25" ID tubing for both lines for maximum flow, even though the pump itself only has 3/4". check out this site, http://www.flexpvc.com/ for adapters. I know home depot has some adapters, but don't think that will make a difference if the pump is only 3/4". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parachromis1 Posted April 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2009 What type of pump are you using, and what made you go down a size in return size? I just picked up a mag 12 for a sump of mine, and the pump says to use 1.25" ID tubing for both lines for maximum flow, even though the pump itself only has 3/4". check out this site, http://www.flexpvc.com/ for adapters. I know home depot has some adapters, but don't think that will make a difference if the pump is only 3/4". Those are what I used, my pump is 1 1/4" and I reduced it to 3/4". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemi Posted June 8, 2009 Report Share Posted June 8, 2009 Looks like a great setup. Definatly go with the pot scrubbies I use them in my sump and cannisters and have noticed a difference in water clarity and cleanliness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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