LARGE Sump ideas....
 

Everyone with a LARGE tank and LARGE sump....I need ideas for my 300g....I want an exterior sump that is large and functional..but have no ideas. I have been over Melev's site many many times, have looked at stuff on the other sites...but figured I'd try here too. PLEASE..if you have a LARGE sump (ie 100g) could you post pics of yours, what you like about it and what you would change if you could do it again? I really appreciate it!

I have a 100 gallon sump with quite a few baffles in it. I bought it used and what I would do differently is maybe not even have any baffles at all. I like having all the room in the world to do whatever I please. But I only paid $100 for it so I can't complain. It is made of acrylic so it has "euro" style cross bracing in a couple of places accross the top which limits me in what I can do as well.

In a baffle-less sump I would have the drain going into a small bucket or something with a bunch of holes in it. This would help with the bubbles and debris and sort of act like a settling chamber. If a fish goes down the overflow then it's in the bucket. I do not like having a strainer at my drain. I'd rather the fish go down the drain then for it to get gummed up and have to clean out the strainer often.

All said and done though, to me a sump is a sump - something to house all your equipment. You have the right idea by going BIG - means you can add lots later.

Hope this helps.

I also have a 100g sump on my 300g display. I posted some of my thoughts Here. There are some pictures of the sump if you read forward a bit. Shameless plug for my thread, but it's a lot easier then retyping what I already wrote.

I really only had a few requirements.

1. Able to hold any water that back siphoned in a power failure.
2. You really do need baffles before the final chamber to trap micro bubbles and contain the evaporation.
3. Flexible. My plans might change.

I think I'd summarize by saying that simple is better. The more complex you get with the design, the more fixed your configuration will be.

- Brad

I don't have a sump at all, but do hope to have one in the future. In any case, I saw a thread just the other day, don't recall whether it was this forum or another, but it dealt with adding volume by having one or more plastic 55 gal + drums. The idea was to add the drum as a detritus collector but apparently not much settled in there. The flow would be relatively slow through the drum since it's some sort of add on to the regular glass or acrylic sump with all the gear in it. Just a thought. That way you can have a smaller 'visible' sump while adding volume with large drums. You'll need some real estate of course, preferably a basement set up I reckon, although even a single large sump will take up plenty of room.

You should try talking to Jay (the tank builder from Elite) He does some pretty thorough sumps that really look like they flow well from chamber to chamber. Maybe someone could post a pic from the sumps on the floor at Elite to give an idea. I would take a pic of the one he built me but it's not ready until later in August.

Ever consider one of those massive Rubbermaid stock tanks or troughs? Although they're usually used to house koi in aquarium applications I have seen several sump examples.

I like my 140gal stock trough with everything basically thrown in. Its not very efficient in terms of directing water from the overflow through the filters but it is very easy to work with and didn't cost much.

Thank you all for the input.

I do want to have a glass sump....I want it to be viewable by customers so that they can better understand what a sump does....but I want it to be functional..that's all. No huge refugium or anything, just big and functional. So I think we'll just go simple and "safe". Was hoping to get a few pics of others sumps...but.......

Oh, and the tank is located in my store...so real estate is still at a premium!!! Must look good, even though it will be in a cabinet.....it will be made to look good, be functional and hide all the junk!!

IMO the fuge is the only functional part of a sump... everything else is just added on for function. (ie Reactors etc).. i would have 3 chambers.. inlet, fuge and return.. the inlet section would be big enough to house my skimmer and what ever else i wanted to add that needed a pump for operation....return would house return pump and probes and other small extras (no pump required. for the reason of micro bubbles)


If i had a shop and was doing this i would have the center of the sump viewble and a have a wicked fuge for customers to view... lots of different macro and do some small inverts like pompom crabs and sexy shrimp.. i have aways wanted to do somthing like this but just dont have the room..

just an idea that i think could work out great for a store..

That's how I build my sumps. One big skimmer box section for downflow from display, water overflows into big refugium section, then goes under another baffle to a small return pump section. If the sump is 4', then I would go 18" for skimmer box, 2' for the refugium section & 6" for the return pump section (or have skimmer box & fuge same size - 21"). Only 2 baffles needed and lots of room for everything. You can add some egg crate or mesh to cover under the second baffle to keep small inverts and such from crawling into the return pump. I grow Prolifera and chaeto in mine, with lots of extra rubble and even a removable deep sand bed in a tupperware container (about 7" deep).