New sump construction

[blainep]

Nothing to exciting, but I thought I'd show off my construction of a new sump I'm building.

The tank is a 40 gal. I'm using the corner drip panels I had hanging around from other tanks to create sections in the sump.

The idea is to have 3 sections, one for filtration, one heater/refuge area and a pump chamber.

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/fupdates/sump/mini-DSCN2265.JPG

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/fupdates/sump/mini-DSCN2266.JPG

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/fupdates/sump/mini-DSCN2267.JPG

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/fupdates/sump/mini-DSCN2268.JPG

The grating around the top is to support a lid. I hope to have this a closed sump to help with evaporation and noise.

Once it's in action I'll post a few more pictures.

[Katalyst]

Great idea to create a lid. While mine is open I don't find it noisy at all, it does loose a lot of water to evaporation though.

[Melody]

Nice work! Thanks for sharing the project with us. :smile:

[Shelley]

Why are you using panels that have slots in them? Doesnt this defeat the purpose of having 3 chambers when the water flows thru the dividers? Ive never used a freshwater sump, but in marine applications the water flows over the top of the baffles thus allowing control of the water level in the return pump chamber, annd also gives you a bit of safety in the event of a pump failure.

[blainep]

Why are you using panels that have slots in them? Doesnt this defeat the purpose of having 3 chambers when the water flows thru the dividers? Ive never used a freshwater sump, but in marine applications the water flows over the top of the baffles thus allowing control of the water level in the return pump chamber, annd also gives you a bit of safety in the event of a pump failure.

I'm not very familiar with salt, but I based this on similar designs I've already made and used. The slots are there to allow flow thru rather than over the baffles.
The baffles are really just walls to hold the filter media in place. When it's running, the water level in the sump will only be about 1/2 of the tank capacity. In the event of a pump failure, the water in the system should only fill the tank to about 3/4.

The rack I'm using this on currently is using 2 20 gallon tanks plumbed together as one sump. The only real advantage to this new sump is that it will spread things out instead of having things crammed together the way they are now. (It will also free up those two tanks for livestock on another rack)

[Katalyst]

Great idea to create a lid. While mine is open I don't find it noisy at all, it does loose a lot of water to evaporation though.
I'd like to eat my words now. Last night for some strange reason my sump was loud as heck. Guess I'll be making a cover too.

[Slipstream]

haha.. that always happens when ya say something isnt, than it is :p

[blainep]

I had the pump shut down on the big tank rack a couple weeks ago, so I decided to put the new sump into action.
It still isn't finished, I have to build a proper lid for it yet. But here's a look.

A poor picture, but it shows the sump.

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/me/mini-DSCN2346.JPG

The drip plates, filter pad and bio media

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/me/mini-DSCN2348.JPG

The heater chamber

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/me/mini-DSCN2349.JPG

And the pump chamber, the pump is a Rio 12HF.

http://tlfs.org/ntanks/me/mini-DSCN2350.JPG

The plan is to make a better lid, better drip plates and insulate the tank on 3 sides to help cut back heat loss.

Still some work to do, but an update.

[Melody]

I wish I could use something like that. One of these days...

[Soggybottom]

How loud is it then? Okay for the living room?

I'd like to do a sump when I get a bigger tank, and gurgling/splashing noise is the part I'm most worried about (after overflow failure and flooding that is :wink:).

[Melody]

How loud is it then? Okay for the living room?

I'd like to do a sump when I get a bigger tank, and gurgling/splashing noise is the part I'm most worried about (after overflow failure and flooding that is :wink:).


Think of it as living by a mountain stream... get some crickets for effect.

Or does that only work for us country girls? :biggrin:

[Soggybottom]

I think it might :rolleyes: :laugh:

I can imagine the city person response... "Steve I think your fish tank is malfunctioning and attracting insects, I'll be right back I think I left something in my car"
*tires squealing*

[blainep]

Over all, the amount noise from a sump depends on the construction of the sump.

I find that this new sump is very quiet. Having the water drain onto drip plates, thru a filter blanket and over the bio media seems to keep the noise down considerably.

I have another sump that is very noisy compared to the new one. It is just a tank that has the water pipes dropping the water into the sump. Great for aeration but very noisy.

Some of the noise is also based on the overflow or drain pipes. If they're not built right, you can get a lot of gurgling noise from the water going through the piping.

A little research on keeping things quiet will help out alot ! I have found several websites that show you how to keep the noise down when dealing with sumps and pumps and plumbing.