Steveo's DIY sump

steveo9043

steveo9043

New member
So after talking in the chat I have decided to go with a sump. I plan to pickup a tank tonight from petco if they still have there $1 per gallon tank sale going on.

The pump on my HOB fuge/ps went out and this is what made me decide to do it.

Current setup:
72 gallon bow front
CPR Aquafuge PS

the plan:

dual overflows
20 gallon long or 29 gallon for sump
Utilize the CPR aquafuge as a protein skimmer only (for now)

Left side: one drain with the pump for the Aquafuge
middle: return pump
right: the other drain, into the fuge section

Help/criticism(positive)/comments/etc are welcome.

When I bought my setup it came with a return pump. I don't know exact specs right now but I will look at it when I get home. I want to utilize it as this is a budget built.
 
Ok I got home and looked at the pump. It's a cap-2200 rated at 800 gph.

I saw a YouTube video that stated 1.5in PVC is good for 840gph.

So I should do two 1.5in overflows? Correct?

Or do I take into consideration the height at which its going to pump?
 
steveo9043 said:
Ok I got home and looked at the pump. It's a cap-2200 rated at 800 gph.

I saw a YouTube video that stated 1.5in PVC is good for 840gph.

So I should do two 1.5in overflows? Correct?

Or do I take into consideration the height at which its going to pump?
Click to expand...

I had just one 1.5 overflow with a 950gph pump not a good match had to tune down the pump with a ball valve. You don't really need a lot of flow from your return pump just enough for the water to go from the sump to the tank. How much feet from the sump to the tank?
 
I would say from the bottom of the sump up to the top of the tank a good 5ft. I didn't even think about a ball valve to turn the flow down.
 
i would do two for the redundancy and be happy with the margin in the math. Everything that can go wrong, will. Having two drains that are individually capable of taking all the flow is a minimum requirement for me and a pump suddenly flowing a little faster isn't all that far fetched if it was burning out or something. For super back-up you could have the drains flow together first and the split again to your skimmer and fuge. It's probably overkill, but then you can really control your fuge flow AND have redundancy in the drain. (Picture a big H on the back). I really like this specific design for a sump either way. you can shut down one side for cleaning and leave the system running. can't do that when everything is down stream in a series. Get gate valves instead of ball valves if you can. Worth the extra cost IMHO.

Oh, and you are going to LOVE being able to vacuum into your sump without needing anything more than a filter sock and a tube.
 
Yea the H design I saw in your thread is what I will go with.

What I'm trying to decide is if I should do the homemade PVC overflows or buy overflows.

Overflows are expensive to buy.

Also do I need a stove pipe?
 
The calculator is stating about 375 gph. That's a huge difference! I plan on using flexible hose for the return. So that's without putting any angles besides 2 90's at the top.
 
Add the gate valve for extra tweaking to get the right amount of flow for the skimmer to work at best. I would do both drains at an 1 inch each and as a herbie style on lower than the other. You don't need an overflow box just think they take up room in my opinion. You can drill two holes and attach strainers to them to act as drains.
 
So essentially do one of the PVC overflows 1in or a half inch higher/lower then the other? The lower one restrict the flow so that the water level is high enough to barely flow into the higher one?
 
steveo9043 said:
So essentially do one of the PVC overflows 1in or a half inch higher/lower then the other? The lower one restrict the flow so that the water level is high enough to barely flow into the higher one?
Click to expand...

I have a better idea than that, but the herbie overflow is where you have one primary drain and the other is back up just in case one fails.

I found some things you want to look at read on this thread and see if you might consider this kind of overflow.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2148823
 
ok, I think i am going to hit up Petco tonight along with homedepot for pvc and fittings.

with the calculation of head pressure it states 375 GPH my pump will put out. and a 1in pvc is rated at 375gph. I obviously don't want to run the drain at 100% so going with the herbie style drain. 1 main drain and 1 backup. Is both at 1.25in pvc good? should I bump it up to 1.5in?

Now with using one as a backup, i think the H would be out of the question. Being that I want some water to go to both the refugium and the skimmer area. So now I am thinking about an upside down y.

The green and red represent both individual drains.

 
Herbie said:
same thing. all connected. no stinky dead pipe. half the cost MHO.

Orange circles are gates. and yes, i gate my drains to adjust flow to the fuge. (I'm crazy like that).
View attachment 17070
Click to expand...

If you connect it all as one, doesn't that defeat the purpose of a backup?

Granted it would still drain if one pipe is clogged and the other side isn't. However if the free(Er) flowing side gets clocked then the restricted side can't drain fast enough causing the tank to overflow.....?
 
Has anyone used actuall u bends in the DIY overflow?

7u4u2umy.jpg


I haven't seen one and was wondering y
 
Ok need advice here. I really thought the back of my stand was wide open. Well I was wrong! There is a center divider.

Can I take off the front support for a few mins then reconnect it?

sanysy9y.jpg


What's my options here?
 
Let me tell you what I did when I just recently swapped sumps cut 2 2x4s to an exact fit between the bottom panel of the stand and the horizontal top brace jam them in to the left and right of center then take out the vertical center brace maneuver your new sump into place reinstall the vertical center brace then remove temporary 2x4 braces. But no matter what you are taking a risk so proceed with caution.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
 
sparky5785 said:
Let me tell you what I did when I just recently swapped sumps cut 2 2x4s to an exact fit between the bottom panel of the stand and the horizontal top brace jam them in to the left and right of center then take out the vertical center brace maneuver your new sump into place reinstall the vertical center brace then remove temporary 2x4 braces. But no matter what you are taking a risk so proceed with caution.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Thanks for the Input. I know I will be taking water out to lighten the load as much as possible.

I've seen this online.

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atuzyhu2.jpg
a7ynedat.jpg


What I'm thinking is I only need to move that front brace a few inches to the right.

Make a new brace 5in to the right. Make a brace from front to back there as well. Along with connecting the two under braces together.
 
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