Sump Help

[Micah00]

I want to have a sump on my 135 and have many questions. 1: I can't drill the tank because there is a sticker on the bottom that states it is tempered so where can I find an overflow for less than $90? 2: I probally would like to use a rubbermaid container or aquarium and I know it can't be full because if the power goes out the water will drain back to the sump and if it is full it will overflow right? So what the minimum I will need? And if I do this do I put some sort of divider in the tank\container. 3: It is almost 6 ft from the bottom of my stand to the top of the tank so I will have a J tube in the overflow can I couple that and run pvc to the sump or should I use some sort of flex tube and how will I prime it? I think it would take a while to try to suck water that far with airline. Also what gph pump would I need to push water that far because let's say a pump that is rated for 500 gph surely won't push water back at 500 at 6' uphill. And what size pvc should I use to plum the pump? I could be completly wrong about all of this the only thing I know about this sort of thing is I have a hang on wet\dry on my 40 that holds 15 gal and it is set up with an overflow box with a j tube that you prime with airline and on the opposite end a 802 hard plummed with 1\2 pvc returning water.

 

[liquid]

1) You might be able to drill one of the sides of your tank as IIRC, only the bottom is tempered. Call the mfg of your tank to verify this. If only the bottom is tempered, you can drill one of the sides of your tank and use either a Durso or Stockman standpipe.

2) As long as you design your overflow and return plumbing correctly your sump won't overflow. To keep the water from flowing back to your tank, drill a hole in your return line right at the water line. This hole will act as a siphon stopping hole. I'd probably look at a 75 gal Rubbermaid stock trough in your situation just due to water volume.

3) Head over to http://www.reefs.org/library/pumps and read Sanjay's Advanced Aquarist article, download the Excel spreadsheet, and use the pump data there to select a pump. I'm a big fan of using fairly large pipe to minimize the potential for your plumbing to plug due to a snail or whatnot.

hth

Shane

 

[Micah00]

So I can drill a hole at the water line in the sump correct? How big should the hole be?

 

[liquid]

So I can drill a hole at the water line in the sump correct? How big should the hole be?

The hole is drilled in the return line at the water level in your main tank -- not the sump. Referring to this pic from Sanjay's article:

The hole would go right at the waterlevel in the main tank somewhere around that 90° elbow.

Shane

 

[Micah00]

Okay say I want to use a submersible pump can I just sit that in the sump and run it strait up with a ball valve and check valve? And on my j tube out of the overflow do I want to couple that with pvc and start prime with a pump? Sorry about all the questions, but I pretty much need a book " Tank Pluming For Idiots".