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What do you think about my sump?
- Thread starter ricwilli
- Start date
mikem said:
Its not just one bulkhead, there are two 1" bulkhead. What I would like to do is have the water come down into the skimmer box, the skimmed water will output into the other box and pass through the baffles and into the return section. I would like for only the skimmed water to go back into the tank. The other reason why the bulkheads are there is becuase, when ther is a power outage or I decide to turn off thr power, the water will overflow into the other box, because the skimmer box will not be able to hold all of the water from the tank and skimmer. I will also have a T on the pvc pipe that is comming from the tank to supply water to the fuge.
mikem said:
Yes, that is what I am saying. The T will have a valve to control the amount of water going into the fuge section. The reason why the baffle is that tall, is because that section is only 8"x10". I want more dirty water from the tank to go to that section so the Micro Algae can gro. The more area for the micro algae to gro the better.
My sump is the same set up with the fuge at the end for Macro Algae ... my question is will your return dry up before your skimmer has enough time to fill your return area? .... the return pump will have to dictate a perfect flow to even those two sections out.
male sure u do a test i tried that once & i had the same thing two 1 inch bulkheads but my problem was my pump was to strong so it dint work for me, even if i T the return line back to the sump so i can let some pressure the bulkheads would work but now i had microbubbles on the other side.
JM2C it does look good.
JM2C it does look good.
As pointed out, I think your only problem might be that your skimmer won't pump enough water into the return section to keep up with your return pump.
What I think is going to happen is the water draining into your skimmer section is going to fill up all the way up to the bulk heads and spill into the return section along with the the output from the skimmer. Looking at the position of the bulkheads, I would guess that you will have a lot of splashing water and bubbles.
Perhaps if you turn the bulkeads around so that the threaded end is inside your skimmer area and then run an 90 degree directly from the other side of the bulkhead and a piece of pvc from that to direct the water down behind the first baffle (like you did with the skimmer output), then it would force the water to go through the baffels instead of splashing over them. That is assuming the water will act like I think and fill up to the bulkheads.
What I think is going to happen is the water draining into your skimmer section is going to fill up all the way up to the bulk heads and spill into the return section along with the the output from the skimmer. Looking at the position of the bulkheads, I would guess that you will have a lot of splashing water and bubbles.
Perhaps if you turn the bulkeads around so that the threaded end is inside your skimmer area and then run an 90 degree directly from the other side of the bulkhead and a piece of pvc from that to direct the water down behind the first baffle (like you did with the skimmer output), then it would force the water to go through the baffels instead of splashing over them. That is assuming the water will act like I think and fill up to the bulkheads.
steve68 said:
I've thought about this problem, when it was first on paper. My solution was to control the incomming water with a ball vavle and control the return with a ball valve. But now that everyone is mentioning it, I am having second thoughts. The dial in would have to be perfect.
What if I make two more holes in the middle just below the first baffle and have the output of the skimmer go into its own box? That way the water can overflow in the middle instead of the top. I can also make the two hole a couple of inches above the first baffle.
Well, the problem you might have with that is your water height in your skimmer section needs to be at the correct level for your skimmer. Looking at your picture and guessing based on my ASM G4, it looks as if your current bulkheads are about the correct height for the running level of your skimmer.
If you can determine the max height of emergency fill up, you can cut a notch out of the top of both chambers above that height. Then attach a lip/channel to the skimmer chamber so that it overhangs the main sump. If you can make it the full length of the main sump width, volume won't be an issue. If your not able to do something like that and your still concerned about the volume in the skimmer chamber, you can install more bulkheads.
I was considering designing something similar for those who had a tight stand. The only difference was, I was going to make the fuge the separate chamber since the flow is much slower and the water height wasn't as much a factor.
I was considering designing something similar for those who had a tight stand. The only difference was, I was going to make the fuge the separate chamber since the flow is much slower and the water height wasn't as much a factor.
ricwilli said:
If the "incomming" means the return pipe from tank's overflow into sump, I would never put there any kind of valve or any other kind of obstacle. Valve on the pupmp's output shold be sufficient for regulating the flow.