![]() The one on the right is the full siphon with the one on the left acting as the open channel while the one in the middle is the emergency drain in case of blockage. You do not have to drill your tank for your return lines and simply have them go over the rim but drilling and using bulkheads ensure they’re secure and are much cleaner looking.The above image shows the layout of the standpipes. Last, you will need to add a diffuser to the outlet of the return line. Check ValvesĪlso, you will want to add a check valve to prevent water from flowing back down your return lines when the pumps are turned off or there is a power failure. A smaller and dedicated pump or pumps for this task can work just fine. ![]() You don’t have to use your return pump for this and you may not want to for various reasons. Reactors, Protein Skimmers, and Other EquipmentĪnother consideration is that you will want to consider how to incorporate reactors, protein skimmers, and other equipment that may need to have water flow. There will be quite a bit of head pressure to overcome so I’ll obviously have to significantly step up in flow to deal with that hurdle. For instance, I’m working on a new tank build where I will have my sump in my basement. You will need to take into account head pressure so merely looking at the pump specifications and seeing that it pumps 1000 gallons per hour won’t work. If you have a 100-gallon tank you will want to pump 1000 gallons per hour. Ideally, you want to pump 10 times the volume of your aquarium display volume every hour. There are several options here but we need to start with how much water needs to be pumped per hour. Obviously, we need a return pump to pump the water back up to the display tank. Return Line Reef Tank Plumbing Display Tank Turnover With a controllable pump you can save some electricity and pump life by simply tuning the pump down in flow. The valve adds additional head pressure to the system the pump has to overcome. In the Herbie and Bean Animal overflow designs a valve is included to adjust the amount of overflow to tune it to be silent. The return pump will need to deal with the added pressure of pumping water up several feet in that scenario.Īn adjustable or controllable return pump is not required but a nice addition if you can afford it. For instance, some people place their sump in a basement room beneath their main aquarium. This can be bends but can also be distance. Head pressure is additional pressure caused by the plumbing. You’ll also need to account for head pressure. You’ll need get a pump powerful enough to turn over the volume of the main tank 10x per hour. The return pump push water up the return line which in turn pushes water down the overflow. The return pump is what runs the entire setup. Bath and Kitchen silicone sealant frequently has anti-bacteria additives which are a really bad idea for use in your sump. Silicone adheres to glass with a death grip which is why it’s best to use glass baffles but if you don’t put much pressure on acrylic baffles it should work fine. Get reef-safe silicone sealant to adhere your baffles. Glass dividers are best but you can use acrylic. Many people build their own sump with a 40 gallon breeder tank. You can purchase a ready-made sump or build your own. This is also done with just 2 baffles by simply omitting the third. Then, with the third, the water travels over again. ![]() A bubble trap is nothing more than 3 baffles. Sumps use baffles to divide it into separate chambers with bubble traps in-between. If you go with the flexible clear tubing, be sure to get the braided type to help eliminate kinking. ![]() Return lines down to your sump are typically PVC but can also be clear plastic tubing. It should be left above the water line so that it will be loud and help alert you to a problem. The only exception is the emergency return. When plumbing in a sump you’ll typically want to have your return lines end below the water level. Allows for larger equipment than hang-on-back (HOB) equipment.Adds water volume which helps stabilize fluctuations in tank parameters.Maintains a constant water level in the display tank.
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