You got to be quicker lolDMD123 said:Hey, no stealing my line!Jantilla said:That's what she said. !:madness said:Well you cant go wrong with bigger.
You got to be quicker lolDMD123 said:Hey, no stealing my line!Jantilla said:That's what she said. !:madness said:Well you cant go wrong with bigger.
Thats what she didnt say!Jantilla said:You got to be quicker lol
:laughhard:DMD123 said:Thats what she didnt say!Jantilla said:You got to be quicker lol
Just for reference, I was figuring out a pond setup for this Summer. I was going to have 2 x 300gal AG ponds flowing down into 4 x 120 gal ponds, totaling over 1000 gal. and was only going to build a wet/dry that measures 6' x 18" x 24",(150 gal) and the only reason I was going that large is because I was going to grow plants in it also.Zerc said:Ok! I guess i wont need as much media as i thought
Right now i have two rena canisters, an xp3 and xp4. i have 4 of the 7 baskets full of ceramic tubes and the rest is sponges. I was considering using my 125 as a sump, siliconing in compartments and filling it with media.
I suppose when you think about the volume of media i am currently using then a 5 gallon bucket full of media should be plenty!
Which is why you are probably going so large, correct?larry.beck said:You guys are gonna love the sump I'm having built to go under the 300g tank... it's ~100g total capacity, flowing 2100gph, and will include a freshwater refugium with plants and livestock, a carbon reactor for cleaning up water, and a media reactor for nutrient removal.
Correct. But I will say, I'm not a believer in small sumps. I do believe in small wet-dry systems though. I've seen people with 10g sumps before and I think the risk of flooding far outweighs and benefits of the sump in the case. Any sump has to have enough overhead to handle when the pump goes out. Plus you need enough capacity in your return area to account for evaporation. In my current 125g I lose about 10g per week to evaporation and expect that to increase with the larger surface area of the new tank. Finally, you need enough room for a proper bubble trap to eliminate the creation of microbubbles in the display tank.madness said:Which is why you are probably going so large, correct?larry.beck said:You guys are gonna love the sump I'm having built to go under the 300g tank... it's ~100g total capacity, flowing 2100gph, and will include a freshwater refugium with plants and livestock, a carbon reactor for cleaning up water, and a media reactor for nutrient removal.
The risk to an air gap approach like this is that the gap gets plugged. A bit of plant matter, fish matter, even food or detritus build-up, and you've got a flood-in-waiting on your hands. It's similar to the risk of only having a single return pipe; if that pipe gets blocked in any significant way, the tank will flood because the return pump will continue to return the same volume of water regardless. In this case you end up with a flood *and* a burned out pump because you ran the sump dry.seattle23 said:Just drill return tube with the proper height air stop. Hence even small sump and overflowing of water is non factor if that is done properly.
Shawn - I completely agree with you when discussing a wet/dry. No need to go too big. You need a reasonably sized overflow tower, 10-20 gallons of bio-balls above the water line, and a reasonably sized return area. Make sure you've got enough overhead to handle a power outage and you're ready to go. For most tanks I see this requiring about 40g. In fact, I think a 40 breeder would be a really good tank to use for a custom-built wet-dry.madness said:But if your doing water changes on a consistent basis, you wouldnt lose 10 gal of water/ week, would you? And I am describing a wet/dry, thats really all you need on a fresh water tank.
Ok sure if you are referring to people who don't take the time to do water changes etc. I have never had a problem in the 30 years of doing this . Also when setting up you make sure you get your measurements for return heights and water level and it becomes a non issue because honestly that air hole should not be sitting in the water to get plugged or whatever cause if it gets plugged you are doing it wrong. And every water change or filter clean you should check the airhole anyways.larry.beck said:The risk to an air gap approach like this is that the gap gets plugged. A bit of plant matter, fish matter, even food or detritus build-up, and you've got a flood-in-waiting on your hands. It's similar to the risk of only having a single return pipe; if that pipe gets blocked in any significant way, the tank will flood because the return pump will continue to return the same volume of water regardless. In this case you end up with a flood *and* a burned out pump because you ran the sump dry.seattle23 said:Just drill return tube with the proper height air stop. Hence even small sump and overflowing of water is non factor if that is done properly.
For anyone seriously considering a sump I highly recommend spending a year or two on the saltwater forums. Talk with people who have had a sump for at least 10 years. Learn from their experiences. Then design your own.