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Sump Question

Well done!!! :smile:

I have only ever used the circular diamond drill bits before, gow long did that take?
 
Took me about a 1/2 hour of dremeling because I had to dremel with 1 hand and spray water with the other. (One of those portable little mister things would have been a godsend)

Here's a tip though. Once you make the initial hole in the middle of the glass, make a line from top to bottom. Once that is done, make one from left to right. That way you can cut the hole out in quarters and have a much cleaner hole.

Unfortunately I didn't have a gasket or anything to seal it with, so I just used a ton of Dap Aquarium sealant. I'm going to test it out tomorrow, but I think it should work. (Not the prettiest way of doing it but I was way anxious to practice)

The hole I drilled is going to be powered by gravity to fill up my sump.

I do have some questions about getting water back to the top however. If I were to use a powerhead, should I create another hole in the bottom of the tank, and just fasten the powerhead to the bottom and make another pipe that returns water to the top? Any particular powerhead reccomendations?

Also, should I go with making my own type of bulkheads or just order some? If anyone knows of any good plans online, I'd appreciate 'em.
 
sarcazmo said:
I do have some questions about getting water back to the top however. If I were to use a powerhead, should I create another hole in the bottom of the tank, and just fasten the powerhead to the bottom and make another pipe that returns water to the top? Any particular powerhead reccomendations?.

Don't try drilling the bottom of the tank. Two reasons: a lot of tanks have tempered bottoms and there's no need for it. Just run a hose or pipe from your pump up the back of the tank and over the edge of the tank. If you have the water return much below the waterline you'll need a check valve to prevent siphoning if you pump were to ever fail.

sarcazmo said:
Also, should I go with making my own type of bulkheads or just order some? If anyone knows of any good plans online, I'd appreciate 'em.

I'd just buy a couple bulkheads, they're fairly cheap and it'll save you from any potential headaches. There's a lot of DIY stuff on reefcentral, but not much about keeping octo's as pets.
 
Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I didn't mean out the bottom of the tank, but the bottom of one of the sides. That way I could leave the powerhead closer to the bottom, but I don't think that will be necessary now. 1 1/2 from the top should do the trick with the powerhead I have in mind.

Think it'd be ok for me to only have 1 return?

Is your top acrylic?

Are these bulkheads alright? I'm having a tough time figuring out if some site's bulkhead kits include everything.
 
Those bulkheads are fine.

I siliconed a couple pieces of acrylic across the back top 1/3 of the tank. I drill holes in that for my probes, pump returns and air lines. My canopy rests right in front of thos pump returns. If my octo tries to escape he can climb on top of the tank under the canopy, but can't go any further. This makes it easy for me to get into the tank, allows for good air contact with the water surface and keeps the tank escape proof.

Here's two pictures. The second is inside the canopy with the door open. The first is the back side, you can see how the canopy rests on the top.

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[edited by colin to include pics]
 
That's a very nice setup you have there! :shock: Hopefully mine will be alright.

I'm going to order two bulkheads, hopefully the'll arrive by Wednesday. I'm still working out on all my positioning etc.

Do your return lines extend to just beneath the surface, or are they just above?

Also, do you think one return line for my tank would suffice? And what size pump would you recommend?
 
Found some good information here.

Still have some questions though. I'm not understanding how to determine the flow rate from the main tank to the sump, can anyone explain how to do that? A link is provided to figure out what size pump, to use, but not to establish the flowrate.

It also says to drill 1/8" holes 1/2" below the waterlevel in you return live. If you're using a pump to push water back up to your tank, wouldn't water squirt out of those holes?

Can't wait for my bulkheads to arrive, then it's time to drill my main tank and test out to see if gravity is going to do it's job. :smile:

Thanks again for all the help!
 
it will squirt a wee bit of water out but not very much and is its under the water level you wont notice it...

the reason why you do this is to break a syphon.

EG if the power goes off, water could start travelling backwards down your return pipe and keeping syphoning out until it reaches the bottom of the return which could be a foot or more under the surface!!!! Flooding your sump!

But if you have a small hole 1/8 " of the way down under the water the level can only drop so far before taking in air and breaking the syphon

Cheers
Colin
 
u can also cheat by putting a check valve on the return line, that will keep it from back flowing. usually u can find them at ur local home improvement center.
 
sarcazmo said:
Do your return lines extend to just beneath the surface, or are they just above?

I have a check valve and it only goes about an inch under the water line. If the check valve sticks open the sump will be able to hold all the water that gets siphoned down. Only one return is from the sump, the others are from a closed loop. That keeps my tank powerhead free. If you have it just above the surface of the water you could end up with a lot of bubbles, which often looks bad.

sarcazmo said:
Also, do you think one return line for my tank would suffice? And what size pump would you recommend?

One return should be fine, unless your pump is rated really high. After headloss I think I have about 800gph going through my sump. My return line is 3/4" and then I have a 20" piece of modular hose with nozzles on it. Modular hose is handy but not required, but you can use it to make the water do anything you want.

Here's a couple tips on your sump though. Buy a nylon type mesh sack to put all your bioballs in, then drop that sack into your wet dry filter. I know aquaticeco.com sell these sacks and you can buy them at some clothing stores too. If you ever need to take out your bioballs it makes that real easy to do. I've read that fresh air makes wet dry filters more efficient, so take an air pump and run a round bubble disc on the bottom of your wet dry filter. You can just set it on the eggcrate before you put all the bioballs in. If your bioballs are already in you can just slide it under the eggcrate and have it rest on the bottom of your sump. This keeps fresh air going up and the water trickles down.
 
Alrighty, that cleared up some of my questions.

As soon as my bulkheads arrive I will be plumbing the whole tank, and then testing it. So hopefully middle of next week I'll have some new stuff to show ya. (Must remember to pick up a check valve)

I am still worried about one thing. I still dont' know how to figure out my flow rate from a 3/4" tube. Because of this, I'm worried I'll buy a pump that'll either pump too much or too little.
 

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