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I would like to know how a sump works. Please show pics of your sumps. I want to know how you get water from the main tank to the sump?(plumbing I guess) It would help if you could post pics. Thanks a lot.

There are two ways of getting water from the main tank to the sump.

1) a predrilled tank.
2) Overflow boxes.

Using a predrilled tank means that the bottom pane of glass is drilled to incorperate an in line and an out line for plumbing, usually with a ball valve for mantinence. I can post a picture of the connections on my tank, its on webshots.

using a predrilled tank means that the overflows are built into the tank, making life alot easier.

With the overflows in a predrilled tank, the water simply flows over the edge into a small reservoir from wich the water flows down to the sump by the amazing thing called gravity (free of charge).

When using overflow boxes on a non drilled tank, there is a bit more work involved.

The boxes go on the inside of the tank and act the as the same way as the built in overflow boxes on drilled tanks, but the catch is that overflow boxes that you put in yourself run on a siphon (basically pressure difference forces water from top to bottom of tube.

THe problems with siphons are that they can be broken, meaning, the water will stop flowing, and eventually all of the water will be pumped out of the sump, your pumps will run dry and your heater will break.

The other problem with non drilled tanks is that the overflow boxes make for more plumbing and a little more stuff in the open. If you want a tank where you cant see any wires pipes or things of that matter, a drilled tank is the way to go.

Price wise, drilled tanks will always be more expensive, but in my opinion its worth it, it makes life a lot easier.

For an example of a non drilled tank with a sump, refer to matty's log. here:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/11942.1.htm?248#

My tank and plumbing can be seen here, you may have to sort through the pictures a bit.


http://community.webshots.com/album/510118572KDBgDW

HTH, if you have any more questions let me know, ill try to anser them.


Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Price wise, drilled tanks will always be more expensive, but in my opinion its worth it, it makes life a lot easier.

And less noisy.

THe problems with siphons are that they can be broken, meaning, the water will stop flowing, and eventually all of the water will be pumped out of the sump, your pumps will run dry and your heater will break.

Not to mention that the water that exits the sump will not find it's way down through the overflow, meaning it ends up on the floor.

Though this is a concern, my power has gone out a fwe times, and I have had more trouble with the VCR than the overflow. One night it went on/off 10-12 times. after that I wasn't really worried anymore. The important thing is to make sure there is a seperate compartment in the overflow box on the outside of the tank that will hold water in it even if there is no power, thus maintaining a syphon.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

really really really old sump picture during a leak check...



-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

There is a couple of other ways now. The main difference in these are the placement of the sump.

1) If the sump is placed higher than the main tank, then a pump is needed in the main tank, and an overflow or pre-drilled tank is need for/in the sump. This is becoming a new popular setup as it allows for easier maintenance to the sump. Usually the sump is place either in a cabinet next to the tank, or in another room adjacent to the main tank.

2) A reef/plankton safe setup, which does not use a mechanical pump at all. This setup can be done in two different ways, either depends on which tank you have higher, the sump or the main tank.
a) The sump tank set up so as to be just slightly (a couple of inches or less) lower than the main tank. The overflows in the main tank go to the sump. The return water is moved by a high output air pump, with special plumbing and fittings. A very complicated setup, but does allow for great "herds" of little critters to not be chopped up in the blades of the pumps. This setup is usually used only in very large setups that are 500+ gallons total. If done correctly, I have seen these setups move several thousand gallons of water an hour.
b) The same as above only the main tank is just a couple inches lower than the sump, and everything is reversed from above. If anyone wants more info on this, pm me, and I will give you by buddies email. He has his 400 gallon reef, about 800 gallons total setup done like this. He also has a cryptic sump on this setup, if you want more info on that as well.

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