Sump size

[shannon]

Is there any rule of thumb to use when deciding how big of a sump to use??

I want to know what people roughly use to filter their fish rooms.

I'm going to need one big enough to do four 6x2x2 tanks and possibly two 4x2x2 tanks added on at a later date.

What do you lot recommend?

[fishinf]

biggest possible sump is best but i would try to get a 3ft-4ft sump

[shannon]

I was thinking 4x2 as a minimum but most likely 6x2x2. Just want to know what volume others are using on their own setups

[fishinf]

depends how stocked it is i guess on my 7x2x2 i have a 4ft standard and that is a very clean tank the only reason i would go bigger is to get space to raise fry in the sump

[shannon]

I think there might be some confusion mate I want this filter to do 6 tanks...

In total I think it's roughly 3500lt in the system so I don't think a 3-4ft sump would be sufficient. Each tank will be species only so not heavily stocked

[bwah]

you need to calculate how much water will drain out of all the tanks in the system when the powers out..

then add that amount to the maximum running water level of the sump

[Buccal]

I find most get over fancy with sumps which creates extensive maintenance, and reduces a constant even effectiveness when the sump is either clogged or clean.

K1 media used correctly (google for use) will enable you to get away with a much smaller size sump.

Personally I use many squares of black coarse matalla koi media matting.

It's coarse and never blocks and remains 100% effective.

I use the finest tight grade of jap mat as a mechanical screen.

I have 7 of these screens for 7 days a week,,,,,each day I change old for a new one,,,, end of week they all get pressure cleaned.

After the series of matalla matting is cheap gutter guard from bunnings left in roll form packed together allowing water to flow around and through the holes in center of the rolls.

These gutter guard rolls never get cleaned,,, they build up with junk and bits of junk sometimes break of,,,, this will maintain constant

re-seeding and safe guard against beneficial bacteria kill of,,, after heavy sump cleans.

Getting back to your question....

If you have enginuity,,, you can use a ibc 1000 liter water tank cut 1/3 height.

A large size valve that they have at the bottom enables you to shake your media like hell then can be released through the valve.

All this is quite different to what is normally talked about on here.

Lol,,, I'm outside of the square.

[kanned_guru]

You will probably get away with a 4x2x2, but it depends on how you design the sump.

The sump will have to cope with an extra 260 odd liters of water above its regular running level. Best to think it through properly as a lot of people make the mistake of getting a sump that is far too small.

[shannon]

I would prefer to 'over do' it with the sump so I can add more tanks at a later date

[rosco]

Shannon

There are so many variables but at the least you should:

1. be you need to be able to fill the tanks approximately 5cm or so above the outlet;
   
2. need to allow for a "power out" situations
   
3. make an approximation of how much water will be in the "pipes" to maintain the levels in the tank
   
4. ensure that enough water remains in the sump to A) cover the pump on start up (so allowing for a faster drain of water before the water is gravity feed back and b) standard running conditions (how often do you want to add water to the sump given you will lose water through evaporation)
   

So for a 4x2x2 you would need 36 litres (so 72 for two of them). For a 6x2x2 you will need 54 litres (so 108 litres for 2) so you need at least 180 litres excess water when the system is off as it will drain into the sump. So just for excess water you have used up about a third of 6x2x2 when full. Off course this amount will drop with the height of the water.

I am unsure of how to approximate the amount of water the pipes would require when running because that is not constant and based on pipe width. I have not really sat down and done the calculations but I have sort of experience I would have though at least half again but again if you have 32mm pressure piping then more water will flow out I primarily use 25mm. Although I wish I had of used bigger pipe on my bigger systems.

Then you need to decide what sized pump you will plan to use. I use 7500lph but my systems are smaller than this so I suspect you would have to get at least 11,000lph for one system. So that will approximately need 3litres per second. I would expect you won't see water returning at the normal rate for at least 30 second so at least another 100-120 litres.

So a quick addition sees that at 400+litres before having at least the pump chamber having 30cm of water in it not to mention the water flowing through the sump. So for my mind you will need at least a 550-600 litres plus.

I hope that looks about right. As an indication for my systems I have:

• My 4x4x18x18's rack has a 3x18x18 matrix sump on it with a 7500lph laguna pump on it.
  
• My 4x3x18x18's rack has a 3x17x18 matrix sump on it with a 7500lph laguna pump on it.
  
• Both my 6x2x18 with 3x2x18x18's tanks on it have a 3x18x18 sumps with a 7500 laguna pump on it.
  
• My 6x2x2 tank has a 100x45x50 matrix sump on it. Originally I did have it heavily populated with trophs and wanted super clean water but now it has 7 fronties and nice NLS colour
  

All systems have 25mm (reduced to 20mm at the taps) inlet plumping with 32mm outlet plumbing. i do regret not getting 32mm piping for at least the vertical plumbing then reduce on horizontals to 25mm. Each of the 4 sumps pump chamber is at least 1/3 to 1/2 the sump. This chamber drains down to just above half so around 90-100 litres when running normally but my systems are a lot smaller than your planned one and not all tanks are running 5cm above the outlet pluming on purpose.

I did originally have both my 6x2x18 racks on one 3x18x18 matrix sump but within 3 months had to split them as I had 2 6000 lph pumps running but over half the flow from one pump had to be diverted back to the start of the sump because it would simply run dry otherwise and the water flow dropped considerably and had a detrimental affect on the water quality and thus the fish

HTH.

cheers

rosco

P.S I hope my 5th grade maths is correct but I suspect it not as my 5th grader is at camp and isn't here to tell me I am wrong LOL.

[shannon]

Can anyone out there let me know how many litres (in total) they're running off a 6x2 sump??

[shannon]

Rosco that's really helpful mate thank you. Makes it a little bit easier to understand

[kanned_guru]

Don't focus so much on total volume, that can be misleading. The surface area of the tanks is the important figure.

[yanke]

well ill run 1 tank 1 sump

that way if the fish in the tank get bloat or something then it is only that 1 tank

and not all the tanks

but thats up to u

u have to thing about that also when putting alot of tanks on 1 big sump

yanke

[Departure]

actually its easy to calculate than guess the size you need, from what I have read after many days of researching, the size sump you will need will depend on the media you are going to use as filtration. This is where it all starts, for example I am looking at filtering multiple tanks also but the first things I need to take in consideration is the media I am using and the rise of water if the pump was to shut down. I am basing my sump on K1 media which you can download an awesome calculator for the bio filter part here http://www.earthangr...ree-calculator/ based on the surface area of media and the fact this particular media need a 60/40% ratio of media and water, You also use this calculator for other media too, then add the rise of the water, also include a given percentage if you intend to do water changes direct from your sump to account for all the tank connected to it ect.. try and remember these things when choosing a size. I also read that having to much media is not good either, not only is it inefficient but will effect the way the biomedia is working.

so things to think of..

* Media to be used in the tank and surface area of media, use the calculator above(includes fish weight, amount of tanks, tank sizes ect.. ect..)

* Rise of water when pumps are turned off(based on surface area of each tank, and normally 1-2 inches of that water is what you get back to your sump)

* Water change volume(if you intend to do water change from your sump only)

* Other small things like equipment to be used in the sump, other media for different stages ect.. all factors which reduce the water volume in the sump

[benm_79]

Shannon your 4x2x2 will be fine mate.