Sump Plans

[BJMBNE472]

Ive been planning this sump for a few weeks, and with all the advise and help I got from this site, this is what Ive come up with. Please reply with suggestions or tips or whatever, Im sure this is very far from perfect. This sump is for a 150 and eventually another grow tank. the sump is 48" x 30" x 18 high and hold 112 gallons. Again any help is much appreciated. thanks

[CarmieJo]

It it was mine I would add a RDSB in a couple of 5 gallon buckets. I'm not really good at plumbing but I think you could position them higher than the sump, tee one of the overflow lines off to feed the buckets and just use gravity to carry the water back into the sump.

I would not run any media (floss, sponges, ceramic rings, carbon, etc) in the canister. They are very efficient environments for aerobic nitrifing bacteria and will tend to raise nitrates in your tank. If you use something like floss or carbon it needs to be changed every few days.

I don't think you need the K4 in the sump, you should have plenty of flow.

[BJMBNE472]

So how do I build the RDSB? What do I need?

[CarmieJo]

You need a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a foot or so of sand in it. You want the water to move at a relatively slow rate. I am thinking that if you put the buckets on a shelf you could just use gravity to carry the water back into the sump. I would probably use a square bucket like kitty litter comes in because it would be easy to put a bulkhead in to run the water back into the sump. Or, I guess you could silicone a tube into the side of a round bucket. You just need to make sure that the water going in isn't running faster than the water going out so you don't overflow the bucket.