# Help Please on wet/dry sump layout



## bmccune (Oct 26, 2013)

Hello,

Has been a while since I have had a Aquarium up and lot's of things have changed, my brain hurts what is left of it. I think I have figured most out and settled on most of the designs except for the wet/dry sump setup. I have a bad habit of overkill on my projects so looking for input on this setup. I hope the jpg uploaded.

Anyway please give me thoughts. I do not want a refug setup just a filtration setup for now but would like to make this design adaptable for one if that is possible. 

Little bit of what I have/am doing. main tank a 125 gal, sump tank 55 gal. Return pump a 1800gph (approx. 5' head), will be 5 foot 3/4 pvc (all plumbing pvc) spray bar on top of background with 34 3/16" holes (if I figured that correctly). Dual Siphon style 1 1/4" going to 2" drains in a 4" collector in the tank. (differnet deal just explaining a little of the setup).

Any thoughts on ANYTHING welcome, please be kind  been a while as said, older now and not as sharp as I use to be.... Last Aquarium setup over 18 years ago and was Saltwater, this is going to be a Freshwater setup. I know baffles should be 1" apart I DO NOT know the height help there please.


----------



## Tazman (Jan 15, 2012)

Welcome to the forum  :wave:

First off there are a couple of things here that need looking at.

You dont want to have the media totally submerged in water, wet/dry being just that, some of the media is underwater, some above water. Can you explain the purpose of the lave rock? Is this for extra media surface.

Instead of having the lava rock in the first chamber, the pot scrubbers would be better there. Make a tower with a piece of foam on the very top before the rain tray, this way, you can filter the water coming from the overflow before it touches the media.

In terms of the height of the baffles, you need to not set them too low that water will just cascade over them, you want gentle water movement in the sump, not a raging torrent. 
I would add the lava rock to the middle chamber. You can use ceramic media as well on the very bottom of the first chamber. Bubble traps are not really a necessity as much in freshwater as they are in saltwater.

I would also consider putting the heaters in the second chamber and not right by the return pump, if you ever get a situation the overflow fails, having them in the return chamber potentially opens them to get dry and explode. If they are in the second chamber, not only does it give more time to heat the water before going back to the main tank, it allows a safety margin, as the return pump will empty most of the return chamber before the middle one, allowing the heaters to still be in water, should the overflow fail.

Welcome back to the hobby and hope you can find some useful information here from our members.


----------



## bmccune (Oct 26, 2013)

Tazman said:


> Welcome to the forum  :wave:
> 
> First off there are a couple of things here that need looking at.
> 
> ...


Bad picture I guess Lava rock is no totally underwater would guess about 1/2 to 3/4 takes the place of Bio Balls as again as many opinions as tanks have heard they do much better than bio balls due to the cavities so forth. As far as putting the heaters in the 2nd chamber then would I not need to make something to keep them away from whatever media would be in that chamber so they do not touch it??

I think the downward baffles are suppose to be around 1" from the bottom of the tank to the top thereabouts, that is cool. I was reading where the 2 1st in line lower ones are suppose to be the same height and the very last before the return chamber is suppose to be the amount of max water +/- a little your return area would hold. These 2 baffles also being the running height (normal) of the sump). Anything OVER those baffles is holding for power outage take up. IF I figured correctly I have to be able to take up no more than 8 gallons of water on a outage. There is my question then IF all above is correct then those 2 baffles as well as the return baffles height would be ??????? How do I figure that....

Thanks for the reply.


----------



## Tazman (Jan 15, 2012)

Sorry for the delayed reply as I havent been very well.

I would still consider making a bio tower with the pot scrubbers in first chamber and having the lava rock in the second. Having the lava rock totally submerged would allow you to have the heaters in there also. The first chamber with the lava rock would make cleaning slightly easier. 

The baffles at the end of the tank, by the return pump, are basically a bubble trap but should be at least the same size as the first two, some people make them smaller to allow slightly more water movement.

If you are using a siphon overflow, then make sure there is a whole in the return line or an air break to kill the siphon if the power goes off. If there isnt a siphon break you risk the sump overflowing and making a free paddling pool in your house.

My ONLY real concern is having the heaters in with the return pump, like I said you can kill the heaters if the overflow happens to fail and the return pumps empties its chamber into the tank. Worst case scenario but can happen, it also doesnt allow much time for the water to be reheated before going back into the display tank. Having them in the second chamber allows the water to get heated some before being pumped into the display, it also being submerged with the lava rock in there has less chance of exposing the heaters should a failure occur.


----------

