What I was saying was that the pump side looked kinda small and depending on the size of pump you used it would pump dry faster than the sump could keep up with a minor adjustment would take care of it though.
yeah lee i understand what you are saying now, i dont think the pump will be big enough to do that in this case though.
I would think an ATO would keep your pump from going dry. The ATO would keep the water level at whatever water level your float switch is going to be set at.
What I was saying was that the pump side looked kinda small and depending on the size of pump you used it would pump dry faster than the sump could keep up with a minor adjustment would take care of it though.
thanks for the tips lee and brent, there will be a ato on the system so im not worried about the evaporation, one thing i was thinking about though is if my mom wanted to dose kalk instead of her 2 part the small return section will make the ato come on more frequently but pump a smaller amout at one given time before it shuts back off. thus minimizing the ph swings. thats just a thought though. also i like and dislike the idea if putting the refugium first. i did see a cool design where part of the water from the tanks overflow went through the fuge no mechanical filtration at all and went right back up to the tank then the other part went through the mechanical.
i think im gonna stick to the design though i showed it to my mom and she liked it, i also wanted to keep it easy for her to get her filter socks in and out so she will wash them weekly.
but i do appreciate the imput and i will take some pics of it when i get done.
i wish i could get my mom to join tcrc or to get on the forum at least but she doesnt get on the computer often and has obligations sunday evenings and cant attend the meetings.
I've done this type before and didn't like how much I needed to top-off. Vacations of even a 2 days made it tough. For what it's worth here's what I did this time around. If you like use it, if not no problems. Make the come refugium first. This way the extra food from the overflow goes straight to the pods and macro to fuel them. You can then either combine the skimmer and return chamber to get 19" x 12.5" x y" separated by a double baffle with a couple of holes drilled into the plexi at a level of 6"-10" or add another and separate the skimmer and the return. You won't get a problem of macro growth in the pump chamber, but it will allow you to have a safety net if your water gets low. I would go with the single separation. If you put a ball valve on the return to control the speed it will also add flow in your return/chemical section. You can also make it recirculate with the refugium. Gives you more refugium too.
hey all i recently picked up a 30 gal 3ft or 30 gal long as i called it and i have came up with a simple sump design for it, the sump is going to be used on my moms new 75 gallon build. im posting this here to get everyones imput before i build it, i have designed it to be quiet it will have a intergrated finter sock tray that minimizes the distance the water has to fall to be at the runing level of the sump and will make the socks a sinch to remove and clean the rest is pretty baisic just a skimmer chamber and a refugium with a bubble wall and return chamber.
