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AudraMurphy

Sump Question

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AudraMurphy
, 03-26-2015 at 12:01 PM (8685 Views)
Hello. First of all thank you to everyone for all the help y’all have given me on previous questions!!

I have a question about my current sump setup. This was setup about 4 years ago and is not the ideal setup. At the time I thought I had it planned out so “perfectly” but after I had purchased everything and went to set it all up it didn’t work the way I had in my head and after some setbacks I have my current setup. I know y'all are going to read this and say "What on earth was she thinking??" But in my defense I hadn't found this site and took the advice of a friend who had less experience than me . So with that being said, here we go.

My aquarium has a wooden stand with two doors and I was not able to fit one long sump so I had the “brilliant” idea to get two 29 gallon tanks and basically have two sumps. One would have the skimmer and the other side would house my chaeto. After setting it all up and starting the return pumps once I had water coming down from the tank I discovered that it was not going to work. One side worked fine but I couldn’t get the other return pump dialed in just right. So now I have the water from the overflow come down into the right 29 gallon tank. I have a pump that pumps water to the left side where my chaeto and then a pump that pumps water back and to the side where my skimmer and return pump is. The biggest problem with this is the constant tweaking I have to do to keep the water levels where they need to be. I haven’t been able to run my skimmer for a while now because the water will get too low or high for my skimmer and it won’t run properly.

My water quality has been OK. All this time the parameters have been within the recommended ranges with the exception of Nitrates and Phosphates. My phosphates are holding steady at 0.36 and I can never get the Nitrates below 16 ppm. I perform water changes religiously every week but because of my poor sump setup I am not able to run my protein skimmer which I am hoping once I get a proper sump I can resume using.

Now for my question:

Could I get away with a sump with a protein skimmer only? This would give me more room under the aquarium where I could add an ATO. I would like to get away from my current method of manually adding water every afternoon.

Thank you so much for any help!!!!

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  1. cyano's Avatar
    simple answer is probably, without knowing how well stocked your tank is and if you are running any other equipment (biopellets, gfo) it is hard to give a hard "yes." People do run tanks with just a skimmer and no fuge with success. You may have to do more water changes depending on your current water change schedule though.
  2. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    So sorry for not giving more information!! My protein skimmer is the only piece of equipment I currently have which is not running because I haven't been able to solve my fluctuating water level problem. My current maintenance schedule is water testing and water change every Saturday and I change about 15 gallons per week.

    I currently have 11 fish. They are: Lawnmower Blenny, Bartlett's Anthias, Rusty Angelfish, Ocellaris Clownfish (2), Clarkii Clownfish, Yellow Tang, Sailfin Tang, Yellow Angelfish, Starkii Damsel, and an Engineer Goby. I have one clam, a rainbow anemone, and an assortment of LPS and SPS corals, Serpent Sea Stars (2), Blue Tuxedo Sea Urchin, and snails and crabs.

    When I was able to get the water level steady I was able to run my skimmer and got the nitrate and phosphate down (about half of what they are currently running) but I couldn't get the water to remain steady for longer than that and my skimmer would be very unhappy because the water would get to high or low.

    So maybe if I can redo the setup down below, I can see how that change affects the nitrates and phosphates and then decide on biopellets and gfo from there.
  3. melev's Avatar
    What you need is to drill both 29g aquariums on the panes that face each other. Then install bulkheads in each one and plumb them together to create a return zone in each one. These bulkheads should be installed low in the aquarium, with the center of each hole being 2.75" from the bottom of the tank. Use two 1" bulkheads. Drill these holes so they line up, or if you have a lack of space, drill one toward the front and the other toward the back. Connect the two tanks with PVC with elbows and pipe. It'll look like a Z basically, sort of. Hope that makes sense.

    LEFT AQUARIUM --------- RIGHT AQUARIUM
    Refugium | Return ------- Return | Skimmer

    The two return zone will always be the same height because of the bulkheads being connected. An auto top off will help keep the return zone at a constant level. And now you can run your refugium and your skimmer. I did a video about drilling glass last month. Click the link: https://youtu.be/wGawHODIdi0
  4. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    I just realized that I left out some information about my current setup that is probably important. I apologize for failing to give all the information.

    I have only one overflow on the right side of the tank. My water drains into the "right sump" (a 29 gallon tank where my skimmer is) and the water runs over a piece of acrylic to a little pump that carries water to the "left sump". The water comes into the compartment where my chaeto is. It goes over a piece of acrylic where there is another little pump that takes the water back to the right sump where the water is returned to the display tank. I'm attempting to attach a quick/crude drawing of my current setup. Both "left sump" and "right sump" are 29 gallon tanks with about 4 inches at most between them and the both of them run from one end of the stand to the other.

    To run the scenario above would I need two overflows or can it be accomplished with just the one that I have currently? I was going to put in two overflows originally but one problem after another led to the current setup. I have an Apex controller that sits behind the tank on the left side so if I were to put an overflow on the right as well and that would eliminate the place for my Apex to sit.

    http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...udraMurphy/100 Gallon Current Setup.jpg

    On the bright side I only need to deal with this setup for another year and a half or so. By then our new building will be built which means I will have a new aquarium and my very own fish room and I won't have to deal with these close quarters anymore.

    Thank you so much for your help!!!
    Updated 04-22-2015 at 09:38 PM by AudraMurphy