Just thought I would share this for anyone else doing a sump for the first time...



Our sump is powered by Eheim 1262s, they should be putting out something like 600-700 gallons an hour depending on head loss to various things.



This is running through 12/16mm (essentially 5/8") Eheim tubing to an Eheim spray bar (pricey but nice). This winds up being pretty high pressure given the three section spray bar so I bought some extra sections intending to go to four sections.



Our basic set-up is a herbie set-up and the straight siphon had always handled all/virtually all the flow from the Eheim. After putting in the extra section I got up the next morning and was surprised that the durso/emergency drain was taking in a lot of water.



I concluded that putting in the extra spray bar setion reduced the head pressure on the Eheim pump by quite a bit and jumped up the gallons per hour over the capacity of the siphon, which I opened from perhaps 3/4 open (using a gate valve) to full open.



So I removed the extra section but the durso was still takinga lot of water. I figured something I had done had still increased overall flow as I didn't see anythign else had changed.



The durso was somewhat noisy so this was not satisfying so I decided I would t-off the return line back into the sump to reduce flow and get things back to how I like them.



So today my t-stuff shows up and I am starting to plan how to do this when I notice something funny. The wet-dry media boxes have emergency holes in their sides to let water out and in teh hole nearest the siphon return line water is just pouring out.



Why is it doing that?



So I open up the media box (something I haven't done since getting things set-up really 5+ weeks ago) and I discover...



The section of Poret foam directly under the siphone return is simply full of mud and slime that has been sucked in and that it sits high enough that it is actually interfering with flow! so the water coming out the side of hte media box can't flow down the wet-dry and that is really what caused the flow rate change in the first place - NOT the extra spray bar section. The spray bar was just a coincidence.



So I cut out the offending section of foam to give a large open area for water to enter and magically it is back to exactly where it was before this adventure started.



My mistake was ignoring the little signs that my hypothesis - i.e. spray bar reduced head pressure leadign to more flow - was incorrect.

Nitrites down under 0.25ppm, added 20 drops of ammonia and will wait for everything to zero out again then move the mbuna from teh 75 to the 110.

Current sump/stand noise and future improvements

The overflows in the sump have started making noise, I think this is in the media boxes and is basically just water splashing as it comes into the top box.  I put 90 degree elbows on the bottom of the bulkheads to try to get the water to spread out more evenly in the box, but I think all the stuff I put in the top media box (poret foam, bio-balls, other random crap for bacteria to colonize) has just started to accumulate enough junk in it now to be a little less free for water to flow through.

The result is that water splashes a bit in the top box making noise.  I tried to fix this with a short piece of PVC with holes drilled into it, but that didn't really help.  Over the weekend I think I will try a long piece-the length of the box-with lots of holes to try and let the water gently get into the media.

Alternatively, I think a trough in the bos that let's the water exit into a water filled "trough" then overflow out of that might work.  Trouble is I am not quite sure what to use for that...

The Eheim 1262 pumps are somewhat variable in how much noise they make.  The main noise source is vibration.  Right now they are sitting on 2" thick Poret foam which helps a lot.  I have some 5mm neoprene that I am going to try.  I figure 20-25mm of neoprene might be quiet.  As a bonus it will let the pumps sit lower in the sump making them less vulnerable to evaporation.

Finally, we need to get tops for the sumps made.  I will probably get 1/4" thich glass tops, which is pretty thick but it means they are really strong and will insulate a bit better.  This should help with temperature and evaporation (and maybe reduce noise even more :).

We added some 3/8" closed cell soundproofing found to the doors and sides of hte sump, which has cut down on noise some.  We should get some mass loaded vinyl which I am going to use as a curtain across the open back of the sump to hopefully keep more pump and water noise in the sump.  One concern is condensation inside the stand, but I think there will still be enough opening  to keep that form being too serious and getting tops on the sumps will help as well.

Neoprene on its own is worse than the Poret foam.  A layer of neoprene under the Poret foam may be an improvement.  This seems the best.  I think the goal is to "disconnect" the pumps from the tank as much as possible and the extra layer of neoprene under the foam seems to do that better.  The slightly buoyant neoprene also probably helps here.

Lookin skinny

Documentary pics, not intended to be awesome fish pics...  (Click to enlarge)

Hey Whatcha Doin'?

Lookin skinny, lookin curious.