How to make a sump

Heater sump question?

I'm new to this. I've heard that you can place your heater in the sump. Is that correct? If so what size heater do you need? The sumps a lot smaller than the tank. I'm guessing you loose a good bit of heat as it gets pumped back to the tank?

 

You might lose a little heat on the return line, but not much. Actually you probably lose more heat from surface evaporation that from the return line. You want to size your heater so it will handle all of your water. For example I have a 55 gal tank & about 25 gal in my sump for a total of 80 gal. Figuring 5 watts of heater per gallon that is 400w. I uses 2 200W heaters in my sump one is set just a hair lower than the other. That way most of the time I only use 200W, but if it can't keep up, the 2nd heater kicks in. The other advantage of 2 heaters is if a thermostat sticks closed, your temp will not rise to rapidly and you have a chance to notice before the tank overheats.

Mike

 

Thank you! That is a great idea!! You've really given this some thought.

 

I dislike the over flow box because you have the speed of the ventury/box, and the pump are seperated. I rather go with a pipe drilled in the tank with gravity since its the speed of the pump that determines the flow of the water. The reason being is that when the pump pumps the water back the water level rises enough to keep feeding the pipe. Basicly you only rely on the pump versus the ventury speed and the pump speed. Also its a pain in the butt to keep restarting the ventury or having to clean it, but thats just my opinion and you probably wont need a check valve either.

 

What starts the siphon again on the overflow after the power goes out? Does this have to be manually done.

 

Depends on the type of overflow. Is yours internal or external?

 

On a hang on the back siphon box you shouldn't have to unless air blocks the flow in the u-tube. This doesn't happen too often. When it does stick air-line tube up there and suck to start it again.

 

Is there any way to determine the flow rate of an overflow box? I got one from a buddy years ago (long before I dared dive into reef aquaria) and I'm just now getting close to installing it and a sump/fuge on my tank. I want to sort out what kind of return pump I'll need and I figure knowing how much flow is coming IN will help me determine how much pump power I need going OUT.
The overflow box came with a Amiracle Maxi Reef Trickle Filter, if that helps...

 

So if air blocks the u-tube then I am going to pump all of my sumps water on the floor when my display tank fills up???

 

"The 100 and 200 models have a single outlet pre-filter that can handle 400 gallons per hour. The dual inlet 300 and twin tower 400 models have a dual pre-filter with a capacity of up to 800 gallons per hour."

I wouldn't sweat it too much. I've had several wet/drys I can only recall once where the air nearly blocked the tube. It should be part of your maintenance routine to check the u-tubes for air.