Sump Question

C

cabo

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I have a 75 gallon tank with a single overflow. i am trying to design my own sump. My question is how much water should I allow for to return to the sump when the return pump is shut off. I'm sure there are variables but not sure where to start. Don't want do build it then have it overflow the first time I turn the return off.

I have 2 tanks I am considering to make a sump out of. 30x12x12 ... with a 8" depth while running give me a little over 6 gallons(6.2) when the return is off or a 24x12x16 with a 10" depth gives me 7.4 gallons when the return is off.


Thanks
 
Find the depth of the top of the water line to the bottom of the teeth on the overflow, and then multiply by the cross sectional area of your tank. That will give you the volume of water that will dump into the sump in a power out situation. On a standard 75 gallon tank, that would be (48in*18in)*(depth to bottom of teeth in inches)=Vt.

Now, divide the volume you just calculated by the cross sectional area of your sump to determine how much space from the top of the sump you will need for it to hold all of the water from operational level plus the extra amount in a power out situation.

Hope I worded that clearly.
 
If your tank drains 1" of water into the sump, it would add 3.74g of water into the sump. You want to make sure the sump has that much empty room.

Your 30 x 12 x 12 sump holds 1.56g per vertical inch.

L x W / 231 = total gallons


The sump you build should not be full, but it should suffice. You want empty area to hold not only want drains, but also what skimmers and reactors drain during power outage s well.

Lastly, there are two terms:

Drains - water drains into the sump
Returns - water returns to the display

Your display drains into the sump (usually the skimmer section) and the return pump pushes water up from the return zone to your display again.
 
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