# 75 gallon sump just about completed



## wheatbackdigger (May 11, 2008)

Getting close to finishing my 75 gallon sump and thought I'd share it with you guys. This will be filtering a tank that I don't have just yet. I am upgrading my 150g show tank to a 350g and just trying to get everything in order first.

My goals for the sump.

1) Stay away from the "ghetto" look
2) Must be quiet as possible
3) Must be able to filter at least 400 gallons of water 
4) Easy maintenance
5) Minimal maintenance

The sump will be fed from a 1 1/2" drilled single overflow and there will be two 1" returns from two seperate Mag12's. My plan was to shoot for around 1800 gph with about 6 feet of head.

Here is a picture of the sump running in test mode. Pipes are dry fitted and only one pump is running.

[IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t231/dugcoins/fullimage.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t231/dugcoins/fullimage2.jpg[/IMG]

There is 8 gallons of bioballs. Three inches submerged and the rest above the water line. Four main layers of Matala, from coarse to very fine. These are roughy 18 X 19 inches. I will be adding a four inch layer of Poret 10ppi coarse foam between the drip plate and bioballs. When the tank is up and running I will also add quilt batting, purigen, and carbon to the open slot before the water falls into the pump chamber. I have four FX5 baskets of ceramic rings in my 150g tank that I'll transfer to the chamber after the bioballs. The eggcrate is resting vertically, but fits in that slot.

The only other thing I may do is add some crushed limestone under the bioballs for some buffering properties


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## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

WOW very nice set up nice to see a fellow Illinois men make some thing nice


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## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

nice diy sump. i've been considering the matala mat, since jap mat is so hard to find locally.


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## oscars4me (Feb 22, 2009)

Nice job. :thumb:


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

why's the pump connected to the biotower?


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## tomanystraydogs (Apr 27, 2003)

fishwolfe said:


> why's the pump connected to the biotower?


It's in test mode


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

that's actually a good way to cycle a sump to get the bacteria to build up on the bio balls mostly, nifty little set-up you have there


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## wheatbackdigger (May 11, 2008)

tomanystraydogs said:


> fishwolfe said:
> 
> 
> > why's the pump connected to the biotower?
> ...


It is in test mode, but I did start a fishless cycle back on 12/22. I've brought the ammonia level up to 2-3ppm (kind of hard to tell on the color card). I'll be doubling my fish load when I go to the bigger tank, plus I wanted to see it running. I did add four inches of Poret coarse foam on top of the bioballs and will be adding another layer of of Poret waffle cut foam (medium grade) on top of the Matala. The only thing left would be to plumb a couple of 18 watt UV sterlizer off the pumps, which I would like to keep self contained inside the sump.


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## fishwolfe (Mar 27, 2005)

ok i was just wondering,thanks


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