reverse sump?

[meenamjah]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

I've done one before. It works fine as long as you have a relatively low output pump & maybe have a second emergency drain drilled into the sump in case of clogging.

I used a 20g sump, refugium over a 65g DT. Maxijet to get water up & gravity feed back down into the DT. Works great for releasing LIVE mysis & pods from the refugium section back into the DT.

Ran it this way for over a year, no problems.

Anthony

that's exactly what I was thinking of doing...

I have an undrilled 54 corner tank with very little space for a sump below.

I've got a lot of space on the furnace right beside the tank, and I figured it'd be easier to do a reverse setup than mess with hang on overflow boxes and what not.

so it'd be a bad idea with a high output pump?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Your pump would sit inside your DT so a HO pump would look unsightly and could suck up unwary fish or inverts. A Maxijet1200 on the other hand is small & easily hidden from view. If you use the included strainer, fish & inverts will be unlikely to get trapped by it.

The more powerful the pump, the bigger it is and the more likely you'll trap one of your inhabitants.

For undrilled tanks, an above tank sump/refugium is a very viable alternative if you have something next to the tank that would hold a tank slightly higher than the display tank. For the 20g sump, I had the hole drilled at the 8-9" level, so the skimmer water level was correct. I would drill an emergency drain so that its opening (either from bulkhead or from a standpipe) is a couple inches from the top of the sump.

I had the sump divided with a baffle & the MJ pumped water into the far side where the skimmer sat, with the skimmed water overflowing into a fuge section with chaeto & macroalgae. Lots of pods & live mysis thrived in the fuge section and a few would take a ride into the DT WITHOUT getting chewed up by a return pump.

Hope this all makes sense.

Anthony

[meenamjah]

only concern is... would the flow from maxijet be enough?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

MJ1200 is 295 gph. With head loss, maybe 200 gph. You're looking at about 4x turnover and if you add a surface skimming attachment onto the MJ, you'll be able to skim off the oily crap at the top of your DT.

My 210g is served by a Sedra9000, which after head loss is at 6-700gph. That's only 3 times turnover per hour & it works for me.

You could use another brand of pump that gives you more flow but keeping it hidden should be considered when choosing what to use. If you can hide it in the back of the tank, so much the better.

Perhaps something like a Rio 1400 (3.9" x 2.5" x 3.25") would work. It's 367gph at 1' head loss & 333gph at 2'.

Anthony

[meenamjah]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

MJ1200 is 295 gph. With head loss, maybe 200 gph. You're looking at about 4x turnover and if you add a surface skimming attachment onto the MJ, you'll be able to skim off the oily crap at the top of your DT.

My 210g is served by a Sedra9000, which after head loss is at 6-700gph. That's only 3 times turnover per hour & it works for me.

You could use another brand of pump that gives you more flow but keeping it hidden should be considered when choosing what to use. If you can hide it in the back of the tank, so much the better.

Perhaps something like a Rio 1400 (3.9" x 2.5" x 3.25") would work. It's 367gph at 1' head loss & 333gph at 2'.

Anthony

oh~ cool. thanks for all the great info!!