I have a few newbie questions that I’m hoping someone can help me out with. I have a 55 gal. that I’m going to be using an overflow box with. I’ve found what I think is a pretty good sump design online using a 20 gal. tank with 2 dividers in it. I know the last compartment is where my return pump has to go but my question is what type of media do I use in compartment 1 and 2? And also how much media? My other question is what volume return pump would I need? Should I plumb this using PVC and if so, is regular PVC glue ok to use? Any help getting me going in the right direction on this would be appreciated.
The standard 2 part pvc weld is fine, anything that’s drinking water safe really. flexible black tubing is common also. As far as the setup, mine has a filter sock/ protein skimmer compartment, then a fuge, then return pump. For gph on a return pump, something in the 500 to 600 gph would give you a 10x turnover rate.
i’m using some fine matalla filtration and skimmer and rock and macro in my big 1st compartment of a 40 breeder, then into more mechanical filtration, then the return
I have a 20Long under my 75. Not the best setup but it works, first chamber I have my skimmer pump in then on the bubble chamber I have a filter material and filter bags with carbon and phosguard then my fuge area is 16" with sand and rock also cheato with the micro fauna macro and the red grape fauna? then last chamber has my return pump which is a model 7. works well but if I could do it again I would have gone with a 30long 36" tank instead of the 20long 30" and maybe a internal skimmer.
A thing to think about also is the design to do a water change without having to turn the pump off and worry about the corals being exposed to the air while draining.