overflow/15g sump: tons of questions!

So I feel like every day I'm learning 20 new things when it comes to plumbing, overflows, sumps, and the likes. I started off with a 5.5g sump for a 29g tank, and realized how that was too small to handle my tank's size. I then moved on to a 10g, and due to poor baffle design and poorly siliconed acrylic, some of my baffles have given way and it's essentially falling apart.

Since I cannot fit a 20g long under my DT's stand, I have decided to go with a 15g tank for my new, and hopefully final, sump.

The dimensions of the 15g is 24"x12x"12".

My current plan:



My main questions are..is this design effective? From my understanding the skimmer will pull water out of the return section and then spit it back it, and it will all spill over into the bubble trap and end up in the fuge.

The fuge will be some chaeto and a chunk of LR, debating whether to do DSB or no DSB..input?

What would it benefit me to add eggcrate between the fuge/return area? Would this simply prevent any critters/algae from easily spilling over and clogging the pump?

Are there any ways I could do this to make the sump area better/more efficient?

Next is the issue of glass vs. acrylic panels. I did use some acrylic panels for my current sump. From my understanding, silicone does not hold acrylic as well as it does glass? Would it maybe be better to go to a glass shop and get glass panels cut for my sump baffles, or is that just not necessary?

And lastly my overflow.. I have an overflow I bought at my LFS. I don't have any pictures right now but it's your typical overflow with adjustable height and teeth on the inside box.

My biggest worry right now is having siphon if the power goes out and comes back on. I understand that if the power goes out, the overflow will siphon only enough to drain the main tank until water no longer flows under the teeth. My question is..how about when the power comes back on?

After testing with my overflow, it seems as if when I cut/restart the power, the siphon does not start back up. There is water on both ends of the u-tube, but my tank just keeps overflowing until it spills over.

Is there a specific level I want the overflow box to be or some way to set it up so that it would continue the siphon after a gap in energy? I wish I could find an easy answer to this but I'm not all very familiar with how siphons work and why it won't re-start or how to make it restart itself once it has stopped.


Any answers would be greatly appreciated..I know I've posted a lot and asked a lot of questions lately, but man these things just keep stumpiung me, lol.

Thanks for all the help!

- Vic

 

Wow, ok, see if I can remember all the questions LOL. As far as your overflow box somebody else needs to chime in, mines a drilled tank so I have no knowledge of the hang on siphon style.
As far as design, I myself would not run your middle bubble trap devider to the top of the sump, if something goes wrong and your sump needs to hold DT water it cuts your sump holding capacity in 2 and would spill onto the floor before filling the rest of your sump up first. Simply cut 3 panels the same and lift the middle the 1" from floor that you have shown. Now you have increased the overall holding capacity of your sump. I also would put the fuge on the oppisite end of your skimmer section, Unless you have a slow return rate the water will move through the fuge very quickly. You can "T" off the return line into the sump with a valve to reduce the flow into the fuge. Let it flow over a devider if you wish back into the return section which would be in the middle of your sump. For a fuge to work properly in needs a much slower rate of flow giving the macro and such time to work. I have a 825gph return with a seperate 200gph pump suppling my fuge. The 200gph fuge pump also "T's" with valves and is used for my W/C pump into my household drain. As far as glass vs. plexi, I like plexi. It's much easier to cut and work with as you may see something that you want to do different as you build your sump. Use weld-on #16 for plastic to weld the plexi together, it actually melts the two cuts together. Your design is very similar to mine with those exceptions and works very well, but I drilled my DT and use bulkheads.I have photo's in my pics if it gives you a better visual. The large 47 show at the end of my sump is my fuge.

 

Hope that helped.

 

Thanks guys a lot of good information..

So from what I've gathered:

- I want my sump design to include a refuge where water flow is slower..so the main idea here is to perhaps T the flow from the overflow over to the refuge section on the opposite side at a slower flow rate, and have the water pump back up into the tank via the middle compartment? This would mean 2 different flow levels, a fairly rapid flow into the skimmer chamber, and a slower flow into the fuge, both flowing into the middle compartment where the return pump sends it back up to the DT?

- So my overflow is supposed to never lose it's siphon? From what I noticed as the tank overflows again the water does NOT start draining back down .. is it possible the siphon would break ?

Tomorrow I'm going out to get the materials and HOPEFULLY build it before I have to go to work. We shall see.

Thanks for all the help thus far!

 

watch my video on the overflow box, it might help you some.

 

Excellent video, link248... K+

Yes victor.m, your overflow is supposed to never lose it's siphon. Is it possible that you have the U-tube on the wrong side? It should be on the opposite side of the baffle from the drain line in the outside box. That will ensure that both ends of the U-tube stay fully submerged during a power outage so it can restart automatically.