Sump questions!!

Hey guys!!

I haven't asked a question in a while, so here goes nothing!!

Yesterday I plumbed up my sump, so far so good! got the skimmer down there and hooked up my reactors and everything is going smoothly, kinda crowded but it's ok!! now some questions...

1. I moved my thermometer down to the sump. The therm. was reading 79.4-79.8ish when it was just in the dt, now it's reading 78.4-78.8 in the sump...thats a whole degree, i'm not too worried but just interested in why it's doing that. when i put the thermometer back into the dt, it reads 79F...does the sump do something to the temperature?

2. I dialed in the valves for the sump and everything and the level stays pretty consistent...but i've noticed over the course of 18 hours or so...the return pump chamber's level slowly is going down, about 1/2 inch since yesterday...I hate messing with the valves, is there an easier way to dial them in? a little voice in my head said maybe it's evaporation...i told it to shutup but i'm not sure...could it?


I really like the current set up with the sump, makes everything more organized and I have more room to play with!!

 

I think you should be fine with the temperature thing (Maybe powerheads heating in the display tank?)

And the water going down in the return area is most likely evaporation. Mine goes down a lot if I dont top off everyday.

 

1. The difference is b/c the DT has the lights and the sump doesnt.

2. Sounds like evaporation to me. Luna

 

the temp can be where the thermometer was in the DT, if it's in the top couple of inches that water is usualy warmer due to the heat from the lights the deeper in the tank the lower the temp same as in the sea pretty much the sump of course isnt lit so no heat transfer from the lighting array

and IBMGeek is right on the evap issue causing the water going down I try to run about 10" deep water in my sump and I have to top off daily

bleh Luna beat me to it lol

 

thank you for clearing it up! I appreciate it

 

You added a fuge right??? When you say you ajusted the valves, I assume that is what you mean.

I'm sorry if I'm stating the obvious. I'm new so I only have limited experience.

Do you have a sponge for a bubble trap going to your return section???

When I bought my setup, the PO had the chiller pump in there too and returning to the skimmer section. There was a ton of flow going through the bubble trap. It was tough keeping it clean and topped off. The return pump would actually start drawing air.

So I moved the chiller pump. I clean my bubble trap weekly.

My point being is that if the flow to the return pump is unrestricted, the return section should always be the same as the rest of the sump. If there is a difference in level, then there is a restriction.