Plumbing?

Barrus · #1 (**permalink**) 07-22-2008, 04:20 PM

Was wondering if some of you more experienced folks might shed some light on advanced plumbing setups.

Im refering to the journals you see where they have holes drilled into the tank for bulkheads, inflow/outflows and have pumps/buckets/filters/etc all in a stand beneath the tank.

If someone could show a diagram or better yet a pic of thier setup...thatd be grrrrreat!

Athen · #2 (**permalink**) 07-22-2008, 04:57 PM

id like to help out on this one but my drafting skill are less than par.. lol and i havnt yet set my system up with plumbing that will be done when i build my new viv for my CWD but i hope you can get the assistance you need =)

Jason · #3 (**permalink**) 07-22-2008, 04:59 PM

Most peeps use internal plumbing for vivs as most dont get overly large enough to require a sump. your best be is Reef Central Online Community , all saltwater tanks will have a sump and will tell you how to get it up and running

froggsong · #4 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 02:59 PM

Whether an enclosure is large enough to REQUIRE a sump, or the person building it just wants it for ease of maintenance and water quality (much easier to stabilize and maintain in a larger volume of water), IMO a sump is advisable regardless of size (well, unless it is very small, but even then I would likely use a smaller sump, just for the water quality). I am putting in a sump for my CWD vive (which I STILL haven't gotten started on yet, due to some issues with my BP), for water quality, ease of maintenance, and so that I can use a stronger pump (I will be pumping water some six feet from the ground, it would be four feet from inside the tank). I want my water feature to have a strong flow, so I will be using a strong pump, which would not be appropriate in tank. Whether or not to use a sump also depends on how dirty an animal is. CWD's go in the water alot, ALOT ALOT, actually. Some animals do not go in the water. It is also easier to customize filtration in a sump. Lots of reasons for a sump. The main reason I can think of to keep someone from using one is price (and possibly space). You can cut the price ALOT by buying a pump from a garden center. I am going to get one from Home Depot that pumps some seven feet up (I may get the slightly smaller one, but I am fairly certain that the flow is adjustable, so I may as well go for the one with the higher rating, in case I need it later), for FAR less than a comparable aquarium pump (It's less than 50 dollars).

strange_screams · #5 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 12:52 AM

i have a little general knowledge of saltwater sumps using an overflow, but where for a terrarium exactly would you need holes? and if you had a waterfall feature would you need a smaller internal pump for that?

Green Ghost · #6 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barrus

Was wondering if some of you more experienced folks might shed some light on advanced plumbing setups.

What did you need help with?

Jason · #7 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 06:00 AM

You wouldnt need another pump for the waterfall, just 2 pumps, 1 below the FB where the outlet would bring water to the sump and the return line would go straight from the sump to the waterfall if your talking for a Viv. I only drill and add bulkheads for the outlet useing gravity to feed the sump, drilled returns are cosmetic imho, some dont like to see return lines coming up the back or sides of the tank as in the always cool " Zreo Edge " design. Ive set up more then a dozen Salt water reef tanks in the last 10 years or so, are you makeing a fish only tank or a Viv? I have a few DIY CC Proien skimmers and Calcium Reactors kicking around.

strange_screams · #8 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 03:22 PM

curiosity in my case, i like knowing how things work, im years away from drilling glass, i cant make anything bigger then a 20g right now, not enough room

froggsong · #9 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 04:54 PM

The tank I am building for my CWD (jeez, I need to start it already! I have everything in the garage!) will be made of wood, but the bottom will be lined with plexi (easy to drill). I am going to drill an outlet in the bottom corner to feed the sump via gravity, and then have the pump in the sump pumping the water to the top of the waterfall/drip wall/whatever I decide on, where there will be another hole drilled for an inlet. I will probably rig up some filtration between the pump and the inlet at the top of the tank, but I might put the filtration in ahead of the pump inside the sump. I'll have to play with it and see what works best. In a small tank, it would be possible to make a sort of pressurized sump in order to move water from the bottom of the tank to the top for a water feature, but my tank is too large so I did not experiment with it beyond trying it with tubing and a ziplock bag (a pressurized ziplock sandwich bag with aquarium airline tubing in the bottom corners was able to pump water about a foot high, it was a trickle at that height, but it was still running). I figured if you did that you could have the "sump" (I guess it wouldn't be a true sump, more like a pressurized filter chamber) filled with filter media so that the water coming out of the top would be filtered. I was considering putting in something like this into my frog/toad tank, but I didn't because I was rushing to get the frogs into it and didn't have time to play around with it enough.