Tropical Fish Forums

[AFrogSplash]

I have a beast of a 120g (453.6l) tank, which I got for free (self high five!) and it has several holes drilled in the bottom of the tank. I want to utilize those and create a simple sump pump. the mechanics and basics of it are easy enough (I'm an engineering technology major so building mechanical systems isint all that hard) but there are the two things I am needing help in:

1 the sump supply will be gravity powered, and the tank return will be done by my submersible 580gph (2200 lph) water pump. now is that too much flow, or not enough?

2 which would be better case of a power outage? routing piping up the sides to create a top supply intake? or installing an easy to use shutoff valve underneath to keep water from exiting the tank at all

The fish load is 4 angels, 9 khuli loaches, 4 zebra loaches 5 cories and 1 beautiful yellow spotted pleco

OK 1 more thing, with having the heater in the return supply zone, will the heater need to be rated for the 120 gallons? or will something smaller work as the area its resting in will be small?
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They say only frogs know how to really splash

[Marcos Avila]

(1) The flow itself isn't much of an indicator in DIY filtration setups, it'll depend a lot on how all the rest of the sump, especially filter media, is dimensioned. That said, your pump will deliver a nominal turnover of 5x the aquarium volume per hour, which is well within the typical flow range and should be enough, especially considering the population you described.

(2) Both should work, but I'm biased towards the top intake, makes me feel safer...

The heater needs to be dimensioned for the entire tank water volume, which is what it'll need to heat.
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Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks...

[AFrogSplash]

Thanks for the input. but I've been convinced to use instead my two canister filters. building the sump would have been fun, but this route will prove to be the most efficient
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They say only frogs know how to really splash