Sump or No Sump

[yellows]

Want to know would a 2ft sump be big enough for 3 x 4 x 1.5 x 1.5ft tanks or would a bigger one be better and has anyone got any ideas how to set up a 2ft sump as I know how a 3ft and bigger one work with all the different sections but not sure how a 2ft would work being limited on space

[yellows]

Surely someone has an Idea

[ado_84]

to keep it neat and tidy you could put a divider in the bottom tank and use half the tank as a sump. a 2*18*18 would be large enought for those tanks.

drill a hole in the divider so the bottom 2*18*18 can drain into the sump.

But being in the house i would want to keep it fairly tidy.. maybe a couple of sponge filters and a powerhead in each, would be cheaper, easier and neater looking.

[zorbadundee]

The only real drama is the smaller the sump the more painfull it is to make it flood proof, I had a 3x1x1 sump on my 8x2x2.5 it was a pain so I got a

4x2x2 sump made it a lot easier to flood proof if power goes out. (still have the 3 foot sump I need to sell it).with stack tanks the easiest way to make a sump is to flow down from tank to tank (I dont like this way, I would rather have a overflow for each tank but that more pipes) Like the poast above said u may want to get a vertical bulk head made to hide the pipes. and keep it tidier.

making a sump can be time consuming to get setup and flow rates right, but its work it once you know its flood proof and the power goes out I dont need to worry about the fish for a few hours (aka at work).

[yellows]

Thanks for the advise yes that's my main worry it flooding, the missus would hit the roof if that happened so might just stick with the power heads and sponges cheers Yellows

[Kaizen088]

Why not put the sump on the top level and let it gravity feed.

[lochdan]

Ran a rack very similar to the one pictured but ended up retiring the bottom level because it was just too darn expensive to pump water that high. With a head height around 1.6 metres I think I was getting a flow rate around 1/3 the pumps rated flow. In this age of expensive power bills I'd use a water pump & sump when height isn't an issue, and switch to air and sponges when building high.

[Eh man]

U can try to fit a sump between the tanks so it falls through the top tank into the sump then falls out of the sump into the tank below.ive got that set up on my 4ft racks,I just use plastic mop buckets and drill a hole in the bottom and push a piece of pipe through to help it go into the tank below.its cheap and easy.