20g sump

[KantGetRite]

I am converting my 20g long (30" long) into my sump/refugium. I plan on dividing it into 3 chambers.

The first chamber is where the water will enter from the DT. Eventually I will by a filter sock holder/filter sock (but I wont have it at first) and the water will drain directly into this chamber. I will also have my SeaClone 100 Protein Skimmer. The SC100 is about 3 1/2 inches in diameter so I figured I would make this chamber about 5 inches wide.

Next there will 3 baffles to create a bubble trap and 10" tall (each spaced 1" apart).

The second chamber is about 17" wide and is what I am unsure what to do with. I want to make it a refugium with live rock (i dont want to have sand though) I will place my heater in this chamber as well. I really just want it to be able to breed amphipods and copepods so if I can avoid sand then I would like to.

Next there will be a 5" tall glass baffles with an addition 5" of egg crate to separate the chambers but allow water into the last chamber to avoid evaporation issues.

The final chamber will be 5" wide and be the return chamber. I plan on have the glass part of the baffle installed to keep sand out of return chamber if I decide to have sand in the middle chamber. The egg crate will allow water into the last chamber to lesser the effect of evaporation. I will also have the Two little Fishies Phosban 150 reactor in this chamber. Running SeaGel media (Carbon/Phosban mix)

Does this sound like a good setup? How do I setup my reactor and skimmer? Do they just grab what water they can constantly or do I need to setup it up so that all the water somehow runs through them?

 

[fishybuisness]

I set myne up the same way...except all of my baffles are 10" tall thats exactly how myne is set up..just spend an extra 20 bucks and get some live sand..trust me it pays to do it when our setting up up or else you'll cloud your tank like crazy

 

[KantGetRite]

It's not that I don't want to spend the money. I just don't want a sandbed in the refugium. What benefit is there other then possibly disturbing the sandbed and crashing the system?

 

[KantGetRite]

This is the sketched out plans. I will run a phosguard/carbon combo in the reactor until I use up what I have then I will switch to GFO and then place carbon in a bag and place them in the baffles.

 

[KantGetRite]

here is the sump diagram

 

[KantGetRite]

I am also toying with the idea of creating a small shelf space with egg crate where the water comes from the DT and placing a media bag on the shelf. I will put carbon in the media bag.

 

[fishybuisness]

I just have a bag of carbon in my return pump section...as well as another removers...maybe a phosguard or something? I forget

 

[fishybuisness]

Just curious why use 5" of egg crate on your return?

 

[KantGetRite]

5" of glass will keep the sand in the refugium area and the egg crate will still keep things divided but let water in. This way when evaporation happens it happens over the whole return refugium area and not just the return. It should help lessen days where I let the water get too low and micro bubbles and such get in the DT. (I don't and won't have an auto top off system for a while. This will
Help with that