What size sump for 90 Gal. reef?

[ace1uno_00]

What size sump should i build for a 90 Gal. Reef?
And my tank doesn't have a overflow, so, what i want to do is the same thing Chimera did (but my water wont flow to another room just into the sump which will sit in the cabinet stand of the tank)
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53805&start=0
I'm going to use the bulkheads to run the water down to the sump.
and i want to have a 10-15 Gal. Fuge Section.
I was thinking of cutting a 80 gallon tank i built in half and remaking it into the sump.
What i want to do is have the water flow down into some filtermedia like bioballs or something. then have the water run over into the fuge section. then have the water get skimmed then go back up to the tank...

Please, any suggestions, opinions or comments will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[afilter]

I used a 30g and it is working great so far.

Here is the design I followed:

http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53046

Pic of mine:

 

[greenmaji]

JMHO.. horizontal water removal directed to your protien skimmer will be alot more effecent use of your skimmer.
You get much more of the protien rich water, surfase water, to the skimmer this way..

 

[Gatorfreak]

I went the cheap & easy route for the time being. 18 gal rubbermaid with Mag 7 return. Eventually I'd like to get a 30 gal tank for it though.

 

[ace1uno_00]

JMHO.. horizontal water removal directed to your protien skimmer will be alot more effecent use of your skimmer.
You get much more of the protien rich water, surfase water, to the skimmer this way..

What?! I'm not that smart. what does that mean? lmao!!
GreenMagi, Can you clarify for me?


I was thinking of using a 30 gallon tank. but since i have this 80 gallon i built laying around i figured i could just modify it.

 

[ace1uno_00]

Rough draft.
Oops that didnt work out well.
lol

 

[greenmaji]

ace.. check out the fist few pages of this link.. (its almost 800 posts long so try not to get too involved..LOL) I think it explains things well in the fist 2-3 pages..
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=554786

 

[ace1uno_00]

BluePrint Rough draft (2nd try lol)

 

[saltwatersmac]

I am just about finished with my 90 gal Megaflow. I have a 20H for a sump and a 15H fuge. I agree with greenmaji. Have the surface water go directly to you skimmer is possible. Building a horizontal overflow as described in his link would be ideal. I have a Mag 7 with about 400 gph return. The overflow will mostly pull from the surface and drain about half directly to my fully modded ASM G3 and the other half to my fuge which gravity feeds back to the sump.
If you use your sump I would put the skimmer on one end and the fuge on the other with the return pump in the middle.

HTH
Stephen

 

[ace1uno_00]

Greemaji and saltwatersmac, Please help me understand.
I want my water from my tank going directly to my skimmer. then the skimmer water going to the fuge then to my return pump?
Am i understanding you correctly?

 

[greenmaji]

you want something like that..The water would be collected from the surfase of the water, as wide as possible and it would be best if you didnt put more flow through your skimmer then what it needs to operate at optimum effecency..
closed loop or power heads for the rest of your flow needs..

 

[saltwatersmac]

IMO I would want raw protein rich overflow water directly entering both skimmer and fuge. That's why my drain is split between the skimmer and fuge. The water directly drains inside my skimmer body and the pump is setup as a recirculator. The reason greenmaji suggested the horizontal overflow is because it takes a thin slice of water directly from the top which is where the proteins will accumulate.

 

[greenmaji]

spliting the overflow line is also an option as saltwatersmac mentions.. feeding the skimmer just what it needs to operate most effecently and the rest to the fuge..
thats why he suggests having the return pump section in the middle, so the water from the skimmer and fuge can be processed and returned without redundance water filtration..
Im wondering if anyone has actually tested if the fuge can remove any more from well skimmed water, like NO3 and PO4.. but really alot of the NO3 should be removed by the LR..

 

[ace1uno_00]

oh i see.
So i should place the fuge on one side. and the skimmer on the other and the return in the middle.
I dont want to overload my skimmer to where its not doing its job.
But how will i know how many GPH i am sending down to my sump?
because im not going to be using a regular overflow. I am going to be using bulkheads to let the water flow down.

 

[ace1uno_00]

like this?

 

[saltwatersmac]

Yes like that.
The amount of water going down the drain will be however much your return pump is putting back in your tank. Don't forget to figure in head loss. Make sure your bulkheads can handle more than this amount for a little added safety.
As far as overloading your skimmer its best to have a small amount of flow into it. It was recommended that my ASM G3 only have about 200 gph feeding it for optimum efficiency. As far as flow through the fuge some like it to be real low and others recommend around 10-20 times flow. I will be running 200 gph through my 15 gal fuge so that it just doesn't become an area to build up with junk.

 

[ace1uno_00]

Ok, great. so i guess im on the right track.
What fittings or bulkheads should i use in my tank for the return water?
Any links would be helpful.

 

[greenmaji]

That would depend on the amount of flow your working with.
Do you have a skimmer yet or one picked out to buy, or build?
Have you deisded how much flow to put through your fuge?

 

[ace1uno_00]

I want a god one. lol
havent decided yet. For the water flowing down, I am going to use Three 1inch bulkheads. and for the return water i dont know if i should drill and place three more bulkheads or what.

The fuge flow i would like low. but the flow through the skimmer (in the seperate space) would depend on the max performance of the skimmer.
I already have the design in mind for my sump. now i need to figure out how i want the water returned to the tank by what pump and what skimmer to use.

 

[saltwatersmac]

This is an overall good site for info and suggestions. It gave me some good ideas. The sump design we've been talking about is also in there.
http://www.melevsreef.com/
You could simply make the return go over the back. If you want a low flow fuge I would suggest a relatively low flow sump also. A return pump including head uses quite a bit of electricty for the amount of water your going to be moving. I would suggest making the rest of your flow in the main tank with a closed loop pump and multuple returns. You may even use one of the three bulkheads in your tank as the intake on the closed loop pump. Whatever size tank you have you need to shoot for at least 10x turnover preferably closer to 20x. Decide what skimmer to use and the optimum gph going though it and the amount you want through the fuge. Then you can select a pump that will deliver that amount. Here is a good head loss calculator for various pumps
http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php
A good read about flow through fuges. Remember 10x through a 15 gal fuge is only 150 gph. That's not a lot.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=462212