Help with building sump please

[dheck]

Hello, I am setting up a 90 gallon reef aquarium and I am trying to get the sump figured out. I bought a G2 skimmer and have a 30 gallon tank for a sump. Is there enough room here to do what I want? It looks a little snug. How much room do I actually need?

Do I have enough room to add the baffles? How do I determine where to mount the baffles and how high/far apart ect?

Also what size/kind of return pump would you guys recommend?

 

[austinsdad]

Got room to put the skimmer outside of the sump? Then the pump only goes inside. Mag 9 maybe. I'm just guessing. Look up the mag 9 to check gph on it and tank recommendations. Still gotta consider head loss too.

Looking for anywhere from maybe 8 - 10 times the turnover of the 90g. So 10 x 90 =900gph desired.

you doing fish only or fish and reef?

 

[dheck]

I will be doing fish and reef. I think I may be able to fit the skimmer outside, under my cabinet. I didn't want to have to drill my sump tank though. I am really uncertain how the skimmer even works. Does it just fill up via the inlet and then dump out of the outlet pipe directly into the tank?

 

[austinsdad]

Yep. Basically.

Pumps up into the skimmer. Out from the skimmer mounted high enough so that a vertical line from the output can elbow down over the tank down into it. you can make a nice little pvc stand for the skimmer to get it up that high. Make sure where you do mount it, you can get to it and clean/service it.

 

[ccCapt]

The skimmer is fine right there. What you need to do now is silicone in the baffles, placed about 1" apart, to seperate the chamber where the skimmer will be from the rest of the sump. The skimmer MUST be in a section of the sump where the water level stays the same. I think those ASM's run best in about 8" of water, so make your baffles 8" high. Silicone the 1st one to the bottom and both sides. Leave about a 1" space, then silicone the 2nd one ONLY ON THE SIDES. You want the 2nd baffle to be about 1" off the bottom of the tank. Then silicone the 3rd one, about 1" away from the 2nd and silicone it to the bottom and sides.
Now you have isolated an area of your sump where the water level will always be 8". Just be sure the overflow from the tank empties into this skimmer section. The return pump can be on the end of the other section.

This skimmer can not be run externally. It must be in the sump.

 

[dheck]

Ok, I have a few more questions. Please take a look at the attached file I drew up.

The overflow from the tank, does that just dump right into the skimmer area?

How far off the bottom of the tank does the overflow pipe need to be? Does it need to be submerged in the sump water? Above the water line?

The tube that the skimmed water comes out of, does that just dump directly back into the same area the the overflow from the main tank dumps into?

For the baffles, I know I need 8" of water for my skimmer so I'll cut the first one and last one to 8" tall and silicone them to the bottom and sides. I know the middle baffle needs to be about 1" off the ground but does it need to be any certain height? Does it need to sit a certain distance higher than the inner and outer baffles?

Also the area where my return pump is, does it need to be a certain size or just big enough for the pump/lines to fit?

I think thats it for now...

 

[Ziggy953]

Your return area needs to be large enough so as not to run dry and burn up your pump. That is where you are going to see the evaporation of your tank. (that water level will drop as water evaporates) How tall is that tank?

This is what I would do.

I would make a platform for the skimmer to sit on to raise it alittle bit in the tank. From the base of the platform I would measure the 8" of water that you need, by doing this you will get more water volume in your sump. Then cut the baffles accordingly. If you don't want to hear the noise of water dumping into your sump run the drain line below the water level if you have bubbles in that area it isn't a big deal because you skimmer is there.

After you have your baffles in place you are going to have to tweak the opperating level of your sump. What I mean is the return area. The rest of the sump will remain constant. You need to keep in mind power outages because when the return pump shuts off water is still going to flow out of the tank into the sump until the water level in the main drops below the overflow. You have to leave enough room in the sump to accomidate that water.

 

[dheck]

I have a 90 gallon main tank w/ built in overflow and a 30 gallon sump tank. The sump tank is about 16.5" tall. So basically I need to put everything in place, fill with water, and then shut the return pump off to make sure I have room? Is there anyway to guestimate the size of return area I need? It's a MAG9 pump. The Skimmer is an ASM G2.

Also should the intake of the skimmer be pointing any certain way? Like I have it pictures or turned 180?

 

[Ziggy953]

I don't think the way the skimmer is turned will make a lot of difference. As long as your pump for the skimmer can pull water you should be fine. For the skimmer section I would make that baffle 12" tall and make a stand out of eggcrate and pvc to raise the skimmer to the height it needs to be to be in 8" of water. (about 4")

I would make the return area as large as you can stand it to be. If you have too small of a return then evaporation is going to be a problem and you will have to top off a lot.

You will need to determine the working level of the return, the amount of water needed to keep the pump submerged and the amount of room left to allow for a power outage or just having the pump off.

How long is the 30g tank?

 

[dheck]

I just measured the tank and it is 17" tall, 12" wide, and 36" long.

when you say make the skimmer baffle 12" tall do you mean the section I labeled "egg crate"? I was under the impression that this didn't need to be a true baffle, I was just tring to put some seperation between the skimmer pump and the LR rubble.

When you say raise the skimmer 4" off the bottom it still only needs to be in a total of 8" of water correct? Or does it now need to be 12"

 

[austinsdad]

I guess I'm not seing how or where the skimmer pump is going. Is this skimmer one that ONLY sits in the water. I know some can do either - in or out of the water. I'm definitely not versed with anything other than what I've used for skimmers (Top Fathom and Aqua C EV, but both werw both submersible and able to mount outside.

Also, isn't a Mag 9 a bit strong for that skimmer (on a 90g)? I was thinking a Mag 9 for the main return.

Heck, an Aqua C EV skimmer rated for a 155g only recommends a Mag 7.

EDITED: I see now. Looked up the skimmer and see it is submersible only. Is that pump built in???

 

[dheck]

Yes the pump sits right next to the skimmer and has to be submersed. My return pump is a mag9. I am not sure what the skimmer pump is but it came with the Skimmer so I am sure it is sized correctly.

 

[austinsdad]

What didja decide on for the main return?

 

[dheck]

The mag9 is the main return pump. The skimmer came with it's own pump.

 

[ccCapt]

You should put the baffles where you have the eggcrate and eggcrate when the baffles are. The baffles create the section of sump with the constant water level. As Ziggy mentioned, you need a bigger area for the return section to account for evaporation PLUS room for the tank water when the pump is off.

12" should be a workable baffle height. What I mean by "workable" is if you make the baffles 12", will you have enough room in the sump for water from the tank when the pump is off? Or, if you make 12" baffles and keep the water level at maybe 6-8" in the return section, you will hear that water falling. Dropping 4" makes a pretty loud splash. My sump is like that and it is noisey.

 

[austinsdad]

Oh yeah. If I read a bit better you already told me that.

Anyway, take pics as you go. I'm curious to see the size of the chambers as you assemble this - with pumps and all. Gonna have the heater down there too, right? Thinking about a UV?

 

[dheck]

You should put the baffles where you have the eggcrate and eggcrate when the baffles are. The baffles create the section of sump with the constant water level. As Ziggy mentioned, you need a bigger area for the return section to account for evaporation PLUS room for the tank water when the pump is off.

12" should be a workable baffle height. What I mean by "workable" is if you make the baffles 12", will you have enough room in the sump for water from the tank when the pump is off? Or, if you make 12" baffles and keep the water level at maybe 6-8" in the return section, you will hear that water falling. Dropping 4" makes a pretty loud splash. My sump is like that and it is noisey.

Ah, it makes more sense now with flipping the egg crate and baffles. So you are saying that the baffles should be 12" high with the skimmer sitting 4" off the ground. What controls the water height in the return area? How fast the pump pumps out water?

 

[ccCapt]

You control the water height in the return area of the sump when you first set it up. When everything is up and running, you will have 12" of water in the skimmer section and that will always have 12". The level in the rest of the sump will drop as water evaoprates. You can keep it at about 10" when "full" and as the water evaoprates, that level will drop. Water will flow back into the sump only as fast as your pump pumps it out.

 

[cmor1701d]

The baffle section and egg crate should be reversed. You want the smaller area for the skimmer section and the longer area for the LR rubble and return pump.

I'm not sure I would raise skimmer. I would just make the first baffle 8" high for the skimmer, leaving lots of headroom for sump to fill when the return pump is off. The overflow height in the tank may be adjustable. You also need to adjust the height of the return lines in the tank so they break siphon before the sump fills.

 

[dheck]

Very good, I think I have it now. I will build it tonight and post pictures. The problem with lifting the skimmer up 4" is that it may hit the top of my stand so it may have to sit on the bottom and not be raised.

For the break siphon, can I just drill 2 holes in my return line just beow the water level?