I am making a 55 gallon sump for my 75 gallon reef. The tank is 3'x1' and about 16 inches tall. My overflow is going directly down to the bottom of my first chamber where water will come up through bio balls and over the top of the first wall, the second chamber will be live rock, sand, heater, and a filter pump off of my old 20 gallon. Water will go over the top of this wall to my third chamber where the protein skimmer will be. From there it will go through a bubble trap to the final chamber where my return pump will be. Anyone want to throw out some sizes of chambers? I need to know how much space the skimmer and return pump will typically take up. I have the dividers made already. Thanks in advance.
Help with sump
- Thread starter Hinds04
- Start date
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neilanh
Sliced Bread
A few suggestions -
Ditch the bioballs, just use rubble live rock, you'll be better off with that as the bioballs tend to trap debris.
I run my skimmer in the first chamber, that way all of your bubble making stuff is in there so there's more time to offgas the bubbles so your return pump doesn't pump them up into the main display tank.
As for sizes, for your skimmer chamber make it however big you need it to be to fit the skimmer in there and your overflows or whatever else will be in that chamber. No need for it to be any larger than it has to be.
For the return section - this is the one that matters. The chamber where your return pump will be is where your evaporation will be evident, so unless you're using an ATO to keep the water level fixed, make this chamber as large as you can to accommodate evaporation without letting the water level get so low that the pump sucks in air.
Ditch the bioballs, just use rubble live rock, you'll be better off with that as the bioballs tend to trap debris.
I run my skimmer in the first chamber, that way all of your bubble making stuff is in there so there's more time to offgas the bubbles so your return pump doesn't pump them up into the main display tank.
As for sizes, for your skimmer chamber make it however big you need it to be to fit the skimmer in there and your overflows or whatever else will be in that chamber. No need for it to be any larger than it has to be.
For the return section - this is the one that matters. The chamber where your return pump will be is where your evaporation will be evident, so unless you're using an ATO to keep the water level fixed, make this chamber as large as you can to accommodate evaporation without letting the water level get so low that the pump sucks in air.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sumps, Part I by Greg Taylor - Reefkeeping.com
This link has three parts and has plenty of good info. Moving this to the General Hardware and equipment discussion.
This link has three parts and has plenty of good info. Moving this to the General Hardware and equipment discussion.
