Sump Setup

[Schgred]

I am working on transferring my 37 gallon reef to a 55 gallon. I bought some used stuff from a guy who had a 55 gallon. included was a 9.5 mag drive pump and a sump that he built himself. I have attached the picture of the sump to this post for you to see. He ran it a bit different than I want. My thought is to have 3 sections that flow one to the other. I would have the first section be where the skimmer (aqua c remora) would hang on along with a phosphate reactor. I would have the water come into that section and have a filter sock on it as it comes into the Sump. That would flow into the next section which would be a refugium which would then flow into the section where the return pump would be.

How does this sump need to be adjusted? The panels are not placed as they should. I was thinking of taking one of the panels (the higher one on one side) and moving it to the other side so that there are three panels that provide a bubble trap.

Can you tell me if this is the right idea? Any critiques or tips to make sure the water flows as it should quietly and without bubbles. Any help would be great!

 

[Sniperhank]

Technically, you only need a bubble trap going into your third chamber, but this setup will work. It is personal preference if you use a 3 or 2 paneled bubble trap.

The only thing I would change is the pump he was running, depending on the size of the sump. I'm assuming it is a 20 long tank since he was running a 55 gallon tank. Is this correct?

 

[Schgred]

Sorry I should have specified this. It is a 30 gallon. What would be wrong with the pump?

If I put sand in the middle section that is the refugium wouldn't it be an issue because of the way the panels are set up? The sand would spread and could block the flow of water.

 

[Sniperhank]

Yes, if you out sand in there. But you don't need to.
I say that about the pump is due to the size of it. I run a 55 with 20 sump with a mag 5 pump as the return and have it throttled back quite a bit. The larger would really be cut back.

 

[kdpuffer]

I agree with hank, the pump is going to be to much. I use a 9.5 on my 90g and have it running about 1/3 of the flow up to my display. Also with the sump the setup you have will work fine, only issue being sand. If you really want sand I would just pull one of the higher up or raised panes off one side and silicone it in place on the other side to make a 3 walled bubble trap. When I first setup my sump I used my old remora hang on skimmer and it worked but you will want to rig something up as a kind of water slide on the discharge to reduce splashing. This would also be a good spot to incorporate an algae turf scrubber, look it up and from all I've heard they are awesome. Use some of the knitting mesh as the slide from the skimmer with algae and your off to the races, it will reduce nitrates and noise WIN WIN

 

[Schgred]

This is helpful. According to the mag drive info, at about 4-5 feet of head, the pump works at about 700 gph. I'm looking at a glass holes.com overflow that I drill that is rated for 700gph. With a valve on the return line, wouldn't this be a good match?

 

[kdpuffer]

You could do that. If the drain can handle it then it's not so bad, if it can't then your gonna need a good mop lol.

 

[Schgred]

So looking at the plumbing that the guy gave me, it seems that he had the return pump in the middle section. The first section was where the skimmer and phosban reactor was and the third section he had chaeto in it. The plumbing had the return line going up to the tank and to the chaeto. That would have solved the mag drive issue.

Is this a good way of doing it? I suppose the benefit to this would be regulating how much flow is in the refugium. But does it make sense to have the filtered water go to the refugium last?

 

[kdpuffer]

That is a goofy way to do it, though I can see the extra outlet on the return being useful as I split mine also. Though I just ran mine back to the skimmer/drain chamber, one can also use that for running media reactors. I would do the fuge in the middle and return at the end, honestly the most people don't even use sAnd in their refugium a anymore.

 

[teklabs]

It's exciting to hear about other builds.