DIY Sump/Fuge

[Salt4Us]

Attached is a pic of a Sump/Fuge I'm trying to make, my questions are:

how does it look?

Is the spacing ok?

Ok, looking at the picture, inlet on the right of the pic and outlet on the left of the pic.

This is the first time I'm doing this, so all help is much appreciated!

Thanks! Oh, and the wood won't be in there, haven't glued yet.

[wingsfan]

if the inlet is on the right side , i'm not positive, but i don't think you really need the tall devider, but i'm sure that if i'm wrong someone will correct me, looks good tho

[EMS503]

Im no expert but I agree with wingsfan that tall divider might be a little high, other then that it looks great. Nice job. Are you going to be able to get the 2x4 out

[fishfreek]

Could you tell us what the 3 or 4 chambers will be used for?

Also is that plexiglass or acrylic that your trying to bond to glass?

[loganj]

Assuming that the water will enter from the right, it should work OK. The first baffle is high, but it won't hurt anything. Might make it a little hard to clean though. Depending on how much flow you're going to have, you may have some trouble with micro bubbles. Adding another baffle would help with that if it proves to be a problem. Guessing the skimmer will be in the center and the return pump in the far left?
If you're using acrylic, plexiglass, lexan, ect..., you will find that silicone doesn't stick to it very well. You may be able to keep the partitions in place by siliconing both sides. You'll be relying on the silicone to stick to the glass and hold the acrylic in place...should work OK, but I wouldn't count on it being watertight.
The only other thing I see is... Will you be able to keep a high enough water level in the sump to avoid having a waterfall into the pump chamber and still have enough sump capacity to prevent a spill in case of pump/power failure? If not, you might want to lower the baffle on the left. If you have the waterfall thing going there, you'll have bubbles in the tank.

[Salt4Us]

The partitions are acrylic. From left ot right, the 1st chamber is for the pump return to the tank. Logan, would you suggest I put a couple/few holes into this partition to help prevernt the waterfall effect? I planned to have the sump about 2/3's full (approx). The 2nd chamber is for the fuge (LS/LR/Macroalgea). the third is just a baffle of sorts so that the fuge material isn't too disturbed by the water coming in. The last in the inlet from the tank. I realize there's no seperate area for a skimmer. We're not sure about installing a skimmer yet. I was thinking of lowering the inlet wall & if we get a skimmer to put it in the inlet area.

Keep the comments coming! Thanks!

[loganj]

OK...I had it all backwards . You might want to put a weir on the baffle where the water enters the sump or just shorten it some. The top of it needs to be a little under where the water level will be. Also, if the pump is to go on the left side, these baffles are backwards IMO. The water should flow under, then over into the pump chamber. JMHO.

[Salt4Us]

Sorry to get back so late to you, Logan.
We went away for the weekend camping & it's been busy since then.

I like your idea about the water flowing under then over to the pump chamber. I'll revise & cut s'more acrylic to make it work.

thanks again to everyone for your comments & suggestions!

John