sump diagram, comments?

[justDIY]

here's a diagram of the layout for my saltwater project's sump

it'll be an old 30 gallon that's badly scratched and has some minor leaks around the top bad.

feedback is most welcome!

 

[justDIY]

updated diagram to include water level, eliminate prefilter floss area and integrate a filter bag instead

 

[dansemacabre]

Looks darn near what I'm planning on building. I have a question for you though. Do you know of a relatively inexpensive protein skimmer I could put on it? (Mine will be a 55g tank, I think, for the 'fuge). I'm assuming the baffles are made of acrylic/plexiglass and are held in place w/ a marine-grade epoxy? If there's a simple DIY plan for a skimmer, that even an idiot could do (I'm not really great unless I can see things), I'd appreciate it greatly. Will you just use a foam pad to quiet the noise of the falling water?

 

[justDIY]

3rd version - updated the refuge area after debating the flow distrubing things too much

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dansemacabre:

there are some good diy skimmer plans out there - check out www.about.com

the foam / floss was originally to catch large debris, to provide mechanical filtration - not sure about it not however, it would require frequent changing to avoid becoming a nitrate factory

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[dansemacabre]

How would this look for my 'fuge? I'm probably leaving something critical out, or setting something up stupid, because I've never done this before. But that's why it's so great all you experienced DIY diehards are here! Please leave me comments, or pm me if you don't wanna flood this thread yelling at me TIA!


[edit]Forgot to add water-flow line! DOH! It goes from left to right...heh. Though I'm sure you woulda guessed that much.[/edit]

 

[Electrobes]

not bad for the both of you...my own design (of which I am almost done with the actual DIY fuge and overflow, and skimmer) is a bit different though. The first part of the fuge is for egtting rid of bubbles, then it becomes the actual fuge, then where the return pump is located as well as the skimmer at the end. The difference also has a pipe coming from the outlet of the skimmer going back to the inlet of the fuge to help get rid of microbubbles. When I go back to gainesville Jan 4th I will take pics of the entire finsihed set up... tell you the truth.. once I finish my skimmer and fuge tomorrow I will take pictures and show you guys what I mean.

 

[justDIY]

sump version 3.2

revised the fuge area to have it's own water supply feed, rather than leave it exposed to the full-flow rate of the sump

added heaters and auto-top off to diagram

revised skimmer location

revised refuge to dump into equipment area to minimize the chance of debris reaching the pump

removed postfilter foam/floss from pump intake area

 

[justDIY]

from discussion held in chat, I was agreed that a refuge area should have a very low flow, which would be hard to maintain if the refuge were to receive flow directly from the flow in the sump

therefore, I'm now planning on having a 1/4" line feed off my main return which will feed back to the refuge container, which is located in the sump. and the refuge just overflows a spillway and remixes into the main system water.

 

[dansemacabre]

Why does the refuge area need to have such low flow? If you're using it as a nutrient export, wouldn't you want a good deal of water to flow through, just at a slowed pace? If I were to use it for an acclimation/propogation area, wouldn't I want good water flow? I'm not sure, so that's why I'm asking, learning as much as I can. =]

 

[justDIY]

I guess it depends on the purpose of the refuge.

the kind that grows critters and algae I'd agree needs long duration contact with the water in order to extract nutriants from it

I'm not 100% on all the different refugium setups yet - might be a good idea to start a thread in the sw general forum.

 

[dansemacabre]

Will do. =] In the meantime, do you think a 55gallon is too large for my refugium project (it will be the sump for a 120gal display)? I think I need it's combination of length and height, because the skimmer is massive, and I'd like a decent 'fuge area. And, do ya think I should add some anti-bubble baffles near my return pump to keep microbubbles out of the display? And to end my barage of questions (for now ) about how much space do I want to leave between the baffles to stop microbubbles? I want to maximize space for the 'fuge area, and I may be adding a top-off to the last compartment of the setup, I'm not sure yet. Thanks!

 

[justDIY]

well, in theory, you can't have "too large" a sump ... the bigger the better - just remember to take into account your total system water capacity when dosing, adding meds and such.

if you have the room for a 55 gallon under your display tank, then more power to you!

for the spacing between baffles, it really depends on your GPH - you want to have enough room for the water to flow without being restricted... I would guestimate at least 1.5"

the microbubbles are caused more by a mal-adjusted skimmer and "waterfall" effect from a low water level - keeping your skimmer running at optimal configuration and keeping your water level high should go a long ways in reducing bubbles.

the baffles really serve to 'organize' the water into a more orderly flow, smoothing out the turbulence cause by the overflow drains.