Advice on sump setup?

[ShrimpBandit]

Greetings, Reefers! I've been playing around with my sump setup, and before I glue anything down, I wanted to ask for advice.

I was gifted a 30 gallon tank (30W x 12L x 18D) and I made baffles out of polycarbonate/acrylic material. I have room for two filter socks, a protein skimmer, a refugium, some media baskets, and the return pump. I plan to run a carbon reactor, but it can hang outside of the actual sump tank if necessary. The DT is 120g, and I'm drilling a central overflow with dual returns - one on each side of the back wall.

Below are some rough sketches of possible sump layout - the first being the original plan. The second option basically combines the inflow/filter sock chamber with the skimmer space. The third puts the refugium on the end away from inflow/return, but I'm not sure if that's actually beneficial.

Totally open to suggestion here. Anything I'm missing? If any of you have sumps with similar dimensions, please share pics!

 

[RocketEngineer]

Honestly, I like the skimmer section from 2, my return in the middle, then the refugium on the end. Supply the refugium off the return pump and because it’s on an end, you can make that baffle taller without impacting the flow. JMO

 

[RocketEngineer]

Like this.

 

[ShrimpBandit]

Honestly, I like the skimmer section from 2, my return in the middle, then the refugium on the end. Supply the refugium off the return pump and because it’s on an end, you can make that baffle taller without impacting the flow. JMO

Like this.

Thanks, this is helpful. I was just looking at your post with this pic and trying to sort the direction of flow through the sump and the inflow to the fuge. I think I'm with you now.

Is there added benefit to putting the fuge on an end vs. in-line?

 

[ShrimpBandit]

Something like this? Is it okay to have my heater so close to other stuff in the skimmer section? I'd really like to keep it out of the DT, but it's a 300W and it's too long for any of the sump chambers unless it's all diagonal like that..

 

[RocketEngineer]

Is there added benefit to putting the fuge on an end vs. in-line?

Yes, the baffle can be as tall as you want giving you more volume. Otherwise you are limited by the skimmer section water height. This way the section depths are independent.

 

[DancingWind]

Yes, the baffle can be as tall as you want giving you more volume. Otherwise you are limited by the skimmer section water height. This way the section depths are independent.

Or you can switch fuge and skimmer section order (aka Triton method style sump).