R.Weller
Active Member
Our journey with a sump started years ago with a 20gal tall supporting a non-drilled 60gal display. That provided some interesting learning, so when we upgraded to a large system, we had a jumpstart on a design that would work for our new system.
After a few months of reading & discussing with more experienced hobbiest, we drafted a plan for a 4 chamber sump with intakes on either side with water flowing to the return chamber in the middle. By this point, we had already purchased a standard 75gal (onsale at Petco for $90) & had the glass baffles cut from a local glass supplier. We used six baffels at 1/4" thickness (to withstand contact / impact) & they cost around $100.
Installing the baffles was a great winter project. We used the Aqueon silicone (Amazon - $25) as it is advertised as safe for marine applications, & while it cost a little more that other commerical products, it did a great job. The baffles were installed from the 'bottom up', & it was a little tricky with the bubble trap but it worked.
Days later, we had a finished product. I'm glad we labeled everything & took the picture. The design gave us all three basic forms of filtration. Biological is supported by live rock & a refugium. Chemical can be used in the flow through panels or there is space in the skimmer chamber for a reactor. Mechanical is supported by the skimmer chamber & a large filter sock, which we have never used. The bubble trap is inverted (under-over-under) from the traditional style (over-under-over). This allows us full access to the bottom of the tank should that area need cleaning. I don't recall where I read that tip, but it's very true.
A few lessons we learned with this design:
Once everything was water tested, we took the excellent advice to install the sump in the stairwell located behind the display vs. in the stand under the tank. This system was a dual-Herbie overflow with the two primary syphon drains controlled with gate valves feeding the left & right ends of the sump. The emergency drains are not submerged, which helps in maintaining the system as when you hear the splash, it means that the screens on the primary drains need cleaning. The final gate valve is for the gravity top-off connected to a 20gal Brute. We use a constant kalk drip to keep calcium & alk at the right levels. This photo is the stage of adding salt, & we had not yet setup the dual return lines.
Just after starting the tank, we added an unplanned, last-minute, addition to the sump. We built a waterfall-style algae turf scrubber & smashed it into the return chamber. There's more detail on the goodness in another thread, but it's worth noting that it was made possible by using the space in the stairwell vs the stand. After the system was running for a few weeks with a few borrowed rocks from our existing build, we transfered the remaining livestock, sand & base rocks to the upgraded system. It stayed this way for 6 months.
The first of our sump evolutions involved a larger refugium & dedicated space for the ATS. We purchased a 50 gal rubbermaid stock tank ($55) & built a stand over the existing sump. We were already pumping water through the ATS, so moving the ATS into the refugium provided two big improvements. First, it lowered the flow rate through the refugium vs using a primary overflow drain, & second, it expanded the surface area for biological filtration. We were able to add another 80 lbs of sand & 100 lbs of rock. We have also added more CUC to the system & located them in the stock tank. The other addition that impacted the sump is the surge device (18gal blue tub). More on this device is also available in another thread here on R2R. However, to support this, we cut out the 4th chamber of the sump & expanded the return chamber. We upgraded the display to 300gal, & in doing so, rebuilt the plumbing to move from left to right through the sump.
So here's a more recent photo of the original sump. We still have all the same basic elements...only bigger.
I labeled this thread the evolving sump because I'm certain that we will continue to learn, & when we do, we will keep building. It started as a single DIY unit, & turned into 3 tanks with different functions all working together to support the display on the other side of the wall. Any & all comments or questions are welcomed & encouraged.
This hobby is brilliant.
After a few months of reading & discussing with more experienced hobbiest, we drafted a plan for a 4 chamber sump with intakes on either side with water flowing to the return chamber in the middle. By this point, we had already purchased a standard 75gal (onsale at Petco for $90) & had the glass baffles cut from a local glass supplier. We used six baffels at 1/4" thickness (to withstand contact / impact) & they cost around $100.
Installing the baffles was a great winter project. We used the Aqueon silicone (Amazon - $25) as it is advertised as safe for marine applications, & while it cost a little more that other commerical products, it did a great job. The baffles were installed from the 'bottom up', & it was a little tricky with the bubble trap but it worked.
Days later, we had a finished product. I'm glad we labeled everything & took the picture. The design gave us all three basic forms of filtration. Biological is supported by live rock & a refugium. Chemical can be used in the flow through panels or there is space in the skimmer chamber for a reactor. Mechanical is supported by the skimmer chamber & a large filter sock, which we have never used. The bubble trap is inverted (under-over-under) from the traditional style (over-under-over). This allows us full access to the bottom of the tank should that area need cleaning. I don't recall where I read that tip, but it's very true.
A few lessons we learned with this design:
- The baffles are tall to provide water volume to the refugium. This enables saltcreep on the rim.
- The space for the carbon bags is too narrow to be terribly effective. I had not factored the width of the baffles themselves in the design plan at the top. It turns out to not be a limiting factor as the media bags can hang in the bubble trap.
- The heaters were installed under the skimmer & were out of sight. We are now using 4 heaters for the entire system, & it is important to be able to visibly see the LED indicator on the heater to know that it is working. One of the units failed to turn on, & I did not know this until the system was struggling to keep up in the coldest months.
- Building it ourselves helped us understand everything that was going on within the ecosystem. Highly encouraged.
Once everything was water tested, we took the excellent advice to install the sump in the stairwell located behind the display vs. in the stand under the tank. This system was a dual-Herbie overflow with the two primary syphon drains controlled with gate valves feeding the left & right ends of the sump. The emergency drains are not submerged, which helps in maintaining the system as when you hear the splash, it means that the screens on the primary drains need cleaning. The final gate valve is for the gravity top-off connected to a 20gal Brute. We use a constant kalk drip to keep calcium & alk at the right levels. This photo is the stage of adding salt, & we had not yet setup the dual return lines.
Just after starting the tank, we added an unplanned, last-minute, addition to the sump. We built a waterfall-style algae turf scrubber & smashed it into the return chamber. There's more detail on the goodness in another thread, but it's worth noting that it was made possible by using the space in the stairwell vs the stand. After the system was running for a few weeks with a few borrowed rocks from our existing build, we transfered the remaining livestock, sand & base rocks to the upgraded system. It stayed this way for 6 months.
The first of our sump evolutions involved a larger refugium & dedicated space for the ATS. We purchased a 50 gal rubbermaid stock tank ($55) & built a stand over the existing sump. We were already pumping water through the ATS, so moving the ATS into the refugium provided two big improvements. First, it lowered the flow rate through the refugium vs using a primary overflow drain, & second, it expanded the surface area for biological filtration. We were able to add another 80 lbs of sand & 100 lbs of rock. We have also added more CUC to the system & located them in the stock tank. The other addition that impacted the sump is the surge device (18gal blue tub). More on this device is also available in another thread here on R2R. However, to support this, we cut out the 4th chamber of the sump & expanded the return chamber. We upgraded the display to 300gal, & in doing so, rebuilt the plumbing to move from left to right through the sump.
So here's a more recent photo of the original sump. We still have all the same basic elements...only bigger.
I labeled this thread the evolving sump because I'm certain that we will continue to learn, & when we do, we will keep building. It started as a single DIY unit, & turned into 3 tanks with different functions all working together to support the display on the other side of the wall. Any & all comments or questions are welcomed & encouraged.
This hobby is brilliant.
