DIY Sump Question

[mpatient]

I am getting ready to start by first 40gal breeder sump. I will be a a simple 3 chamber design, but I have a couple of questions,

1. Baffle height: I have a ReefOctopus 150INT that recommends a height of 6-8 inches. I know I can raise the skimmer with a stand, so what would be a comfortable height of the first baffle after the skimmer? I would like some wiggle room and don't want to be stuck a baffle that is too low.

3. Is there a set calculation of the next 3 bubble trap baffles. Ex. Does the second baffle has to be X amount of inches above/below the first baffle after the skimmer, etc.

2. What is the best chamber order? Skimmer, refugium, return or Skimmer, return, and then refugium?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ddelmonaco]

lot of this is personal preference. would recommend skimmer as the primary then either return or fuge after that. I have run both ways. If you are looking to speficially control your fuge flow rate you can do this chamber after the return and have it overflow back to the return area. This would require an additional pump like a maxijet or equivalent. For the height calculations you should calculate the water level increase in the event of a power or return pump failure. Can use online gallons calculators for this and just make sure you have an extra safety margin on top of your calculations to ensure you never have an overflow event