Diy sump

[fishybizzness]

So here's my first try at a diy sump! The first chamber is my overflow from the dt. My skimmer will be in that section. The water then spills into the filter media section. I'm resting a piece of egg crate on top of the brackets and then putting a layer of filter floss on top of it. The water then flows through my refugium section, over another baffle through the bubble trap and into the return pump section. It's a 30 gallon sump and a 55 gal dt. What do you think about it? Anything wrong or anything that could be done differently? All advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

[fishybizzness]

I also have the first section drilled on the bottom and I'm putting a bulkhead with a shutoff valve. The pipe will lead to a drain so to do water changes, all I will have to do is open the valve and drain the water and then refill with new water.

 

[fishybizzness]

And here's the stand it's going to sit on behind the tank.

 

[Reef-junky]

Just so you are aware you are going to have to stay on top of cleaning filter floss or you will get detritus. Not sure why you decided to go through the bottom of the tank like that. Never seen anyone do that. Can’t really think of any advantage to that vs just going into the top.

 

[Larry L]

Overall looks pretty good to me. The water levels in the skimmer and refugium section should stay constant, so you'll need to put your auto-topoff (assuming you have one) in the return section to make up for evaporation.

It's hard top tell from the pictures - how high is the water level in the skimmer section compared to where the filter floss will be resting? I'd just make sure that if the filter floss were to totally clog, the water level in the skimmer section won't have to climb too much before it starts spilling over the top of the floss-holding brackets into the refugium.

 

[fishybizzness]

I got the tank for free and it was already drilled. I figured I may as well put the hole to use. Im drilling a hole through the floor into the crawl space and tapping into a drain line.

 

[fishybizzness]

I currently have a cannister filter so cleaning filter floss every few days will be a breeze compared to cleaning the cannister filter.

 

[Reef-junky]

The other option is to keep everything in suspension and let your skimmer do the work then you don’t have to change anything out. Nothing wrong with floss or socks you just have to stay on top of cleaning them.

 

[fishybizzness]

Im going to try that first and if it works, great. I'm switching from a reefoctopus classic 1000 to a sca 302. I think it's overrated for my current setup but plan on upgrading to a 120 SCA within a year so just trying to plan ahead.

 

[fishybizzness]

Overall looks pretty good to me. The water levels in the skimmer and refugium section should stay constant, so you'll need to put your auto-topoff (assuming you have one) in the return section to make up for evaporation.

It's hard top tell from the pictures - how high is the water level in the skimmer section compared to where the filter floss will be resting? I'd just make sure that if the filter floss were to totally clog, the water level in the skimmer section won't have to climb too much before it starts spilling over the top of the floss-holding brackets into the refugium.

The skimmer baffle is 12" and the floss section is the same height. The return section baffle is 11". I currently have a tunze nano ato and it works pretty well. I plan to upgrade the ato to the regular tunze in the future but the nano should be fine for now.

 

[fishybizzness]

Thanks for all the advice guys!

 

[fishybizzness]

So I finally got my sump up and running! Life and work got in the way for awhile but it is done! I brought it online a few days ago and surprisingly everything went smoothly. It was very unnerving turning on the pump for the first time but thankfully everything went smoothly!![emoji4]

 

[fishybizzness]

I have a lifereef overflow and it's working great! The sump is behind the dt set up as a display sump. I cleaned the filter floss today and was so amazed at how much easier it is compared to my cannister filter! I don't know why I waited so long!!

 

[fishybizzness]

My diy stand and homer auto top off container!![emoji16]

 

[cracker]

I like the raised sump for draining.

 

[fishybizzness]

I have a bulkhead through the bottom of the sump going through the floor and plumbed into a drain line for quick Water changes! Turn on a valve and about 6 gallons drain in about 2 minutes. Turn off the valve, refill, done!! 6 gallon water changes in about 5 minutes!