Help me finish designing my sump!

[BAUCE]

I must admit this will probably work, you could join that extra strip on and reinforce it with the new bubble trap, and it will probably hold for a good while if you clean the glass and silicone it well.

Your work looks good on the other seams so I believe you would be successful, but I must ask......Why not replace that entire baffle with a taller one and then add the bubble trap in?

It means re-doing work you have already done, which is painful for sure, but think about looking in on this sump in a year or two, will you be happy to see how you solved this issue? given that (IMO) you dont necessarily NEED to rush some sort of a repair at this point.

Were it my tank I would pull the entire baffle, clean it up, and replace with a taller one, and add the bubble trap how you have it shown.

but you could totally just glue that extra strip in and as long as you clean and clamp it the silicone should keep it from going anywhere once its cured.

I felt the same way when I realized that it wouldnt work like this and thought I'd have to pull out that baffle to replace it with something taller. I realized that even if I removed it and put in a taller piece that the water would still slowly creep over that corner into the return section from the skimmer section. I think the only way it works 100% the way I want is by having the new strip hang over into the fuge area just a bit. (or atleast over the top of the other baffle)

 

[mrlavalamp]

I felt the same way when I realized that it wouldnt work like this and thought I'd have to pull out that baffle to replace it with something taller. I realized that even if I removed it and put in a taller piece that the water would still slowly creep over that corner into the return section from the skimmer section. I think the only way it works 100% the way I want is by having the new strip hang over into the fuge area just a bit. (or atleast over the top of the other baffle)

I don't think you should worry about the small fraction of water able to do a U turn around the skimmer baffle and come back into the return.

with the baffle for the bubble trap there, it should minimize any splashing it might cause, and you will likely want to keep the water level in the return near the height of the refugium baffle anyways (to keep this baffle design quiet and bubble free at least).

only way I can to improve your bubble trap is to add another baffle, but that cuts into your return chamber significantly, better off just pointing the return pump intake away from the bubble trap and force the water to cross the chamber.

 

[BAUCE]

I don't think you should worry about the small fraction of water able to do a U turn around the skimmer baffle and come back into the return.

with the baffle for the bubble trap there, it should minimize any splashing it might cause, and you will likely want to keep the water level in the return near the height of the refugium baffle anyways (to keep this baffle design quiet and bubble free at least).

only way I can to improve your bubble trap is to add another baffle, but that cuts into your return chamber significantly, better off just pointing the return pump intake away from the bubble trap and force the water to cross the chamber.

yeah it probably would be pretty minimal but would get worse as the amount of flow gets increased. I'll make the call tomorrow based on this discussion though.

I'll play around with how high the water level is in the return section but think I'll start off by trying it at around an inch lower. Bought some filter floss to toss in there to catch any macro algae before getting sucked into the return pump.

 

[TriggerFinger]

you said you have a trigger sump already? I do too, I love it. What about a “tray” for the filter pad like in your trigger sump?

 

[BAUCE]

you said you have a trigger sump already? I do too, I love it. What about a “tray” for the filter pad like in your trigger sump?

I love mine too. That one is great on my main display. If this doesn’t work out I’ll just grab one of those for this setup.

that’s a good idea. I have extra black eggcrate laying around. Would have to more than an inch though. I’ll look at that today.

 

[BAUCE]

@mrlavalamp I spent the morning removing that baffle and putting in a taller one. I added a little extra bead of silicone on the end to make sure no water spills over. You were right lol

 

[mrlavalamp]

@mrlavalamp I spent the morning removing that baffle and putting in a taller one. I added a little extra bead of silicone on the end to make sure no water spills over. You were right lol

Glad it worked out!