How high should my baffles be on my sump?

[reefchaser]

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[reefchaser]

I have a 20 gallon long with a mag 5 sump pump
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[T.W.]

I think the general rule of thumb is as high as you can make them while still allowing room for extra water in case of a system failure. I made mine 8" high on my 10 gallon sump and now wish I had gone up at least another inch. Poor planning on my part.

Sorry I realize this probably doesn't help a whole lot but maybe get you in the right direction?

 

[WillKatt]

When I did mine I made them as high as I could to get the most water volume while still leaving enough room at the top so when my return pump is off all the water can in the return plumping, etc can run into the sump without over filling it with room to spare. Does that make sense?

Another thing to consider is the type of skimmer you have. If your skimmer needs to be submerged in a specific level of water you may not want to go too high unless you have enough room under the tank or where ever to raise the skimmer up high enough so it dosnt sit too deep.

 

[reefchaser]

Yes it does thank you. What size pipe are you using for your drain and return?

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[WillKatt]

1.5"

 

[SloppyJ]

Wow that's a big bulkhead for a little tank. You might want to put a valve on the overflow side so you can throttle it down incase your pump can't keep up with the outfall from your tank. Hell I have a mag5 and 3/4" bulk heads and mine was gurgling in my 30g.

Are you running a skimmer? If so, figure out how high the water level needs to be on the skimmer.

 

[T.W.]

I run 3/4" drain and 1/2" return on my 20g High and use a maxi-Jet 900 (due to my head height)

 

[ReeferBob]

I am building a 40 Breeder sump right now and went with 10 1/2" for the skimmer compartment and 10" for the divide between the fuge and return section. My skimmer specifies between 9 1/2" - 11". This is a 125 gallon tank so I wanted enough room to avoid a flood in case of pump failure.

 

[Trex]

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I have a 20 gallon long with a mag 5 sump pump
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What size main tank?
What skimmer are you using?

I have a 20 long for all 3 of my tanks (( 75, 65, 40 breeder )) and used the same layout for each.

Here is a picture of the one for my 75, If needed, I can get the baffle heights after work.

 

[reefchaser]

Thanks trex. They are great pictures for me to go by. I would love the height to please. How big is your return and drain line? How high can you have your water on the 75 gallon so it doesn't overflow with a power failure?

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[reefchaser]

My tank is 75 gallons

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[Trex]

My 75 is reef ready, so the water level in the tank is the same (( when running )), and goes down to the return line's siphon break point when the pump is off -- want to say about 2 inches -- can find out for sure later (( plan on cleaning that tank soon )).

The drain line is 1", and the return is 3/4" Sure I should have used 1", but was tired of running to Home Depot.

Those picture don't show it, but I have tape lines on the outside of the return section, to show me (( and any one watching the tank )) the low water level and high water mark, which leaves enough space for the back flow from the main tank.

 

[reefchaser]

Ok thank you trex. Im building a 20 gallon sump for my 75 fowler tank. Im getting a lot of brown algae on my rocks from my t5 lights. Do you have any suggestions to help me with that?


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[Trex]

The lights aren't the cause -- excess nutrients are the cause. The lights are just shinning light on the existing issue (( bad pun intended )).

Are you using RO/DI water? If so, what is the TDS?

 

[Trex]

Sorry it took so long, but I have the baffle heights.

Going off the picture the above picture (( post #10 )), and starting from RIGHT to left.

The inflow/skimmer baffle is 10"
The "under" baffle is 1.5" off the bottom of the sump and is 10" high (( it just needs to be higher than the next baffle ))
The "over" baffle at the start of the fuge is 9"
The baffle right before the return section is 9"

The inflow/skimmer section is 10" long
The bubble trap is 4"
Fuge 9"
Return 7"

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Tlledsmar]

Wow that's a big bulkhead for a little tank. You might want to put a valve on the overflow side so you can throttle it down incase your pump can't keep up with the outfall from your tank. Hell I have a mag5 and 3/4" bulk heads and mine was gurgling in my 30g.

Are you running a skimmer? If so, figure out how high the water level needs to be on the skimmer.

I want to fix this "for the record" because people Google search and end up at these old threads.


You can never have "too large" an overflow. If your overflow is more gph than your return that's great! Now you set display height using the overflow height. That's it. The pump can never get ahead of it. The display will always be at minimum level. The only time you need to "throttle" an overflow is when you are trying to make it quieter (a wild goose chase) or for some ungodly reason hold a full siphon.