How would you Design sump?

[Kodski]

Hello everyone, I'm trying to design my sump so that I'll be building for my new build. I plan on making it out of plywood and sealing it with pond armor due to the shortage and price increase of acrylic. More than likely down the road I'll be rebuilding it out of acrylic but for now its plywood and epoxy. I have a full fish room in my basement that I can utilize and I'd eventually like to have a nice large frag tank and possibly a predator or FOWLR tank attached. In total I'm looking for the sump to actually hold around 200 gallons of water. This is my initial drawing that I've come up with.

Even though you don't really see them anymore, I really want to try a trickle filter system as that is what my LFS uses and it just plain works. I also really want to have a large refugium area for pods. The refugium would be fed by a separate pump from my return pump that would also feed a manifold and more than likely the frag tank. The equipment section and refugium would drain into a center channel. I have the channel built in as my water needs to be plumbed to return in the same direction as it drains due to the tank being above the next room technically. So this channel would just route water around instead of using pipe and creating a longer horizontal run. It would also act as a bubble trap in a way. I would make the room directly beneath the tank my fish room, but that is where my water heater and furnace are located and there just isn't enough room in there. Not to mention the potential issues with having my sump next to my furnace.

So my question is, if you had a fish room, and could design a very large sump, how would you design it?

Also a picture of where the sump will be going.

 

[JayLu]

I think my set-up may be a little like what you are doing. I pretty much have unlimited room for my sump since it is in my basement. (My aquarium is in the room above it.). My sump is basically a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank located on a table I built out of 2x4s. That’s big enough for me, but if I wanted to go bigger, I would just get the 300 gallon one. It’s not that pretty, but it works well and no one really sees it but me anyways since it is in my basement.

 

[jda]

If you have the room, and it looks like you do, run the fuge as a separate system/tank. It is only another return pump and it simplifies things. I make sure that i have room for 2 skimmers - 2 good skimmers will crush a top skimmer and cost less money, so good to have the option for later.

A remote fuge can be as simple as a small rubber made or used/old tank just sitting higher/on the current sump. I REALLY like to keep them separate.

I put my sumps up on stands so that it is less head to pump back up the main floor and so that I can siphon out of them into buckets down the drain. Also saves bending over.

 

[Kodski]

I think my set-up may be a little like what you are doing. I pretty much have unlimited room for my sump since it is in my basement. (My aquarium is in the room above it.). My sump is basically a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank located on a table I built out of 2x4s. That’s big enough for me, but if I wanted to go bigger, I would just get the 300 gallon one. It’s not that pretty, but it works well and no one really sees it but me anyways since it is in my basement.

That's definitely a route I've thought about, I'd love to go with a 300 gal, and even use it as a lagoon tank for FOWLR but I don't think I'll be able to get one that large into my basement unfortunately. My other qualm with going that route is keeping bubbles out of the display tank while still having everything looking nice and neat. I may end up doing a smaller one yet for equipment.

 

[Kodski]

If you have the room, and it looks like you do, run the fuge as a separate system/tank. It is only another return pump and it simplifies things. I make sure that i have room for 2 skimmers - 2 good skimmers will crush a top skimmer and cost less money, so good to have the option for later.

A remote fuge can be as simple as a small rubber made or used/old tank just sitting higher/on the current sump. I REALLY like to keep them separate.

I put my sumps up on stands so that it is less head to pump back up the main floor and so that I can siphon out of them into buckets down the drain. Also saves bending over.

The way I have my sump designed in my first post, the fuge would act as separate and be fed by a separate pump as well. I was just thinking it would be easier that way to have it return. But either way I was planning on having it being fed separately. I think my filtration will have plenty of room for two smaller skimmers if needed, however, I already purchased a Reef Octopus Regal 300-int skimmer which will be more than enough for this system. Better yet I bought it on Black Friday and only paid $600 for it.

I will defiantly be raising the sumps up off the floor to save on bending over as you've mentioned. I'm thinking 24" tall stand for the main sump and 32"-36" for the frag tank and fuge if done separately.