Initial sump/fuge design, 40B

[boisblancboy]

This is my rough crude drawing. I wanted control of the turnover rate in my fuge, microfauna not going by my skimmer and a fuge as big as I could have. Do I need more baffles? Baffles will probably move depending on what equipment I settle on with in mind I will upgrade sometime in the future.

 

[George Lopez]

Should be good like that as long as your pump is strong enough for what you want, but leave more space on the skimmer side for future equiptment

 

[boisblancboy]

Ok will do! Just want to be sure I stop all micro bubbles I can and also be as silent as possible.

 

[George Lopez]

Are you going to run socks?

 

[boisblancboy]

Are you going to run socks?

No I hadn’t planned on it.

 

[George Lopez]

Ok I was just wondering if you were going to do any mechanical removal too

 

[boisblancboy]

Reason I say no is everything I’ve read it’s like a 50/50 deal. Since I’m not going to be heavily stocked I should be ok and hope to have enough flow that I keep most everything suspended.

 

[Cjud7982]

you have a tried and true design, there, I have used it in the past and always worked great. As mentioned I would make the skimmer section larger than you need for upgrades later on. And depending on your return pump size, it might be wise to plumb a manifold in to drive your refugium, and anything in the future like reactors or something. Also, I am not sure if it matters too much, but most bubble traps that I have seen, and used, have three panels. over-under-over. EDIT, I would definitely go bean animal if the display allows. Never went back after I set a tank up with one.

 

[boisblancboy]

you have a tried and true design, there, I have used it in the past and always worked great. As mentioned I would make the skimmer section larger than you need for upgrades later on. And depending on your return pump size, it might be wise to plumb a manifold in to drive your refugium, and anything in the future like reactors or something. Also, I am not sure if it matters too much, but most bubble traps that I have seen, and used, have three panels. over-under-over. EDIT, I would definitely go bean animal if the display allows. Never went back after I set a tank up with one.

Thank you. Does any feel that the water flowing over the fuge baffle is going to be loud? If so how should I fix that?

Also does anyone feel the baffles should be configured different to help with micro bubbles? Rather get this right the first time.

 

[Cjud7982]

I mocked up your drawing with how I have set up similar sump setups. I put some notes on it if that helps. The noise from the refugium will depon on your flow rate through it and the vertical height difference between the refugium and return section. If slow enough, the water will flow over the smooth wier and slide down the glass being dead silent. I have seen some people placing a small horizontal piece of glass just under the water (shown in green) that is supposed to dampen the splashing. I have never needed to use this piece so I cannot give you personal experience on using one. hope this helps.

 

[Erica-Renee]

Old image but this will give you a idea of Fuge first ..
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2QNE5K4xkXxT6X2q1



I like the fuge tank before the skimmer..
My drain from display goes into a area before my refugium then up over a baffle (where i can put filter media between during tank glass scraping and so on . ) Then into the Fuge. The fuge tank drains into the skimmer section in the sump. After that is a DSB AREA , 4=2 gallon buckets full of sand . Then into the return pump area.. there is a baffle open at the bottom for filter media when I need it..

The Fuge tank actually a 55 gallon drum split and connected end to end.. the Sump is a 70 Gallon tank .. Of Course you do not need nothing this big.. My system has a few tanks on it and at one time a 300 gallon pond ,240 gallon reef ,70 gallon fowlr tank... the pond is no longer on the system....

Where you place the fuge depends on its use in my Opinion.. Mine is to grow Plants and Pods ...

 

[boisblancboy]

CJ, the third blue vertical line from the left, that shouldn’t be taller than the first vertical line on the left should it? That would make the first baffle useless and the water too deep for the skimmer, unless I’m misinterpreting your drawing.

My initial idea was to have a low flow through the fuge.

Erica the reason I went with this design was to have control on the flow to my fuge, have a larger fuge compartment and not have my pods going directly past my skimmer. I know some people say it doesn’t matter and some say it does as far as the pods go but I figured why chance it. Plus I didn’t want the detritus being dumped directly into the fuge.

 

[Cjud7982]

CJ, the third blue vertical line from the left, that shouldn’t be taller than the first vertical line on the left should it? That would make the first baffle useless and the water too deep for the skimmer, unless I’m misinterpreting your drawing.

You are correct, the last baffle in the bubble trap on the return chamber side (the third blue vertical line from the left) must be shorter that the baffle that sets the skimmer chamber depth (the first blue line on the left). The last baffle should be set at or slightly above the desired return chamber depth. Sorry I just drew in three random height lines, I added the note saying that the last baffle height depends on which pump you use. Some smaller pumps have pickups on the bottoms so the depth isnt super critical, some larger pumps might be 5 inches tall and pull from all around the pump and need a few inches of water above it to prevent it from pulling air. I usually have good luck with this baffle being between 6 and 8 inches, and my skimmer baffle being between 10 and 12 inches. Of course this all needs to take into consideration the amount of water that flows back to the sump when the return pump is turned off. the baffles may have to be shorter if a larger volume from the display tank is returned to the sump, or vice versa.

 

[boisblancboy]

Ok good we are on the same page.

Quick question, the 3rd line from the left, are you showing it to be 2” away from middle baffle? Im assuming so there is room to get between them to clean gunk out?

 

[Cjud7982]

There are a couple reasons why this baffle is spaced 2 inches instead of 1 inch. 1) more surface area for any remaining bubbles to be released out of the water. 2) like you said gives you some room to clean that tiny chamber. 3) I use this area if I want to slip a bag of activated carbon, filter pad/floss, or addition filter media depending on what my water is telling me I need to do. I figure why add a reactor when you are already flowing water through a relatively controlled area.