So, my LFS has two identical 60” x 18” x 16”T, 1/4” thick rimless acrylic sumps for their identical dual single-drain overflow 180g rimmed glass tanks. They are very old-school, and gave me creative freedom to update their filtration to the 21st century!
Both are the LFS owners personal tanks, one is a soft coral dominated reef, the other is a planted freshwater display. I’m replacing all four bulkheads on both tanks while doing these sumps; converting from dual Duroso to dual Herbie drains on both tanks, with returns plumbed up the back/over the rear rim of each tank!
These sumps are just acrylic boxes, no internal baffles or anything fancy… they’re both quite old, I’d guess at least two decades… hilariously; constructed of yellow acrylic less viewing pane, and not very well to boot!
The top opening of both sumps appears to have been cut larger at some point in history by Stevie Wonder himself! — I immediately pulled my router out to fix that…
Note the concerning lack of center braces; which I do plan to reinstall!
In any case: I plan to add acrylic seam reinforcements to every single seam of both sumps, followed by 1-2 top center braces each, and all the associated sump baffles…
Here are my questions:
1: what bubble trap design does everyone prefer? One weir and two “down baffles”? Or one “down baffle” and two equal height weirs? — I’ve seen it done both ways, the former seems more logical; is it just preference?
2: I’ve crudely sketched up four sump layouts; there are obviously plenty more… These are my general ideas for skimmer placement, return pump chamber size/placement, refugium placement, and drain placement… — keeping in mind that my LFS likes large sump chambers to work in, and the FW sump should have a large center display refugium; which of the four proposed sump layouts would you go with? Or, which alterations would you make?
Both are the LFS owners personal tanks, one is a soft coral dominated reef, the other is a planted freshwater display. I’m replacing all four bulkheads on both tanks while doing these sumps; converting from dual Duroso to dual Herbie drains on both tanks, with returns plumbed up the back/over the rear rim of each tank!
These sumps are just acrylic boxes, no internal baffles or anything fancy… they’re both quite old, I’d guess at least two decades… hilariously; constructed of yellow acrylic less viewing pane, and not very well to boot!
The top opening of both sumps appears to have been cut larger at some point in history by Stevie Wonder himself! — I immediately pulled my router out to fix that…
Note the concerning lack of center braces; which I do plan to reinstall!
In any case: I plan to add acrylic seam reinforcements to every single seam of both sumps, followed by 1-2 top center braces each, and all the associated sump baffles…
Here are my questions:
1: what bubble trap design does everyone prefer? One weir and two “down baffles”? Or one “down baffle” and two equal height weirs? — I’ve seen it done both ways, the former seems more logical; is it just preference?
2: I’ve crudely sketched up four sump layouts; there are obviously plenty more… These are my general ideas for skimmer placement, return pump chamber size/placement, refugium placement, and drain placement… — keeping in mind that my LFS likes large sump chambers to work in, and the FW sump should have a large center display refugium; which of the four proposed sump layouts would you go with? Or, which alterations would you make?
they're lucky to have a DIY warrior like you around
