Looking for some DIY sump ideas

[Mr. GoodStuff]

Currently have a 2nd gen eschopps refugium sump and it just isn’t working out for me, it’s too cramped with a big skimmer and a pain to clean so I’m planning on doing a custom sump using either a 40g breeder or 55g.

I have one of the generic 125g tank stands in black that I plan on reinforcing a bit once I remove the current sump but my questions are regarding the sump design.

I would like to utilize a decent sized refugium with chaeto and a mud bed, protein skimmer area, and then the return pump section. Still debating on how to setup the drain chamber as I’m really not a big fan of using filter socks and constantly changing them but would like some sort of filtration, maybe a flat surface that goes through filter floss? Was possible thinking of even setting up a separate smaller tank a bit higher than the actual sump to use as the drain section?

Just looking for some input and ideas.

 

[redfishbluefish]

As far as tank choices, make sure you'll be able to fit the 55 under the stand and still get equipment in and out.....especially the skimmer. Conventional 55's are 21 inches high (and only about 12 inches wide). The 40 B is approximately 17 high and 18 wide.

Because you wouldn't use the height of the 55 to hold water volume, I'd have a tendency to go with the 40B. I use the better part of my sump by calculating back-flow volume, and designing baffle height accordingly.

 

[Mr. GoodStuff]

As far as tank choices, make sure you'll be able to fit the 55 under the stand and still get equipment in and out.....especially the skimmer. Conventional 55's are 21 inches high (and only about 12 inches wide). The 40 B is approximately 17 high and 18 wide.

Because you wouldn't use the height of the 55 to hold water volume, I'd have a tendency to go with the 40B. I use the better part of my sump by calculating back-flow volume, and designing baffle height accordingly.

Good point totally forgot about the height lol. My biggest concern is I need the refug after the skimmer but I also want to try and avoid having to use something to raise the skimmer up higher

 

[Reef-junky]

I wouldn’t bother with the mud. If you put anything in the sump like a sponge or filter sock you will have to clean it. If you want to go filter less put a small power head in the sump and let the skimmer take out all the crap. You could also stick a CUC in the sump.

 

[Mr. GoodStuff]

I wouldn’t bother with the mud. If you put anything in the sump like a sponge or filter sock you will have to clean it. If you want to go filter less put a small power head in the sump and let the skimmer take out all the crap. You could also stick a CUC in the sump.

True. How is this design look?



Only issue I can think of is the copepods not being able to easily go from the refugium to the DT.

 

[Reef-junky]

True. How is this design look?



Only issue I can think of is the copepods not being able to easily go from the refugium to the DT.

I would add one more baffle after the skimmer. Another one going up so you have a bubble trap (like the first one)

 

[DanTheReefer]

Not sure if you looked into seller Jax.racks on eBay. He does custom baffle kits for all size tanks and can put together anything you want. Very great guy to work with. I attached 2 pics but he could do something without the filter socks if you wanted to stay away from them. Gives the look of a nice custom sump without the cost of buying one.

 

[R.Weller]

How much space do you have around the main sump?

Instead of using the space in the stand under the DT (300 gal), we moved the sump behind a wall (75 gal custom build). The original sump was designed with 4 chambers & included the refugium on the right side and the return in chamber 3. Accordingly, drains from the display were split between chambers 1 & 4. While I left space in '1' for a filter sock, I never used it as the biological filtration kept up with nutrient export.

Months later, I decided to add a surge device so I needed to increase the size of the return chamber (3). We bought a 50 gal rubbermaid stock tank & installed over the sump for the new refugium & cut out the baffle between 3 & 4 reducing the main sump to 3 chambers. Now, all drains flow into the first chamber, & water is pumped (600 gal / hr) to the refugium through a DIY algae scrubber that sits above the sump tank & drains into the return chamber. Dirty water either passes through the skimmer chamber, or through the algae scrubber that feeds the refugium.

It's probably easier to follow with pictures & our design drawings that I'm happy to share, but it all depends on your space & creativity.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I went out of my way to avoid filter socks as well. I made a 4 inch chamber for filter mesh

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

I built my own sump out of a standard 75.