Please critique my sump build

Swingline77

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sump design.jpg


I’m building a sump out of a 20 gal long tank, and I’d appreciate any feedback. The dimensions are 30” x 12” x 12”. Baffles are labeled with roman numerals and will be made of either opaque 1/8“ or ¼“ acrylic. If I run out, I might use 1/8 polycarbonate. There are three chambers, and water will flow from left to right. To start, the center of two 1” bulkheads located at the same height will be 5”. There will not be socks.

Chamber 1 will be 16” horizontally, and will contain a protein skimmer. At the far end, baffle II rises 8” from the bottom. There will be a chaeto lamp above chamber 2. I’m thinking of blocking some of the light from the lamp by placing a baffle above baffle II. There will be a gap of 1” between baffle I and II through which water may flow. Baffle I will extend to the top of the tank.

Chamber 2 will be 8” horizontally, and will contain chaeto. At the far end, baffle III rises a total of 7.5”. There will be a 1” weir cut in to the top. Baffles II, IV, and V will form a bubble trap. Baffle IV will extend from the top, until 2” from the bottom. Baffle V will rise from the bottom to a height of 6.5”. The gaps between baffles III and IV, as well as IV and V will be ¾”.

Chamber 3 will be 4” horizontally, and will contain heaters, a place for additions of various things, and sensors. An exit bulkhead will be mounted with its center 2” from the bottom.

I have a few issues that I’m trying to work out. First, I want to enclose at least part of the sump so as to limit salt spray. From a practical purpose, the entire thing will probably be enclosed with three acrylic panels, one over each chamber.

For chamber 1, I can’t have a flat lid sealed against the skimmer body. If I were to do this, a skimmer overflow would flow onto the top of the lid. So, I need a flat lid with a hole cut in it. Resting on top of this hole will be a tower that will enclose the entire skimmer. I don’t know if this is possible. I have roughly 24” of vertical space under my tank, and the skimmer is roughly 22” in height. One possibility, which I’d rather not do, is to have the sump outside of the cabinet. Another is to have this part of the lid in pieces. I can put the bottom of the skimmer in the tank, but the flat lid on, put the top part of the skimmer on, and then sandwich the skimmer in from the sides with the tower. The tower would be composed of two parts: the first part would be three walls and a top. The second part would be a fourth wall that would bolt or tie onto the assembly of three walls and a lid. This would potentially make emptying the skimmer a slight nuiscance, but maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. The alternative to all this would be to totally enclose the entire sump and skimmer in an acrylic box, which has disadvantages as well. This aspect concerns me the most, and is the most tenuous part of the design.

For chamber 2, ad standard old-school “bell lamp” used for reptiles would provide light for the chaeto. The lid would be clear acrylic, with clear glass on top of this. It would be constructed in this way so that the glass isn’t exposed directly to the sump, so as to avoid leaching of tin. Furthermore, the glass would prevent the lamp from being directly on the acrylic. If this is a bad idea, please let me know.

For chamber 3, an acrylic lid would be held in place by a brick. Mounted in the lid would be addition ports and sensors for ATO, kalkwasser, temperature, etc. There would also be holes for cords supplying the heaters.

As for the baffles, do you think that they are of good heights? I need 8” of water in chamber 1, hence the height of baffle II. As for baffle I blocking the light, is this a good idea at all, or wouldn’t it do much? If this is worth having, is the 1” gap between baffle I and II sufficient?

As for baffle III, of course it needs to be lower than baffle II. At 7.5”, it will be 0.5” lower than baffle II. Is this sufficient? Is the weir of 1” sufficient? Should I have baffle IV to extend all the way to the top (to block light)? I’m temped NOT to have it rise too much higher than baffle III, so as to make cleaning between the baffles far easier. Is the 2” gap below baffle IV sufficient? Is 6.5” a good height for baffle V? This is just arbitrary, really. Is the ¾” gap between these baffles sufficient, or will cleaning be difficult?

I’m planning to use acrylic for the baffles rather than glass for a few reasons: I already have the plastic, I want to avoid introducing tin from glass, and it seems that acrylic works well for most.

So, can anyone offer any suggestions? Thanks.
 

mich2599

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This is my sump from a 20 gal long as well. I used glass for my baffles as a lot of people say acrylic won’t stick to the glass. Nevertheless I do too have 3 chambers. I have a filter sock and my 110 octopus skimmer in my first chamber with the baffle being 9 1/2 inches tall and the chamber being 13 inches long. Second chamber is 11 inches long and the first baffle is 8 inches tall. There is a 1 inch gap between the last two baffles. There was supposed to be a third baffle but I happened to break it while cutting the glass. Finally, the last section is 4 1/2 inches long and I have a Jebao 4000 in there. At had chaeto in my 2nd section but it died as I didn’t have enough flow. I have an acrylic lid to keep water from evaporating and my little nephew from throwing things in :p. I don’t know what kind of pump you have but make sure you make it at least 5 inches in case you need to upgrade to a bigger pump like I did. I have my sump beside my DT as it wouldn’t fit under my stand.

190CBA62-3D58-496E-938E-377A64E073C0.jpeg
 
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Idoc

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Recommend putting the chaeto fuge on one of the ends so minimal light spill into the other areas. I have mine the way you designed and wish i would of done it differently.
 

Gregg @ ADP

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I always build my sumps sonthat the water drains into a chamber that opens 2-3” off the bottom. I make that chamber so that eggcrate shelves can be installed and big enough to house filter pad/poly fil and media bag(s).

Water drops in, is forced through pads and media, and empties through the bottom into the refugium.

The other thing...always make your baffles at least 1/2” lower than the top of the sump, in the even that a chamber clogs and water can’t pass through.
 
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Swingline77

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Mich, out of curiosity, why is your first baffle so high? Is the black thing in the pic the stand? Why doesn't the sump fit in it? It looks like there's enough room. Is it an issue of positioning it? Does the partial lid do a good job preventing salt spray? I like the way that you've oriented the light. I might do something similar.

Here are two modified designs I'm considering:

Modified Sump 1:
sump design 1.jpg


Modified Sump Design 2:
sump design 2.jpg

Specs, Modified Sump 1:
Horizontal distance of Chamber 1: 8"
Horizontal distance of Chamber 2: 16"
Horizontal distance of Chamber 3: 4"
Height of baffle 1: 10", including a 1" weir
Height of baffle 2: 8"
Height of baffle 3: 8", with a gap of 2" at the bottom
Height of baffle 4: 7"

Specs, Modified Sump 2:
Vertical wall of filter chamber: 2-3",
Horizontal distance of filter chamber: 2"
All other measurements the same as for modified sump 1.

The above designs are identical except for the presence of a filter chamber in the second design. In both cases, I've left some space above the tops of the baffles as suggested, and have put the chaeto chamber first. Would the 1" weir be sufficient to prevent chaeto from getting into Chamber 2 and clogging the skimmer? In either case, the input bulkhead can be raised or lowered a bit. I guess it doesn't matter if it's above or below the level of the output bulkhead, since this will be a pressure driven system. In either case, I'd guess that I could place a platform in Chamber 3 above the bulkhead and stack media, right? In all cases, I'm still planning to have two inputs, and one output.

In the second design, the filter chamber will have a permeable bottom, so that I can lay floss on top of it. I'll have a narrow window for the light, with only a 6" horizontal opening for the light to enter into the 8" chamber. This is probably OK, though.

So, I'm leaning toward design 2. Does this seem good?
 

mich2599

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The first baffle is high because I wanted to water to have more flow to the second chamber for the chaeto. The stand had an opening at the back for a canister but it’s big enough for the sump to go in. I would had to take the stand apart and that was no choice as the tank was already filled. Also I only had a clearance of 23 inches I believe and the slimmer is 22 I believe and need at least 1 Inch to get the cup out and plus the height of the sump plus the eggcrate to get the right water height for the skimmer. Plus length wise the sump is too long as well. The acrylic lid does help. The previous home owners left two pieces and that’s what I used to make the lid. It was laround 6 inches short to cover the entire sump that’s why I have a piece of eggcrate where the sock is to prevent nephew or others from throwing things in.

BCD0E370-9E45-4F9B-A45F-04F186E5ACAF.jpeg
 
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