Sump build help

[Mandrew]

For what it's worth this is my personal design, water comes in in the middle, falls over a baffle onto the filter sock, from there it goes under another baffle into the skimmer section , from the skimmer it goes over into the refugium, and back into the return section.

This is crazy confusing to me [emoji23]

 

[WhiskeyCoffee]

I would try to emulate the Eshopps R200. Simple enough to DIY and it's effective:

 

[SDdiver]

I've thought about that as well. My main problem is room under my stand to get the collection cup out that's why I centered the skimmer in the sump lol

Most new skimmers have a drain plug located at the bottom of the collection cup, if not, its fairly easy to install one if your comfortable with diy projects. You can even install it with a barbed fitting to attach tubing to empty out in a separate container to make removal/cleaning easier and placed anywhere below the collection cup. Possibilities are numerous

 

[Mandrew]

Most new skimmers have a drain plug located at the bottom of the collection cup, if not, its fairly easy to install one if your comfortable with diy projects. You can even install it with a barbed fitting to attach tubing to empty out in a separate container to make removal/cleaning easier and placed anywhere below the collection cup. Possibilities are numerous

That's true but shouldn't you clean the cup out often anyways? And it's an older euro reef skimmer I got when I bought the tank. So it's not new [emoji17]

 

[SDdiver]

That's true but shouldn't you clean the cup out often anyways? And it's an older euro reef skimmer I got when I bought the tank. So it's not new [emoji17]

If you can remove the lid, wrapping a damp paper towel around a chop stick allows you to swipe the side walls of the collection cup and bubble chamber. If you install a drain plug, any left over debris in the cup can be drained out by adding clean water to it and catching it in a separate container or reservoir if hooked up via tubing like we already discussed. I've got a Skimz SN143 skimmer and it's very difficult to remove the collection cup, even with greasing the O-ring, so I use this method every month or so.

 

[Mandrew]

That's not a bad idea at all

 

[SDdiver]

Yup, it's been working great! Keep your design simple (1-2 baffles) and spacious for equipment that needs maintenance. I should have left more room for the 1st chamber because it requires twisting and turning my filter soak to avoid banging into my skimmer and I always knock loose my heater. Like you, I wanted the most space for my fuge, then ended up filling the whole fuge area with small lava rock to raise copepods which don't need light, just got tired of macro growing micro algae on it plus I had a mud substrate which slowly churned a fine dust everywhere. Do yourself a favor, avoid the expensive, easily disturbed mud, better off with med grain sand or crushed coral. Now I add home-brewed live phyto which has outperformed my GFO canister and my fast growing Chaeto for nutrient removal. Less equipment in the sump now- quieter as well

 

[Mandrew]

I was just going to use rock and macro in my fuge, no sand.

 

[Mandrew]

I've also been thinking about a DIY algae scrubber.

 

[SDdiver]

I've also been thinking about a DIY algae scrubber.

Rock and macro is a great idea for your fuge, if your adding an algae scrubber as well there are two main things to consider, one- algae scrubbers work well but it will remove nutrients that your macro would use, not a big deal unless you want macro for feeding fish etc and scrubbers do require more maintenance then just pulling a chuck out of Chaeto when it's overgrown. Two-growing micro algae may also spread it around in small quantities throughout your system, I've thrown away lots of macro due to hair algae growing on it :/ try keeping it simple at first, see how your system responds to your fuge and consider if your design maintenance requirements are doable for your schedule. Good luck

 

[CodyRVA]

From left to right: plumbing drains in, filter sock chamber, skimmer and pellets, fuge (sintered glass, marine pure, and chaeto), and the return.

 

[Mandrew]

That's a lot of sections

 

[CodyRVA]

That's a lot of sections

Yea I would leave it more open if I did it again but it does work well

 

[sc8kv123]

This is my 20 long sump. I utilized the floating refugium idea. The skimmer is on the left. Water goes under the fuge and to the right side return section.

 

[Mandrew]

Weird

 

[Bellster165]

Sc8kv what bulb are you using to light your fuge?