Sump Design – Thoughts?

[benihana]

Tank – 72x42x24 – SPS Dominant
Sump – TBD, but leaning towards 60x36x16

Thoughts – main goal is to make water changes simple and effective, the Water Change portion of the sump would be planned for approx. 45 gallons of water, so when the system is shut off, I can change/and water to the sump instead of the display

I would like to have an additional chamber for Live Rock in order to increase filtration, but wondering if I should be adding a Refugium instead?
There will be bubble traps leading into the return, just not reflected in the rendering

What are your thoughts on this sump design? Anything I should eliminate/add/change?

 

[cdness]

The one thing I would do different is allow the "From DT" section to overflow into the fuge area as well as the skimmer section to allow some of the non-skimmed water into the fuge to feed the critters...

Do you plan on doing the water changes with the system still 100% operational or do you plan to shut down the return, do the change and turn it back on?

If you plan to shut it all down, the bubble trap baffles between the "Water Change" and "Return will be fine.

If you plan to keep it 100% operational during the water change I have a different suggestion for you. Put the baffles between the "Skimmer" and "Water Change sections. This way you can drill a bulkhead into the sump a few inches above the lowest operating level for the sump and just open the drain to drain the sump to the minimal level for operation. The distance traveled through the two sections will be enough to let the bubbles float up anyway. Once the water is drained, you just fill to normal operating level and you are good to go... You'll never have to shut down in order to do a water change this way.

 

[benihana]

Thanks for the input. I plan on shutting the system down to do WC's.