Sump Design ?

[Tony S]

hello all, I've been hoarding info for a while now and currently waiting on a 220 Marineland tank to be delivered, and have a question regarding the 75 gallon sump I have for it, so I went to a hardware store to buy a sheet of insulation so I can cut it and mock up how I want the sump.... now here is the dilemma. First chamber will be for filter socks, water goes under and then I have the next chamber for my skimmer which is represented by the square building .... next I have the refugium area followed by a bubble trap and last chamber for the return pump...

So my 2 main questions are:

1. would you go with this layout? my issue is the refugium area is extremely small. I'm thinking that I will drop the dedicated area for the filter socks and have it somehow share the same chamber with the skimmer (Regal 250INT) to give me more room for the refugium area.
2. lastly with this layout where would I place any media in here? would you throw it in bags in the skimmer area as well? and thinking if I need to place carbon I would do that in the bubble trap area so the water has to pass through it to get to the return pump.

thank you.

 

[dantimdad]

First off, WELCOME!

Second, I don't think you will need the first bubble trap.

Third, remove the brace. It won't be necessary in a sump with baffles and will free up room.

Lastly, I would go with a media reactor and not a flow through bags for carbon. That way you can move your bubble trap baffles closer together and free up more room.

Hope this helps!

 

[lapin]

Howdy
Maybe this will help, maybe not.....
Remove the first over bubble trap divider as said above. I see space in that last set of 3 dividers. Remove the last over bubble trap divider. In that space use some spaghetti mat. It is about 1 1/2 inches thick. Comes in a sheet and you can cut it to fit. It will remove a lot of the bubbles as well as keep the stuff out of the return pump section. This should free up a few more inches for your fuge.

 

[dantimdad]

BTW, where are you located?

Is there a local club that may be able to pitch in on your project?

 

[Tony S]

First off, WELCOME!

Second, I don't think you will need the first bubble trap.

Third, remove the brace. It won't be necessary in a sump with baffles and will free up room.

Lastly, I would go with a media reactor and not a flow through bags for carbon. That way you can move your bubble trap baffles closer together and free up more room.

Hope this helps!

thank you for the welcome.....
it does definitely make sense to get rid of the bracing since it will be baffled, thanks for that tip..... the 1st bubble trap I will remove (honestly I think that's just a piece of board that I must have left in there). So I will drop the top rim, slide the skimmer pretty much to the left side where the water will come into.. now if I plan it right I can separate the 3 filter socks and place them on the back wall so that will free up space in the horizontal.... ..... I'll mock up something in a program and post a screenshot. thank you.

BTW, where are you located?

Is there a local club that may be able to pitch in on your project?

located in Hampton, VA. and joining some of the online ones and checked with LFS to find any that actually get together somewhere as well.

 

[Tony S]

Howdy
Maybe this will help, maybe not.....
Remove the first over bubble trap divider as said above. I see space in that last set of 3 dividers. Remove the last over bubble trap divider. In that space use some spaghetti mat. It is about 1 1/2 inches thick. Comes in a sheet and you can cut it to fit. It will remove a lot of the bubbles as well as keep the stuff out of the return pump section. This should free up a few more inches for your fuge.

thanks..... definitely will get rid of the 1st one, and the 2nd set of dividers I had spaced out further simply to give me room to put in bags of carbon if needed, but I can definitely squeeze them closer together.

 

[dantimdad]

Sounds like you are on the right track.

I have built many sumps. Need more help, feel free to ask.

 

[Tony S]

Sounds like you are on the right track.

I have built many sumps. Need more help, feel free to ask.

Simplified.... filter socks split on the left side and share compartment with skimmer, then refugium and final bubble trap before return chamber.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

That looks pretty functional! Nice work and welcome home!

 

[Dom]

I just completed my 3rd sump build using an Aqueon 20 long. For the first time, I eliminated bubble traps. There are no issues and it gave me a few extra inches of space to work with.

 

[Idoc]

I did a similar design as what you are planning... but with a 40g breeder. I made my final bubble trap 2" between baffles... and glad I did that. It allows easier cleaning between the baffles and i can place a small 2" egg crate stand between the baffles ti have a place to put a media bag if needed.

The only thing i might have changed on my design was to put the refugium on the far end instead of in the middle. The middle refug design doesn't allow you to control the flow through the refug... so, can't slow it down even if you want to. With an end refug, you can run a split off your drain line with a small ball valve to feed the refug and therefore control the flow. Plus, with the middle refug, my grow light bleed into my skimmer and return area was pretty high resulting in algae growth in those chambers as well. I think i could "control" the light bleed better if i had the refug on the end AND used a dark baffle separating it from the return section.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Practical and simple, will definitely do the job form the looks of it. Give it some more time and let some more people chime in with opinions and ideas. There's so many ways to build and modify a sump to your wants and needs.

you've come to the right place for information and advice! Welcome to #r2r #reefsquad

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Here is the link for the Sump Thread that is sticky in the Equipment forum.

Hope that helps! Good luck

 

[dantimdad]

Simplified.... filter socks split on the left side and share compartment with skimmer, then refugium and final bubble trap before return chamber.

MUCH better!

That'll work.

Amazing how quickly you carved that stryrofoam into a skimmer!

 

[ihavecrabs]

Hey @Tony S

Looks like some great advice above.

I like your design but I wouldn't worry too much about a refugium. Short of just being a place that will continually provide your display with a replenishment of pods, you'd need one the size of the full sump to get significant movement on nitrate or phosphate. A great solution for this is a lot of the DIY algae scrubber reactors from which you harvest macro algae from as a nutrient export.

The layout you have is very functional and I think it'll work well!

 

[lapin]

Lookin good

 

[TaylorPilot]

I agree with removing the 1st bubble baffle. I personally would put the refugium first. The reason being that you typically run the water level higher in the fuge. That way you can adjust the level in the skimmer section down lower so that it is sitting at the proper height. People typically build them, socks, fuge, skimmer, return. This is a mock up of the 75 gallon kit that we make. Although lately, people have been spinning that whole last section around so that it more matches the triton style sump. That way the water in the skimmer section is being pulled from the bottom, allowing the proteins to stay in that chamber longer. With a 6-7" return section, you still have a descent sized fuge. The main deal is that you have to ensure that the center brace of the tank doesn't interfere with your skimmer. Also, if you put the skimmer section first, the water level would be set by the fuge section that comes after it. This way each chamber after is at a lower water level, and can be set however high you want.

 

[TaylorPilot]

One last thing. If you do install a sock section (i personally recommend), I wouldn't butt it right up against the edge like that. You need a little space in front of it so that the water has a place to enter the sump and smoothly cascade into the sock holder. This is key to producing a quiet sump without any salt spray. If you tune the sump in properly, it should be able to flow vast amounts of water while being very quiet.

 

[Auto-pilot]

If you have room and want to make your chambers after your skimmer a taller you can raise your skimmer with a block under it and raise your baffles in order to get proper water level for your skimmer to work properly. In my opinion the more space you can fill with water the better. Also that gives your return chamber more of a buffer to allow for more evaporation if you don't have an auto water topper. Just an idea

 

[TaylorPilot]

I hear what you are saying, but I have always thought skimmer stands were a pain. Why do you want more water in the sump sitting under a skimmer not serving a purpose? The more open space you have in the sump, the larger margin of safety you have in preventing a spill. A good practice is to only have a ATO large enough so that if it gets stuck on and empties its entire container into the sump, then the return pump quits, or power goes out, it still won't flood. The more water I run in the sump, the smaller my ATO container would need to be, meaning I would have to refill it more frequently.