Sump for a dummy (me)

[gabepowell101]

Hey so I am fairly new to salt water and I understand the general idea of a sump. But don’t know a whole lot about how to configure/set up different ones for different needs.
I have a 45 ga FOWLR tank with just an HOB filter and am not super adamant about using a sump on this system but that being said, someone near me sold me 3 sumps for $100 so I couldn’t say no. They are all completely different and I was curious if anyone could tell me what the differences between them are and which ones are better for different uses/equiptment.
They are all roughly 30 ga acrylic and at least 2 of them are TruVu
The pictures I have of them are super rough and I can take better ones if needed

 

[zheka757]

If I had 3 sumps to chose from, I would go in this order! What's the largest sump i can fit in my designated area. Second, can it fit the stuff I have for it. Like pump, skimmer, heater. I mean if you start from scratch, pick a sump, and stick to it with finding correct size return pump, correct size skimmer, heaters.
Some sumps have refugium build in to them! From the pictures I can't tell if there is a chamber for it.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Make sure to wash and dry them out with bleach or vinegar before use. You can arrange them however you want. You can also make chambers with adding dividers.

Mine goes in this order:

- Mechanical filter. I use sponges bought from LFS that I can rinse and use repeatedly
-Refugium
-Protein skimmer, heater, ATO, Carbon reactor
-Return pump

You can make however you want

 

[Marco_99]

So the first function of a sump is to hold water. The general rule of thumb is 25% of your tank volume. As you grow with the hobby, you’ll learn the bigger the better because you can hold more equipment. Of course this is totally dependent upon how much room you have available. The second function of the sump is to hold all the water that will drain back out of the pipes and top of your tank during a power outage or when you shut things down to do maintenance. This is VERY important so you don’t have a mishap or flood in your house.

Most sumps are laid out, I will go left to right because that’s how most of them are laid out: first chamber will usually be for drain pipes, socks or floss. The second chamber is normally the biggest which will be for your protein skimmer reef mat or whatever you choose, you could have bio media bags in there, sky is the limit. The next chamber is usually for a refugium if you wish, and the last chamber will be for your return pump.

The thing with the sump is it is all customizable to how you want it laid out for your specific needs or wants, but this is the basic layout you want your water to go through for filtration purposes before returning it to your tank. You are trying to remove the heavy crud early in the drain process when it enters your sump before it gets to your return pump to go back into your tank. Here is a basic picture for reference. BRS has lots of good videos on their YT channel from do it yourself sumps to different tips and ideas.

As for the sumps you have laying there that is all up to you in which one tickles your fancy.