What do you think of my DIY sump setup?

[PorterK]

Starting from left to right:

On the far left we have what will soon be a Chaetomorfa reactor, then a filter sock where the outlet from my HOB overflow box is. Below the sock I will have some bio-balls. Inside the pile of bio-balls is a pump that pushes water to a custom build reactor manifold. On the right side of the sump I will put my protein skimmer as well as a return pump back into the tank. On the furthest right there are 2 more reactors (GFO and Activated carbon are what I chose for those).

Funny side-note here: I actually added a piece of acrylic to pull the filter sock up some out of the sump so it isn't touching where the bio-balls will be

Since the sump is relatively small compared to the tank (15 gal sump on a 55gal tank) I chose to add 3 reactors to get a little more water volume. I haven't glued any of this yet (or painted it!) so I am still willing to make a few adjustments to the setup.

Here is what the plumbing looks like on the back of the tank:

What do you guys think? I came up with this design after a TON of research and probably hundreds of hours of youtube videos all giving different suggestions! I currently have the tank on this canister filter and it is a pain to keep my parameters up with it.

I would have documented the build process but it has been a couple weeks of trial and error with different ideas before I finally landed on one that I like.

 

[Reeferdood]

Well,
I would say that your return pump will be too small. Then, I would suggest ditching the bio balls if you plan on having a lot of live rock in your display.
What are your plans with your system once it is up and running?
Lets get you started out right...

 

[PorterK]

Well,
I would say that your return pump will be too small. Then, I would suggest ditching the bio balls if you plan on having a lot of live rock in your display.
What are your plans with your system once it is up and running?
Lets get you started out right...

The pump that you are seeing is for the reactor manifold! The return pump will be in the right chamber & is 500 gph (although I may upgrade that). I do have a decent amount of rock in the tank already. The only reason I am bringing in the bio-balls is to get some more nitrates to feed my Chaetomorfa. I am actually OK ditching the bio-balls but I want to be sure there are enough nutrients for my macroalgae to grow. I currently have a clown and a small CuC in the tank but I really want to get some beginner corals in the next few months as well as just all-around better water parameters.

 

[George Lopez]

The 500gph is that after head loss? How much turnover are you looking into?

 

[PorterK]

The 500gph is that after head loss? How much turnover are you looking into?

That is pre head loss. It's a 55 gal tank so I think I would have about 300gph (between 5x and 6x turn over per hour). I think I am going to grab a DC pump that goes much higher in case I want a bigger tank some day anyways.

I'm doing the return line through some flexible tubing instead of PVC so there are no elbows. It's basically straight up out of the sump

 

[Gobi-Wan]

The pump that you are seeing is for the reactor manifold! The return pump will be in the right chamber & is 500 gph (although I may upgrade that). I do have a decent amount of rock in the tank already. The only reason I am bringing in the bio-balls is to get some more nitrates to feed my Chaetomorfa. I am actually OK ditching the bio-balls but I want to be sure there are enough nutrients for my macroalgae to grow. I currently have a clown and a small CuC in the tank but I really want to get some beginner corals in the next few months as well as just all-around better water parameters.

Bio balls will not generate nitrogen. The nitrogen in your system comes from the decomposition of uneaten food, fish waste, and ammonia that your fish produce. It all starts as ammonia and is converted into nitrite, then nitrate by different strands of bacteria. As long as you have enough quality live rock for the amount of bioload you have (number of fish, etc) biological filtration generally isn't a problem in saltwater systems once they are fully cycled- at least getting from ammonia to nitrate. As the bioload slowly increases the bacteria will rise to the occasion. Bio balls have little surface area for bacteria, especially if they are stagnant, compared to live rock which is why you will mostly see saltwater aquarists putting their filtration space to use in other ways. The chaeto is similarly part of the nitrogen cycle. It's purpose (in filtration) is to assimilate the remaining nitrates into a form that you can physically remove or harvest from the system, so you needn't be too concerned about producing nitrates for it to use, but the consensus seems to be that LOTS of light and good flow are important to allow the chaeto to grow and take up nutrients faster than other algaes and undesirables. As for the reactors, looks like you did some nice plumbing. Always nice to be prepared rathar than figure out how to fit stuff in later. You may want to start out though with just the sump for a while, since a few small fish likely aren't going to overload your system with nutrients. Keep track of your parameters and see how your system runs, then decide if you need to add any other types of media. Just my personal preference- I would prefer natural process to keep the balance if possible, rather than sucking every nutrient out of the system and then having to dose the desirables back in later. That's all just my 2 cents and there are much more experienced people on here than me. But like you (I assume) I'm pretty new to saltwater and did lengthy research before setting up my tank. I tried to do extra "fancy things" that most beginners don't do and once I got into the swing of it I found out I was focusing on the wrong things for my setup. I love DIY and engineering my filtration setup, I even have a few inventions, but the good ones came from necessity and i would never have thought of them before the need arose. There are tons of great references on here especially in the new to saltwater section, and as I said, much more experienced opinions than mine.

Edit: a couple specific points to add from my experience- it sort of sounded like your skimmer is going to be in with the return pump- you don't want that unless you have a really steady auto-top-off. You want the water level around the skimmer to be super steady 24/7 otherwise itll never stabilize. 2nd point is I have a HOB overflow like yours and it sounded like a neverending toilet flush in my dining room. Google "stockman standpipe." Silenced mine about 95%. I also have a back on my stand with an exhaust fan so your sump may be a little louder than mine which brings me (hopefully) to my final point which is your overflow discharge is pretty high above the sump... from what I understand filter socks clog pretty often and then it flows over the top if you forget to change them. I had a lot of problems with splashing, noise, salt splatter etc early on. Just a thought. You don't know till you try but they make "short" versions of both common filter sock sizes.

 

[Reef-junky]

I would get rid of the vertical pipe feeding into the filter sock. That’s going to mess with your flow. It’s also a good spot for the pipe to plug up and I see you have no emergency drain. I would change to a Bean Animal overflow. As started forget about the bio balls.

 

[PorterK]

I would get rid of the vertical pipe feeding into the filter sock. That’s going to mess with your flow. It’s also a good spot for the pipe to plug up and I see you have no emergency drain. I would change to a Bean Animal overflow. As started forget about the bio balls.

There is no vertical pipe feeding into the filter sock, it's just an elbow pointing downwards (extends maybe half an inch into the sock itself). The overflow I have is a CPR CS90 with a Toms Aqualifter on top to keep siphon.

I also don't see the point in adding an emergency drain to this system. I think I've covered all of the scenarios that can happen:

• Siphon from the overflow breaks, I added the Toms Aqualifter
  
• Power outage, the pump will stop as well as the aqualifter and the tank will drain to the max fill line in the sump, the pump will turn back on when the power returns
  
• Return pump failure, same as above ^ the sump will just retain the water.

I don't have an ATO on this tank so no problems there.

Is there something I'm missing? Seems like adding an emergency overflow would be throwing money at a problem I will never have with my current setup.

Also, yeah I think I'm going to ditch the bio-balls although I'm not really convinced as to why. In all of the threads I've read about them no one gives a real reason why they are bad for the system. Can anyone give clarification on that? There are even threads on this site that give preference to them, although the general consensus is to stay away (with no real reason, anecdotal or scientific evidence that they are innately bad for a reef system if kept clean ).

Bio balls will not generate nitrogen. The nitrogen in your system comes from the decomposition of uneaten food, fish waste, and ammonia that your fish produce. It all starts as ammonia and is converted into nitrite, then nitrate by different strands of bacteria. As long as you have enough quality live rock for the amount of bioload you have (number of fish, etc) biological filtration generally isn't a problem in saltwater systems once they are fully cycled- at least getting from ammonia to nitrate. As the bioload slowly increases the bacteria will rise to the occasion. Bio balls have little surface area for bacteria, especially if they are stagnant, compared to live rock which is why you will mostly see saltwater aquarists putting their filtration space to use in other ways. The chaeto is similarly part of the nitrogen cycle. It's purpose (in filtration) is to assimilate the remaining nitrates into a form that you can physically remove or harvest from the system, so you needn't be too concerned about producing nitrates for it to use, but the consensus seems to be that LOTS of light and good flow are important to allow the chaeto to grow and take up nutrients faster than other algaes and undesirables. As for the reactors, looks like you did some nice plumbing. Always nice to be prepared rathar than figure out how to fit stuff in later. You may want to start out though with just the sump for a while, since a few small fish likely aren't going to overload your system with nutrients. Keep track of your parameters and see how your system runs, then decide if you need to add any other types of media. Just my personal preference- I would prefer natural process to keep the balance if possible, rather than sucking every nutrient out of the system and then having to dose the desirables back in later. That's all just my 2 cents and there are much more experienced people on here than me. But like you (I assume) I'm pretty new to saltwater and did lengthy research before setting up my tank. I tried to do extra "fancy things" that most beginners don't do and once I got into the swing of it I found out I was focusing on the wrong things for my setup. I love DIY and engineering my filtration setup, I even have a few inventions, but the good ones came from necessity and i would never have thought of them before the need arose. There are tons of great references on here especially in the new to saltwater section, and as I said, much more experienced opinions than mine.

Edit: a couple specific points to add from my experience- it sort of sounded like your skimmer is going to be in with the return pump- you don't want that unless you have a really steady auto-top-off. You want the water level around the skimmer to be super steady 24/7 otherwise itll never stabilize. 2nd point is I have a HOB overflow like yours and it sounded like a neverending toilet flush in my dining room. Google "stockman standpipe." Silenced mine about 95%. I also have a back on my stand with an exhaust fan so your sump may be a little louder than mine which brings me (hopefully) to my final point which is your overflow discharge is pretty high above the sump... from what I understand filter socks clog pretty often and then it flows over the top if you forget to change them. I had a lot of problems with splashing, noise, salt splatter etc early on. Just a thought. You don't know till you try but they make "short" versions of both common filter sock sizes.

Thanks for all the advice! I appreciate it! I ordered another piece of acrylic to keep the skimmer in its own section, should that be baffled (under then over into the overflow) or am I OK to just add a short piece that keeps the water level & then flows over into the return pump?

 

[Reef-junky]

LoL
I mean horizontal

 

[PorterK]

LoL
I mean horizontal

Oh, ok. I have a sponge filter on the overflow but unfortunately because of the way the base is shaped I can't get rid of it I'll just monitor it closely

 

[jsker]

That is a CPR overflow correct? what model #

 

[Reef-junky]

There is no vertical pipe feeding into the filter sock, it's just an elbow pointing downwards (extends maybe half an inch into the sock itself). The overflow I have is a CPR CS90 with a Toms Aqualifter on top to keep siphon.

I also don't see the point in adding an emergency drain to this system. I think I've covered all of the scenarios that can happen:

• Siphon from the overflow breaks, I added the Toms Aqualifter
  
• Power outage, the pump will stop as well as the aqualifter and the tank will drain to the max fill line in the sump, the pump will turn back on when the power returns
  
• Return pump failure, same as above ^ the sump will just retain the water.

I don't have an ATO on this tank so no problems there.

Is there something I'm missing? Seems like adding an emergency overflow would be throwing money at a problem I will never have with my current setup.

Also, yeah I think I'm going to ditch the bio-balls although I'm not really convinced as to why. In all of the threads I've read about them no one gives a real reason why they are bad for the system. Can anyone give clarification on that? There are even threads on this site that give preference to them, although the general consensus is to stay away (with no real reason, anecdotal or scientific evidence that they are innately bad for a reef system if kept clean ).




Thanks for all the advice! I appreciate it! I ordered another piece of acrylic to keep the skimmer in its own section, should that be baffled (under then over into the overflow) or am I OK to just add a short piece that keeps the water level & then flows over into the return pump?

Relying on a pump like that is a bad design. What happens if the pump fails? Does all the water from the return fit in the DT? Also there is no reason the sump can’t be moved over and the pipe eliminated. The more horizontal runs you have the worse off you are.

 

[PorterK]

That is a CPR overflow correct? what model #

It's the CPR CS90

 

[jsker]

By the way, nice job on the sump!!

 

[Reef-junky]

CPR is a poor design

 

[jsker]

It's the CPR CS90

That is a 600 gph like I have for my 75 I use a Jaboa DCT-4000 link I run it at 75% and works great.

You will also need to make one of these link to stop the slurping noise

 

[jsker]

CPR is a poor design

No issue here, after adding the stand pipe.

I will say that I am looking for an alternative to the aqualifter.

 

[PorterK]

Relying on a pump like that is a bad design. What happens if the pump fails? Does all the water from the return fit in the DT? Also there is no reason the sump can’t be moved over and the pipe eliminated. The more horizontal runs you have the worse off you are.

You see the big black bar on the back of my stand? That's a structural support. I can't move the sump back any more (I have about 6 inches of clearance total, 3 on each side).

If the pump fails the tank will siphon water down to where my overflow stops (maybe a couple inches) and then the water will sit in the sump until I find the issue and get a new pump on it.

CPR is a poor design

As far as I can tell (via hundres/thousands of reviews online) it is a pretty good solvent to my problem (can't drill the tank).

By the way, nice job on the sump!!

Thanks! I appreciate it! I'll definitely build the stand pipe after I get everything running/installed. In my line of work we have a saying- "Done then iterate". After it works we'll optimize!

 

[Reef-junky]

No issue here, after adding the stand pipe.

I will say that I am looking for an alternative to the aqualifter.

It’s a poor design vs other systems that don’t have to rely on a pump if they fail. Even lifereef over flows don’t need a pump.

 

[Reef-junky]

You see the big black bar on the back of my stand? That's a structural support. I can't move the sump back any more (I have about 6 inches of clearance total, 3 on each side).

If the pump fails the tank will siphon water down to where my overflow stops (maybe a couple inches) and then the water will sit in the sump until I find the issue and get a new pump on it.




As far as I can tell (via hundres/thousands of reviews online) it is a pretty good solvent to my problem (can't drill the tank).



Thanks! I appreciate it! I'll definitely build the stand pipe after I get everything running/installed. In my line of work we have a saying- "Done then iterate". After it works we'll optimize!

Not if the overflow is plugged in that pipe and the pump doesn’t work. You overflow the DT or run the return pump dry.