My First Sump plan

[kingkaiko2003]

What do you guys think about this sump plan???? IT will be made out of a 29 gallon glass tank,,, divided by acrylic.... I want a simple sump/refugium.... and also,,, I was wondering if it is good to add bio-balls or any filter pad???? input are welcome... thanks
http://www.maast.org/modules/PNphpBB2/files/sump..gif

[gjuarez]

That looks like a good plan to me. I built mine the same way except that I put my skimmer where your return pump is. If you would like more plans you might want to visit www.melevsreef.com.

[NaCl_H2O]

So, the drain from your tank would come into the "Skimmer and Heater" compartment? If so, this would give you too much flow through the fuge. You want minimal/gentle flow through the fuge, so maybe swap the skimmer & fuge compartments and direct a small volum of the flow through the fuge.

[cpreefguy]

Steve's comment +1
For best nutrient export, you will need to slow the flow down through the fuge compartment

[LoneStar]

If your looking for some good mechanical filtration you can put a filter sock on the drain too...

[captexas]

I would also have the water flow under the wall from the skimmer/drain input area. You will have a lot of air bubbles created in that compartment and having the water go from it to the next area either under the wall or through holes under the water level will force the air bubbles to the surface instead of continuing back into your tank.

[GaryP]

I agree on slowing the flow through the refugium. Perhaps you can build a channel down one side to divert the majority of the flow. Most of us are already pushing to much volume through our sumps. You don't need a whole lot. Most of the flow in the tank should be through a closed loop or power heads and not use the sump return pump as the primary source of flow.

[dwdenny]

doesn't it matter what is beeing kept in the fuge area. With cheto you want it to roll around in a ball and with 5X turnover that is hard to do unless you put in a horizontal breaker where the flow will scoot across the water to create that rolling action for the cheto. Here is a link to Anthony Clafos threads on fuges and stuff http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=462212 HTH

[kingkaiko2003]

Ok, thanks everyone for the input..... I know that there will go too much flow going into the fuge,,, but how can I slow it down???? SHould I add another divider between the input and sump and move the SKimmer and Heater to the return????? well maybe I should just copy melvef's DIY sump... it should make my life simplier...

[Flobex]

just put the return pump where the heater/skimmer are, and put the heaterskimmer in the return pump area. i think thats what NACL H2O was trying to say. but by no means am i an expert, so if im wrong please correct me :)

[gjuarez]

I agree with Gary that the return shouldnt be your main source of flow for the tank. I made the same mistake when I first started. I had a mag 9.5 for the return on my 29 gallon tank and I never was really sucessful at having detritus settle in my sump. I corrected the problem by using a smaller pump and adding a tunze 6060 in my display. ANyways, like I mentioned on hte first post, I used the same DIY plan for my sump except but I had the return and the skimmer vice versa to yours. That seems to be what everyone is reccomending, so if you switch that everything should be fine.

[matt]

Put the fuge section on one end, the tank drain/skimmer area on the other, and the return pump in the middle. Set up baffles so that water will flow from both the refugium area and the drain area into the middle. Tee off your tank drain so that some of the flow goes directly to the refugium; you can control this with a ball valve after the tee. The rest of the tank drain will go to the skimmer area, then flow over the baffles into the middle, where the refugium will also drain. Then return pump back to the tank.

A good fitting for the flow to the refugium is an elbow with side outlet; this way, say you have a 1" tank drain. That comes straight down, then hits this elbow with side outlet. The side outlet is a 1/2" threaded fitting, you can screw a ball valve right into it. This allows you to slow down the flow out the side outlet, which will go over to the fuge section using flexible tubing. The majority of the water bypasses the side outlet, but hits the main part of the elbow, now going horizontal. You put another elbow on that to return the flow to vertical down (or a 45o for angled down) and more flexible tubing to direct this to the main drain/skimmer area.

[kingkaiko2003]

what do you guys think now?

I don't get it.. What is the point of putting the Return Area in the middle???? The water that drains from the main tank will eventually pump back to the main tank...... and only part of the water from the Refugium will get in the main tank..... That's like 50/50 Filtration....... Is there another way to control the flow through the refuguim by not switching the refugium and return???? oh also,, do you guys have any other blue print that I can take a look???

thanks everyone,,, sorry for so many questions... I've read this forum for the past 2 months and have gathered a decent amount of information..... The problem I have is with the sump,, I just don't seem to get it......

oh by the way,,,,, MY TANK HAD JUST FINISHED THE CYCLE PERIOD!!!! I LOVE THIS!!! Can't wait to finish my sump/fuge... the tank looks alot better and clearier.... I LOVE THIS HOBBY!!!

[dwdenny]

However you build it just make sure that the return has some type of bubble trap so that you dont get microbubbles back intot he display. Here is how I think I am going to build mine or have someone build it out of acrylic not sure yet.

[matt]

kingkaiko;

Your second drawing, posted 11/16 at 11:14 is correct. Both the water from the fuge section and the drain area will overflow into the middle, where it will get pumped back up to the main tank. You don't need 3 baffles from the fuge section to the middle, only one high baffle which will keep the water level in the fuge high. Since the flow is slow from the fuge to the middle section, you won't have a problem with bubbles. All evaporation will take place in the middle; it's best to make that area sizable so that evaporation doesn't lower that level too fast. This way also separates water from the fuge from skimmed water; so you're not sending water from the fuge, which eventually will contain beneficial small animals that can serve as food for the main tank, to the skimmer. Since it's a continous flow, eventually all your water gets skimmed, just not directly coming out of the fuge.

[kingkaiko2003]

Thank you,,, I will change to one high baffle from the fuge to the middle. my concern about criters..... Do these criters get back to the main tank??? I mean.. the pump has a rotor that rotates so fast that I don't think anything pass through it will survive.....


kingkaiko;

Your second drawing, posted 11/16 at 11:14 is correct. Both the water from the fuge section and the drain area will overflow into the middle, where it will get pumped back up to the main tank. You don't need 3 baffles from the fuge section to the middle, only one high baffle which will keep the water level in the fuge high. Since the flow is slow from the fuge to the middle section, you won't have a problem with bubbles. All evaporation will take place in the middle; it's best to make that area sizable so that evaporation doesn't lower that level too fast. This way also separates water from the fuge from skimmed water; so you're not sending water from the fuge, which eventually will contain beneficial small animals that can serve as food for the main tank, to the skimmer. Since it's a continous flow, eventually all your water gets skimmed, just not directly coming out of the fuge.

[kingkaiko2003]

hey DWdenny,,,, If I interpreted the picture right.. then the water flows into the Skimmer section,, pass through the baffles and to the refugium then the return...... Isn't this will cause to much flow through the refugium???? Anyone have any comments on this?? I like this better than mine because I don't want to much trouble with all the plumping...




However you build it just make sure that the return has some type of bubble trap so that you dont get microbubbles back intot he display. Here is how I think I am going to build mine or have someone build it out of acrylic not sure yet.

[matt]

We're talking about really small animals, mostly microscopic. You'd be surprised about what survives the pump impeller. You can increase that by using a large but slow turning (non pressure rated) external pump for your return.