Sump Design

[erikharrison]

I was planning my sump and came up with an idea. I want to channel the water into the fuge area, and I was thinking about this....
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9184/sumpro2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The black looking thing is going to be a box that will hold media (Carbon) or possibly HIATT ph rocks. I may do more than one. Will this design help to filter ALL of the water as compared to some that is missed? I want my sump to be super efficient, and hold as much crud as possible, as to help keep everything under the tank. All comments suggestions welcome. Excuse my mess as I am very new to GSU.

[villjr]

What's what ? You have a lot of bubble traps with different sizes.

[erikharrison]

Left side is the skimmer right is the return.

[LoneStar]

So is your fuge between your HIATT box and the bubble trap by the return section? What kinda flow are you looking at through this sump? You do not want too much flow in your fuge.

Here is a quick drawing I did in a few minutes. You can emlinate some of the bubble traps in the sump. You really just need one good (over under over) at the end by the return pump. You can kick the fuge to one side of the sump and still have a good passage way for water to flow next to it. Position the fuge walls higher and set water flow walls lower so the water won't be as high. That way you have plenty of room for sump to collect water when the power goes out (siphon action).

You can even put a drain in the fuge section and one in the skimmer section if you wanted to. The fuge section could have teeth cut on one side of the wall so it would flow next to the side with the directional arrow, so that it will still be going through the bubble trap at the end.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/Saltwater%20MAAST/sump.jpg

Check out Melevs Reef
I'm pretty sure I have seen a similar sump to this design on his website. Or it was RC :roll
http://www.melevsreef.com/header/acrylics_header_975.jpg
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

[erikharrison]

well, I am trying to force all of the water one way. I only want it to overflow the s shaped baffles if the hiatt area is clogged. the open areas before the hiatt area are going to be half full of LR rubble, and I will add more as needed. I want alot of the water to be prefiltered before hitting the fuge where I will have a ton of chaeto. I think it may work, and hopefully be more efficient. I am pressing hard on the efficiency here. Alot of wasteful fish, so I am hoping the sump can be major overkill, but with a small space efficiency is the key. I have seen melevs, but I want more ideas...

[Ram_Puppy]

one very important thing to consider here eric, is that HIATT PHrocks only disolve if the hiatt carbon/bacteria bed is in line before them. the reason being, the process creates carbonic acid...

if your not going to put a hiatt torpedo inbetween that setup, I would leave the PH rocks out completely. - or, just do A torpedo w/ both rocks and carbon.

also, the hiatt filter basically uses your tanks waste as food, so by putting a skimmer in front of it, your depriving the hiatt of nutrients it needs to function.I would go w/ this order.

water in - hiatt system - skimmer - bubbletrap - fuge - baffle - return pumps.

also remember a primary feature of a fuge is slow flow, you will want less water moving through your fuge than you want moving through the sump.

just my thoughts, but I could be way off. definately wait for some of the bigger brains to weigh in, especially richard or mark since your considering hiatt.

[Bill S]

OK, a couple of notes:

The Hiatt needs to be backflushed regularly. Whether carbon, pH rock or both, they need to be in some kind of container. As noted above, the pH rock needs to be inline with the Hiatt. I still am not sure I'd recommend the Hiatt.

If you are really sure about the aggressive nature of this, I'd consider a filter sock or socks on your incoming water. Clean them regularly. That way you are exporting waste completely out of the system. Then, I'd overbuild your fuge - as big as you can stand. That way you can export nitrates with plant matter.

You should seriously visit and look at Don's Agressive Reef setup. He has a couple of nitrate factories in his tank (big puffer, big eel), and you can see how he handles it. I haven't talked to him in a while, but he had big, big nitrate problems.

[erikharrison]

yeah he said we could come over, so I need to get with him. Thanks for the reminder Bill... I am going to build a huge fuge, and I may have to setup an aesthetic external fuge. LOL. I'll make an indoor pond full of algae for people to, oooh......... ahhhhh......... at.
I just need a 600g with a 1200g fuge/sump!!!! :wacko :blink :w00t :huh

Just trying to get some people that have some new ideas for the same ol same ol. I was trying to efficiently use my space... The whole reason I want to do anything Hiatt related is because it works, too well. Ram and I were talking about and underpowered Hiatt, and I was thinking maybe just a small one, that I could force water through, making it fast flow for the Hiatt, but also underpowering it by being small. I think it would make sense, just trying to think outside the box.

[Ram_Puppy]

i think if a hiatt can be balanced it can be doubly beneficial for reef, i think they slough off bacteria which helps feed coral.. just my guess. I think an 'underpowered' or better yet, a 'right sized' HIATT might be a perfect compliment to a traditional setup. I think as far as how well they work goes.. that perhaps it was underestimated, and that is why bstreep had problems... I think Richard and Mark & I are convinced the recent problems I had were actually that my HIATT died off for not having enough waste to fuel it... so it can be difficult to balance.

If I were you, since your willing to setup a nice display refugium, and you want to use space efficiently:

Have a powder coated steel stand welded up for you - i don't think it would be as expensive as you think.

Sump, pumps, skimmer on the bottom, hidden as always under the stand. tank goes in the normal place, and then, heres where your steel frame (powder coated of course for erosion control) ontop of the aquarium, w/ adequate space for lights, and for you to get into the tank, put the display refugium.

It's just a thought, I saw a similar version of this setup in calfo's reef invertibrates book.

Also, I have often wondered how cool it would be to have a mangrove in a pot next to the tank, the pot could be plumbed into the sump w. a small circulation pump running it, and could function as a DSB, and it would be pretty cool to get a large mangrove for your living room.

[erikharrison]

good ideas..... more more MORE!

[engwife36]

That is exactly how mine is. I'm really happy with it to.