Need help setting up sump

[uriah]

I am setting up a sump on a 50g reef tank. I have an overflow box and a 25g tank that I will use for the sump. I need to buy some acrylic and a return pump, but don't know what type of pump to use. Any suggestions on the pump or where I can get a good deal on acrylic? (need to have acrylic cut as well). I will just buy the pvc at a hardware store. Any additional suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[brewercm]

There what are you going to use the acrylic for since you already have the 25g for the sump. If for baffles I'd see about using glass instead unless the 25g is acrylic also. If so you can pick some up at either Regal plastics or another place there close by to it. They can also cut it for you if you know the exact size you need. I'm using an Iwaki that pumps around 950gph and have it on a SQWD and am happy with it but I'm not doing SPS so not needing a ton of flow. You could also go with a pump up to around 1500gph if you want more flow and make a manifold for your return.

[uriah]

Tank is glass and I would be using divider as a baffle. How can I reduce the risk of overflow if the syphon on the overflow breaks and the return pump continues pumping water from the sump? I would also like to turn the sump into a refugium and dont know where the skimmer should be placed in relation to the sump. Lookimg for something that can go inside the sump to save space.

[LoneStar]

Regal has a scrap bin that you can browse through. There are a lot of good sizes that baffles can be made out of. Plus its only a $1 a pound.

http://www.regal-plastics.com/sa.html

As for pumps, submersible would work best if your trying to save space. Mag pumps are ok and Eheim are a step above. Eheim's are a little more effecient and run cooler.

To help prevent too much water being pumped into the display would be to keep the water level low in the last chamber of your sump (where your return pump would be located).

http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

[ErikH]

I have two sumps, one has baffles and the other has rock and sand. The rock and sand one seems to be much better. If you have the typical overflow box with I think it's 1" or 1.5" overflow tube, I would go no higher than a mag 7. On a 50g, that's fast. Your siphon won't break unless you are messing around with the tube, or if some rogue snail decides to try and climb in there. You can put a 1/8" hole just below the water line on the return in the display. If you put it above, it could end up causing some spray that could coat your reflectors or glass and lower your PAR rating, creating more maintenance.