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Check My Sump Design


Hig789

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Alright just wanted to double check my baffle layout. I know there are plenty of pictures and threads on this but just wanted to make sure this will work fine.

 

The sump is a 20L and will be under my 40 breeder with a drilled bean animal overflow. Single 3/4" return.

 

Return pump is a Jebao DCT4000.

 

Skimmer is a Reef Octopus 110sss and it needs 7-8" of water.

 

Ordered the baffles today, 4 8"X11 7/8" pieces of 1/4" glass.

 

Here's a pic of what I came up with. Pretty simple lol. Hoping it gives me enough room for the draining when the return is cut.

post-82754-0-02212100-1443756204_thumb.jpeg

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Does the skimmer need that much space? I've never used that skimmer and I'm not sure about the footprint but if it doesn't need that much space then that's just kind of wasted space. I have a 20 long sump and have a pretty much identical design (check sig). The skimmer section is very small and was designed around the SCA-301 which fits perfectly with a bit of wiggle room for ease of access along with space for the filter sock. I think it's somewhere around 6" if I recall correctly. The same thing goes for the return section (somewhere around 6"). The center section ended up being right around 16" or something like that. I also only used two baffles in the bubble trap between the skimmer and the fuge. An additional baffle will help but I just didn't see it as being necessary as the only time I ever get microbubbles is if I forget to top off my ATO and the water level in my return section drops too far.

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Does the skimmer need that much space? I've never used that skimmer and I'm not sure about the footprint but if it doesn't need that much space then that's just kind of wasted space. I have a 20 long sump and have a pretty much identical design (check sig). The skimmer section is very small and was designed around the SCA-301 which fits perfectly with a bit of wiggle room for ease of access along with space for the filter sock. I think it's somewhere around 6" if I recall correctly. The same thing goes for the return section (somewhere around 6"). The center section ended up being right around 16" or something like that. I also only used two baffles in the bubble trap between the skimmer and the fuge. An additional baffle will help but I just didn't see it as being necessary as the only time I ever get microbubbles is if I forget to top off my ATO and the water level in my return section drops too far.

 

Na. The skimmer doesn't need that much room l, I was just leaving plenty of space in case I ended up not liking the skimmer. Just didn't want to be tied to a internal pump skimmer. I am going to play with the dimensions a little though.

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Solid design overall.

 

Some thoughts - Most skimmers for a tank this size will fit in 8x11 so you could easily squish that back to 8" I believe.

 

Space between baffles could be reduced to 1/2". That's how I have mine anyways...

 

If you can design a siphon break into your return line (preventing significant back flow into the sump) then you should be able to raise your water level to 10". I have a 30b as my sump and it's also 12" tall. I use the taller baffles simply for more water volume. Since I have a siphon break only a few gallons drains into the sump in the event of a power outage. For the skimmer, IMO it's best to go deeper than you think you'll need as well because you can always stick a piece of plastic or rubber under the skimmer to raise it up but it's difficult to increase the water level.

 

Keep the return chamber at least as large as you have it now. An ATO is advised as if the water level gets much below 6-7" the return will probably start sucking air. I just put a Jebao DCT4000 as my return and I like it a lot. I have it on setting 5.

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righttirefire

Personally, I'm looking into my next sump design. 40b, I'm going to make the first chamber large enough to house a skimmer, but no plans to run skimmer right now. A single baffle. The largest center section I can with 3 baffles before the return chamber. Odds are 3" between first baffles for media, and 3/4" to complete a bubble trap. My current sump (20h) runs the same baffle height in my center and return chamber and I don't like it. The water seems to flow across my center chamber and not into it... just my opinions/observations

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I would make the baffle before the return section lower than the last baffle for the fuge by an inch. That will increase oxygenation, and also give any macroalgae in the fuge some tumble. I would also add another baffle after the one for the return section so that the water is entering from the bottom. It will help minimize any bubbles that would try to enter the return pump.

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Solid design overall.

 

Some thoughts - Most skimmers for a tank this size will fit in 8x11 so you could easily squish that back to 8" I believe.

 

Space between baffles could be reduced to 1/2". That's how I have mine anyways...

 

If you can design a siphon break into your return line (preventing significant back flow into the sump) then you should be able to raise your water level to 10". I have a 30b as my sump and it's also 12" tall. I use the taller baffles simply for more water volume. Since I have a siphon break only a few gallons drains into the sump in the event of a power outage. For the skimmer, IMO it's best to go deeper than you think you'll need as well because you can always stick a piece of plastic or rubber under the skimmer to raise it up but it's difficult to increase the water level.

 

Keep the return chamber at least as large as you have it now. An ATO is advised as if the water level gets much below 6-7" the return will probably start sucking air. I just put a Jebao DCT4000 as my return and I like it a lot. I have it on setting 5.

 

Yeah I plan on drilling a hole in the locline to provide a siphon break and keep the return line close to the surface for more agitation. The problem is this that I already ordered the glass, can I just raise the under baffle up another inch? I'm still playing with the section sizes and when I get the glass I'll see what they look like when I get them in there. I'll probably make the skimmer section smaller though.

 

I have a tunze nano osmolator that I was going to just tender from my current tank.

 

Personally, I'm looking into my next sump design. 40b, I'm going to make the first chamber large enough to house a skimmer, but no plans to run skimmer right now. A single baffle. The largest center section I can with 3 baffles before the return chamber. Odds are 3" between first baffles for media, and 3/4" to complete a bubble trap. My current sump (20h) runs the same baffle height in my center and return chamber and I don't like it. The water seems to flow across my center chamber and not into it... just my opinions/observations

 

I would make the baffle before the return section lower than the last baffle for the fuge by an inch. That will increase oxygenation, and also give any macroalgae in the fuge some tumble. I would also add another baffle after the one for the return section so that the water is entering from the bottom. It will help minimize any bubbles that would try to enter the return pump.

I have been debating on moving the three baffles to the other side to catch any thing that's floating out of the fuge. Not sure what kind of macro I am going to go with yet though. As far as media I plan on just using a BRS dual reactor.

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You can't just mount the glass higher - the water level would just equalize across the sump in that case.

 

I like what rightfire and evil said though about lowering the baffle separating the fuge from the return chamber. I personally didn't do this and as a result I think the flow is more stagnant - then again the way I have mine set up it's really long so I use a small koralia to help things along anyways.

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You can't just mount the glass higher - the water level would just equalize across the sump in that case.

 

I like what rightfire and evil said though about lowering the baffle separating the fuge from the return chamber. I personally didn't do this and as a result I think the flow is more stagnant - then again the way I have mine set up it's really long so I use a small koralia to help things along anyways.

So a taller first baffle and shorter baffles after that? That should put the water a little over 9" in the skimmer section right?

 

Something like this?

 

 

I visualize better with pictures. Haha

post-82754-0-41943800-1443812666_thumb.jpeg

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Didn't want to add another baffle for the return pump? With the way you have it, water falling over that last baffle will create bubbles that will get drawn down into that chamber and can get sucked up by the return pump. Putting on last baffle there will force the water to enter the return chamber from the bottom, minimizing bubbles. Most of the bubble will rise and pop in the area between the baffles.

 

If your skimmer need 7-8" of water, then you will have to raise it an inch or two based on the 9" height of the first baffle, or lower the baffle. That baffle will set the water height in the skimmer chamber (plus a little bit more depending on flow rate through the sump). I don't see a need for lowering the third baffle (the last one before the fuge chamber) in relation to the first. You could make both of them the same height and just lower the fourth one by and inch to create better flow characteristics in the fuge.

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Didn't want to add another baffle for the return pump? With the way you have it, water falling over that last baffle will create bubbles that will get drawn down into that chamber and can get sucked up by the return pump. Putting on last baffle there will force the water to enter the return chamber from the bottom, minimizing bubbles. Most of the bubble will rise and pop in the area between the baffles.

 

If your skimmer need 7-8" of water, then you will have to raise it an inch or two based on the 9" height of the first baffle, or lower the baffle. That baffle will set the water height in the skimmer chamber (plus a little bit more depending on flow rate through the sump). I don't see a need for lowering the third baffle (the last one before the fuge chamber) in relation to the first. You could make both of them the same height and just lower the fourth one by and inch to create better flow characteristics in the fuge.

Haha. Yeah I meant to put that in there. What I get for being in a hurry at work and doing this. And yeah that's what I was thinking about the first chamber. How's this look?

post-82754-0-76005500-1443821844_thumb.jpeg

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So I was thinking something like this...

 

IME the benefit of having a higher depth chamber for the skimmer is you can always put the skimmer on a stand if a skimmer you get later happens to run better in deeper water.

 

Also I think it might be a good idea to keep the 3rd baffle from the left the same height as the first to create a sort of mini-waterfall that I think would add some turbulence and disrupt the flow and improves circulation through the fuge.

 

 

post-39800-0-78976300-1443826652_thumb.jpg

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So I was thinking something like this...

 

IME the benefit of having a higher depth chamber for the skimmer is you can always put the skimmer on a stand if a skimmer you get later happens to run better in deeper water.

 

Also I think it might be a good idea to keep the 3rd baffle from the left the same height as the first to create a sort of mini-waterfall that I think would add some turbulence and disrupt the flow and improves circulation through the fuge.

 

Not sure what kinda me of macro I'll go with though. Possibly some substrate too so the under from the fuge might not work. Is this not done anymore? Or does everyone just run chaeto only in the fuge? I like the looks of mangroves in a bed of sand and possibly some other macros. With some rock strewn about on it. I do like the waterfall idea if I went only with chaeto though.

 

I am having problems with undetectable nitrates in my 15g right now so not sure how much I want to pull out of the water. And I know chaeto pulls a lot out. I'm planning on having a BRS reactor available to run gfo for phosphates. And after a little research it seems mangroves are hard to keep alive and well and don't do much as far a pulling nutrients out.

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So I was thinking something like this...

 

IME the benefit of having a higher depth chamber for the skimmer is you can always put the skimmer on a stand if a skimmer you get later happens to run better in deeper water.

 

Also I think it might be a good idea to keep the 3rd baffle from the left the same height as the first to create a sort of mini-waterfall that I think would add some turbulence and disrupt the flow and improves circulation through the fuge.

 

 

This is what you want to do

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My sump is almost exactly like your original design, and my regret is not making the last baffle a bit shorter to create more turbulence in the fuge. AJ's last drawing makes perfect sense if you already ordered the glass, just order one more shorter piece for the last baffle.

 

Without the turbulence in the fuge, I feel that less pods make it into the return/display, if that is one of your goals.

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My sump is almost exactly like your original design, and my regret is not making the last baffle a bit shorter to create more turbulence in the fuge. AJ's last drawing makes perfect sense if you already ordered the glass, just order one more shorter piece for the last baffle.

 

Without the turbulence in the fuge, I feel that less pods make it into the return/display, if that is one of your goals.

This is what you want to do

Don't know why I didn't get a notification for your replies. I started siliconing the baffles in and have the first on and the second to last one siliconed already. I also already got some more glass. Pretty much every skimmer that I was looking at to run on this tank should work fine 8" of water so I'll leave that as is. If it becomes a problem in the future I'll just redo it I guess. I assume with the water falling 1" into the fuge that it will more than likely follow the glass down and not be a water fall. I'll round the edges of the glass to help make it so.

 

Here is the final design? Look okay? I am going to finish it Friday.

post-82754-0-36712500-1444268536_thumb.jpg

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Looks good. I think you will be pretty happy with that setup.

Thank you and everyone else for all the help

 

I'll post some pics when I get done.

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