Noob (me) needs help with making a 10 gallon sump for 18 gallon tank

[Oblivion777]

Hello, this is my first post on the forum (hello everyone!). I am going to use my old 18 gallon to make a nice reef aquarium and I had the idea to make a small sump out of one of my old 10 gallon aquariums the problem is I have never had or made a sump so im kind of lost. I looked for a config but didnt find much, and im unsure how much gph I should have on stuff also . Thank you for your time.

 

What i want the sump to have-

1. Refugium

2. Bubble trap

3. Skimmer (if anyone knows a small skimmer that would fit well pls tell me)

4. Im going to use something known as a rotter tube in place of a filter sock for convenience reasons.

[Elizabeth94]

I built a nice working ten gallon sump for my old 29gal but don't have any of my diagrams with all the measurements. What I would do is pick out a skimmer and figure out how large that second should be. I had a Tunze 9002 in my first chamber which worked great and had a nice footprint. However, there are more small skimmer available that I would consider.

 

Here is the general set up that I followed.

 

 

Crappy view of my old sump. As a matter of fact, I still have this set up. When I get home I can take a better picture..

[Oblivion777]

I made a config in paint (yeah i know paint xD), would this work?

EDIT: i know i spelled return wrong but im lazy so im not gonna change it

[Marc.The.Shark]

Looks good. I used an Oceanbox Design kit for my 10 gal sump because I wanted the red acrylic baffles. But it's basically the same design as your mockup. Sould work fine.

 

[Oblivion777]

Looks good. I used an Oceanbox Design kit for my 10 gal sump because I wanted the red acrylic baffles. But it's basically the same design as your mockup. Sould work fine.

 

Oooo, i like the way that looks i might use one of those oceanbox kits . (i was just gonna make glass baffles)

[Oblivion777]

Now, since i got that all sorted out it, what about the gph someone told me i should calculate my correct gph.. they said like:

(gallons of your tank)x40 and then consider powerheads

 

Idk if this deserves a seperate thread, maybe?

[Marc.The.Shark]

Here's my take. My current tank has a static pump (Tunze), with a ball valve to limit flow. Ball valves suck & get harder to turn & close as they get gunked up. With my new build I went with a Jebao DC pump, uses a lot less power, nice & quiet and I have 10 flow settings to choose from. You will get a bunch of opinions on flow thru the sump, but if running macro's (cheato), the general consensus is lower flow to let the macro's do their job. My display is ~20 gal, with 10 gal sump & I bought a Jebao DCT 6000. That's a pretty powerful pump,for my size tank, but I'm also running a SCWD that restricts flow greatly from the pump. You could prob use like the 3000 or 4000'and only have it half way up. The DC pumps let you customize the flow as you go depending on how your tank is responding, love mine. Get one with more gph than you think you'll need & just turn it down, that way you'll have room to go up if you think you need to.

[ajmckay]

I'll add that you should also run your plumbing through a drain size calculator (there's one on reefcentral). Calculate the flow over your weir and the drain throughput. Don't get a pump that can exceed this.

 

I would second the DC pumps - I have a 40br and use a DC4000 Jebao and it works great - I run it at 5/10 approximately. If I recall correctly the adjustability starts at around 50% of the pumps total output. So if the DC4000 has a max output of 4000lph then I can adjust it from 2000-4000lph. Just thought I would throw that out there.

 

The oceanbox baffles look awesome and have the added functionality of a media basket or a place to put mechanical filtration. I like the paint drawing but I would consider lowering the water level just a hair in the return chamber section. The only reason is to help create some surface agitation. If the water level is the same as the refugium chamber then there's a good chance a nasty film will develop. Doesn't need to be much, like 1/2"? This would just be controlled by the positioning of your ATO float switch (would highly recommend an ATO when using a high flow pump in a small return chamber!).

 

If you're planning to have macros in your sump I would shoot for "medium flow". I've found that having too little flow allows stuff to settle in the macro so it gets filled with debris and consequently covered in nuisance algae which renders the macro ineffective. Too much flow and I think some fuge inhabitants find the conditions less hospitable. I don't think you could go wrong with the DC4000.

[Oblivion777]

I'll add that you should also run your plumbing through a drain size calculator (there's one on reefcentral). Calculate the flow over your weir and the drain throughput. Don't get a pump that can exceed this.

 

I would second the DC pumps - I have a 40br and use a DC4000 Jebao and it works great - I run it at 5/10 approximately. If I recall correctly the adjustability starts at around 50% of the pumps total output. So if the DC4000 has a max output of 4000lph then I can adjust it from 2000-4000lph. Just thought I would throw that out there.

 

The oceanbox baffles look awesome and have the added functionality of a media basket or a place to put mechanical filtration. I like the paint drawing but I would consider lowering the water level just a hair in the return chamber section. The only reason is to help create some surface agitation. If the water level is the same as the refugium chamber then there's a good chance a nasty film will develop. Doesn't need to be much, like 1/2"? This would just be controlled by the positioning of your ATO float switch (would highly recommend an ATO when using a high flow pump in a small return chamber!).

 

If you're planning to have macros in your sump I would shoot for "medium flow". I've found that having too little flow allows stuff to settle in the macro so it gets filled with debris and consequently covered in nuisance algae which renders the macro ineffective. Too much flow and I think some fuge inhabitants find the conditions less hospitable. I don't think you could go wrong with the DC4000.

Ah yes i was planning on using an ato, thx for the info btw.