DIY Sump

[Irishman]

I plan on doing another sump real soon and I am taking a suggestion from Zombie on the design he posted on one of my threads not to long ago. I do plan on doing some changes on it though and wanted to get criticism from people on it.

This is my redesign. And a couple questions to go a long with it. The this is a rough sketch of the foot print that I am going with, not the actual size of the chambers.

1. Is this enough baffles between chambers? I don't want macro bubbles to the top. The one I have in my other tank has three baffles, then two baffles.
2. Will the T coming from the over flow be able to flow good enough to the fuge and skimmer section? It would be the yellow orange looking tubes.
3. Anyone know of a place local to cut glass on the spot? I was thinking of doing it to the first baffle on the fuge so I don't have to have a media try to prevent the algae going into the return chamber.
4. Is there a certain width the return chamber should be? I think I remember reading that is shouldn't be ridiculously small.
I can't Think of anything else on the top of my head. Please ask questions about it if it doesn't make sense. I'm sure I'll think of more on the way.

This is the original design

 

[FishTV]

I'm not really a fan of this type of sump, but that's really just personal preference. Why do you want the media tray on the fuge side, I would think this is counter productive for a steady release of pods and such, and would likely kill, or trap most.

 

[Irishman]

The problem I have with my current set up(its like the regular DIY sumps, first section is the skimmer, then refuge, then return section) is that the cheato goes over the baffles and get stuck on the return pump since I have nothing blocking it from going into the baffles ( I have a sheet of floss there now, which I will remove since you said pods won't be able to go to the display effectively or might die).

Since that is being said I will probably just have a egg crate tray there so the cheato doesn't go over on this new one.

 

[FishTV]

It may be more likely that you have too much flow through your fuge. I don't generally have this problem, but my cheato grows pretty dense in my system, and as I hate trimming it, its usually way overgrown, and packed. The type of sump in your OP has a valve to purposely lower the flow to the fuge. Although I don't, some prefer to tumble cheato. Remember to check your pump screens after you thin out your chaeto, as this is a likely time to get the smaller fibers, and break off flowing over weir's.

 

[Irishman]

Yea I just started the fuge maybe a week ago so I'm still learning.

 

[Irishman]

Anyone else have any advice or questions about this sump design.

 

[sethsolomon]

I would go with a Tritton layout sump personally. What size tank are you using for your sump?

The reason to use a triton layout sump is to allow the algae to do most of the work before it gets to the skimmer. And if you get micro bubbles, increase the water level in the pump chamber via ATO. Also make sure your skimmer output is closest to the refugium baffles.


Here is a drawing for a triton layout sump.

As for heater, the heater goes in the filter sock area or in between the first 2 baffles.

 

[SkyDiv3r17]

Seth, I have to say I completely disagree with that design. Reason being is you want the skimmer first or else that skimmer will suck up pods that may have made it to your display tank.

I would Go with that top design. Expect put that heater in the sock area. That way no pods get fried on there way to the display tank.

In your design, make sure you T off the overflow water coming into the sump, just like the top pic. If you have it like it is in the 2nd picture, you will get a trickle of water coming into the fuse with the gate fully open.

You won't get any bubbles coming out from the fuge area, so you'll be good. But you will get some from the skimmer area. So make that baffle on the left 1" wide and then slip some blue filter floss in there that covers the whole width and length of the baffle. That floss will stop all bubbles.

 

[Irishman]

Think I will go with my design. Since the tank is going to eventually be a breeder tank I want to try and get as many pods in that tank as I can.

 

[szavoda]

One important design factor you may want to consider is that if you want to use a BeanAnimal overflow design (e.g. ultra quiet), the overflow pipe should not be Tee'd and should be straight down.

 

[Irishman]

Was unaware that Tee'ing it off like that could be loud. Unfortunately the holes are already drilled for the overflow. I might consider running a pump in the skimmer section to the fuge if it gets crazy loud with it Tee'd off.

 

[szavoda]

Let me back up and make myself more clear:

There is a type of overflow system called BeanAnimal made popular by the user with the same name on ReefCentral. The system uses a siphon flow system to achieve near dead silence in the system. e.g. you don't hear the water flowing into the sump. That system requires a direct pipe straight into the sump to ensure the siphon is maintained.

Of course if you are not doing BeanAnimal or similar, Tee's and what not become less important.

An alternative to a fuge that you may want to look into is an algae scrubber, which is basically a waterfall over some sort of mesh surrounded by lighting (typically LED's). Algae will tend to grow on the mesh which you clean out as it fills up. IMO, this is a bit more efficient than a fuge and more "contained". It can also support copepods, which many do not realize. They are not cheap, though, and may not be in the average hobbyist budget...

 

[Irishman]

Yea I've seen those and look really awesome. Unfortunately I'll do those when I finish my basement and can make room for them.

 

[Irishman]

Another question came up while I was thinking about cutting glass for my sump. The skimmer has a water height between 8-9", if I cut the first baffle 8-9" can I make the second one as tall as I want it without it affecting the water height for the skimmer. I was thinking of making the second one taller so there can be more water in the return chamber. Want to make sure before I set my baffles in.

Guess in short term which baffle sets my skimmer water height? Refer to first drawing of thread.

 

[szavoda]

Typically, the second baffle would be about 1.5" or so higher than the first.

 

[szavoda]

As a side note - one thing that people typically mis-judge is how full the sump will get when the pumps are turned off and the display tank water is drained into the sump.

Generally, the tank will continue to drain until the pump return lines are above water. You can mitigate this by installing a check valve inline on the return lines, but most people will warn that check valves do tend to fail over time. Redundant check valves can help with this as well as plans to clean and / or replace after a period of time.

 

[Jscwerve]

As a side note - one thing that people typically mis-judge is how full the sump will get when the pumps are turned off and the display tank water is drained into the sump.

Generally, the tank will continue to drain until the pump return lines are above water. You can mitigate this by installing a check valve inline on the return lines, but most people will warn that check valves do tend to fail over time. Redundant check valves can help with this as well as plans to clean and / or replace after a period of time.

I noticed this while testing my setup last week. This can also be mitigated by making the returns higher in the tank. I did not like the amount draining into my sump as when it was running I could only have the water about 6" deep in the sump to be able to handle the extra volume. I've done two things to mitigate this problem. 1. Plumbed the return lines higher in the tank. I used two 90s and screwed them into the bulkheads. Picture below. 2. I got a 40b tank to build a slightly sump than I had with a baffle system that isn't like the sump I currently have. The final effect, less water draining into the sump and able to run a larger volume of water in the sump under normal conditions.

 

[Irishman]

So I did a little bit of research and looks like I'll have to go with three baffles for the skimmer section.

 

[Fitz19d]

So as far as the bean and straight down. I'm assuming some angle is ok, or how else would you do it with overflows in opposite corners dumping to same spot in tank? For my basement sump concerned about this? I was planning the 2 pipes to stay seperate thru the floor to sump, but one would have to be angled to hit the floor hole. (Or if centered, both angled 45degress then down.