Sump Build ?'s

The Petco $1 per gallon sale is going on thru January 19th. I'm thinking about getting either a 20 gallon or a 29 gallon for a sump/fuge. Right now I have a converted wet/dry sump/fuge setup. That is kinda small. I have read and looked at many sump setups and am still confused as which is the best way to go.

baffles, baffle heights, spacing???? :confused: My brain kinda hurts....

this is for my 90 gallon display. I was thinking 3 compartments: intake/skimmer, fuge(middle), return.

How do i decide baffle heights and spacing? How far do they go from the top/bottom?

The tank evaporates approx. 1 gallon a day so I would like the return section to be on the large side so I dont have to top off every day, maybe every other, or third day( till I get an ATO at some point).

Any help would be appreciated...

I would just look around on the net. some imgages have dem. on spacings for the baffles. I'm in the same boat trying to decide on a sump design. not really a certain size for compartments. not much help but, like to share my opinion.

Here is what I was thinking.... Any changes I should make? Is there enough room for the backsiphoning water when pump shuts off?

I think baffles should be spaced about 1" apart if I remember correctly.

I'd take some measurements and see what you can fit in the stand - I had a hell of a time finding a tank that I could get inside the stand once my 90g was already set up. I finally went with a 20g high and had to have the middle brace removed to fit the tank.

As for your diagram, make sure you have enough room in that first compartment for the skimmer (not sure what skimmer you have, but I made the mistake of not measuring first). Add a ball valve to your return pump line (you can add it either below or near the top of the return line). If it were me I'd probably make the return compartment a little smaller and give a little more space to the other two compartments. Also, I think a lot of times people will put the return compartment in the middle and then split the pipe that drops water into the sump so that part of that water flows to the refugium on the opposite side. That allows you to set up a slower flow to the refugium part part of the sump via a ball valve. If you are only using it for chaeto and rubble probably fine the way it is, but if you want to culture pods then I'd change it so its not getting as high of flow from your skimmer.

The way my stand is built I do not have a front center brace, so I can fit a lot in there. I think I might get the 20 gallon long, as the 29 gallon is 18" tall which only leaves me 6" of room to the bottom of the dt tank, which is not enough room for maintance. The wet dry right now is only 10 gallons, so this will be twice the size. I will double check the size of the skimmer foot print as well.

should the skimmer output into the same section, or into the fuge section?

My sump is basically the same as the drawing. Would have been nice if my return section was a little bigger but it works so cant complain. I bought mine pre-made. The first section is tight with the intake and skimmer. My skimmer returns the water to the same section it is in. The intake section and the refugium are the same water level. There is a wall between the skimmer and refugium but it has a cut out in the wall about 4 inches up from the bottom. The only reson I can think for this is that it gives some division between the two and if I wanted sand in the refugium it would keep it in place. Let me see if I have a pic of it. Ok first pic is the intake side, second pic shows the beginning of the fuge, third is other side of the fuge (i have a brace right in front of this section) I put some eggcrate (light diffuser) before the bubble trap to keep the cheato from going into the bubble trap. Last pic is the bubble trap and return pump section. Hope this helps...

+1 Fishyreef.. I would def. make the return section smaller its just for the return pump so just use enough space to fit that :).. and design your skimmer section to fit your protein skimmer you plan on using and use the rest of the space in the middle for the fuge. Also baffles should fit snug but not so tight you risk damaging the glass. Also make your baffles as tall as you want your water level to be and 1 inch in between each baffle should be sufficient. Also I would add a ball valve in both the return line to control the amount of flow you want. I would also put an open ball valve on the drain line (Some may argue this) just incase you need to stop flow at any point for maintence. Dont forget your unions as well. Something I have found useful is also a check valve on the return line good protection against a wet floor just incase :D. Heres a picture of my sump/plumbing. My tank is a 37g with a 10g sump no fuge.

The middle ball valve on the PVC that comes acrossed the sump and back into the skimmer section is just a precaution if I need to ease up some pressure in my return line caused by my MAG 7 return pump.

Thank you for all your help. Looks like I have some more measurements to do. I will let you know how it turns out.

I was trying to make the return side kinda large, because thats where all the evaporations shows up, right? at the current size the max that return side will hold is 5.5 gallons if it was full to top of the baffle....the pump is 4" tall so that only leaves 3 gallons above the pump,...so top off every 2 days at minimum...as it evaporates about a gallon or so a day. am I correct?

evaporation rates vary, some days for my tank its half a gallon others it a gallon and a half. With the heat on in the house I started running a humidifier in the hopes that I would lose less water from the tank. We will see. You will figure out pretty quick that a ato is needed. That is what I am shopping for now.

The more I have been thinking about it, I might just do an ato as well...

So the sump is built and I built a custom Filter sock holder using leftover acrylic from the baffles. Its nice to have a CNC machine at work!! :D The sump pictures will come after I get it installed this weekend. A gravity fed auto top off is in the works as well.

That looks cool...

Thanks Ted.

I got the new sump installed this weekend and I am very happy with it. Thank you to everyone for your help.

The gravity fed auto top off was setup and tested and it works great. I was able to fit a 5 gallon container that I put on a small stand above the water level of the sump. I had to take it apart to silicone the bulkhead in the storage container, as I had a small drip several hours after being filled. Giving that 48 hours to dry, and we should be all set. I am very happy with the whole project. :bounce: Couldnt have done it all with out Living Reefs!

Great idea on the top off. If I had the space I could see doing that. I went ahead and went the controller route for a top off and a few other things...

Yes, space is very tight in there as well. That is the larges container I could fit and still have access to it. I wish I had a basement...that would open up a world of possiblities.

I hear ya, I live in South Texas we dont have basements. The cost of blasting in this limestone would be just to extreme.

I guess the way to go is to build a house around the fish tank. I will add that to the list of things to do right after I win the lotto...