10 Gallon Sump - Several questions

[zmazza]

I've got a 30 gallon tank and I'm looking set up a sump or fuge for it.

I've got a quiet one 3000 return pump, a 1" bulkhead (all it needs is a strainer), and an overflow box (I believe it's called a cal-flo) that I built.

How high should the baffles be to make the sump/refugium work properly? Floods are not an option, so I'd rather make it so it can hold as much water as it can if the power goes out. I do want to add some macro algae though to help keep the water clean. Daily top offs could be done if necessary, but I'd rather keep it so the pump side of the sump has as much water for as long as it can.

Do any of you have sketchups or blueprints or even pictures of your 10 gallon sumps?

Thanks for all the help.

PS I have a CSS65 that I want to use. I tried HOB but I can see it's going to have a tendency to overflow. Not sure what that's going to do to the sump design, but if necessary, I'd rather have a refugium.

I plan on making it a FO or FOWLR.

 

[jer77]

The most you really can do with a 10 gallon is just make two compartments. One for the refugium where the water from the return spills into and the other section for the pump. The skimmer will have to be HOB style if you want a fuge. There should only be one bubble trap glued in between the refugium and the pump section. The baffles will have to be tall, almost as tall as the tank, so the water level in the fuge stays at a high enough level for the HOB skimmer.

How many gallons will your tank drain when the power goes off? A 10 gallon tank should be enough, but with the baffles being this high you won't be able to fill the pump chamber completely with water or else you'll be risking a flood. So you might have to add top off water everyday, more or less depending on your evaporation rate.

 

[zmazza]

Not sure how much it drains since i haven't added the overflow yet. I may leave the skimmer out. With regular water changes the refugium should be enough.

How do you make the bubble trap? Just two pieces of glass?

 

[twilson2003]

I acutally have a 10gal sump/refug set up on my 105 RR tank, and it looks fantastic...

Plus I have a fuge, and my skimmer set inside the 10gal tank!!!
The only way I found it to work this way was using an Urchin Pro skimmer, since it is VERY narrow...

I do not have any pictures, but the jist is that I have 3 sections:

1st - Return section - about 4 inches long that flows into the fuge
2nd - Fuge - about 10 inches, 2 inches sand, macro algea,
3rd - Skimmer section - bubble trap inbetween fuge/skimmer section...Then bulkhead with external little giant return pump...

Works Great...I cut about half the size of Macro every other week...

 

[zmazza]

How big did you make your baffles and how many did you have? So that I can tell my glass company.

Also pictures would be great if you have them.

 

[Pbrown3701]

When you say your CCS is tending to overflow, what do you mean? Is it going nuts and filling the collection cup? If so, add a drain and a old apple juice bottle to hold skimmate. On the lid of the apple juice container, have the input from the collection cup, and then add another line out to the sump. If the skimmer goes crazy, then it fills the apple juice container and then the water overflows back to the sump.

I have a CSS220 and it's originally a hang on style. I hang in on the back of my sump. As long as you put the feed powerhead for the skimmer in the first secton of the sump, the water level should always be the same which will give you more stability with your skimmer.

I would do a 2 section (about half and half). One with the fuge and skimmer (where the drain empties) and the other for the return section. Seperate the two by a simple over under baffle for space or over under over if you have room.

 

[zmazza]

When I first put it on the tank, I turned all the settings down as low as I could and water rose up to the point where it was almost going into the collection cup. It never went back down. When I turned the settings up, it overflowed into the collection cup. Not sure exactly what's going on. I took it off because I'm not at home much and didn't want it to overflow.