20 gallon custom sump (simple design)

[Isaacs55]

Hey guys, so after going back and forth with my sump design I finally got it to how I want it, and how I think it will fit my needs...I originally had over/under\over/ design but, I wanted the extra space for my refugium. ..anyway here's a link to my youtube channel so you can check it out.

Let me know if you guys approve or if I'm going to have non stop trouble with this design. Thanks guys.

https://youtu.be/fG0pruXQeGA

 

[tennesseebob]

looks good to me,

looks good to me,

But remember all your evaporation will happen in that last chamber, so that water will disappear quickly, and are you putting a skimmer in that first chamber or just mechanical? So you may want an ato, my Sump doesnt have one yet, and my pump chamber is only about 10 gallons, so it goes fast, and i have glass lids on my D/T so my 40b sump is most of my evaporation and i go through a gallon a day, and i would imagine that your evaporation chamber will only hold 3-4 gallons, so you will wanna top it off every other day i bet.

 

[Isaacs55]

Yea that's what I'm most concerned about in my sump is my return chamber is so small. I'm going to be adding a custom acrylic ATO to the left of my sump. I was thinking of making it as tall as half my stand...do you think that would help? Maybe like 5x11x20 LxWxH. That should add about 5 gallons. It's my only option if i want to stay with this sump layout.

 

[tennesseebob]

yeah, definitely, every little bit helps, but the problem is, you will have to run the output up to the tank if the water lvl in the ATO chamber is higher than the sump, because it will start a siphon if you dont and the water levels will equalize when the ATO kicks on.

 

[Coelli]

Or just make sure the ATO line is above the water level in the ATO reservoir. My reservoir (10g tank) is on about the same plane as my return chamber, which only holds maybe 2 gallons at most (about 4" of water, displaced by the return pump and miscellaneous sponges and LR pieces), but I have the ATO line mounted high on the edge of the sump. It shoots across to the other side and makes noise but it works. Don't know if the OP has a controller but with mine, it only turns the ATO on for 15 seconds at a time every 15 mins. It usually only runs for a few seconds and I evap about a gallon a day. Keeps up just fine.