40 breeder sump help
- Thread starter Mek84
- Start date
Tanthaitrung
New member
From right to left, I call baffle 1, 2, 3, 4. I think, you no need to add more baffle, just move the baffle 2 to be baffle 1 (like baffle 3).
Next, you have to pay attention the height of the baffle 2, this depend on water level of your skimmer needed. In fact, water level will be higher the baffle 2 1/2"
Finally, you would cut the baffle 4 to 4". Why? Because you will put the return pump in the left and if water is lower than 9" your returm pump maybe short of water and burned
Hope this help
Khanh
Next, you have to pay attention the height of the baffle 2, this depend on water level of your skimmer needed. In fact, water level will be higher the baffle 2 1/2"
Finally, you would cut the baffle 4 to 4". Why? Because you will put the return pump in the left and if water is lower than 9" your returm pump maybe short of water and burned
Hope this help
Khanh
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I did not mention cutting baffle 4 down too four inches....
I am planning on getting a new skimmer. I do not have the money yet. So what is a safe height to place the baffle at? That will give me enough depth for skimmer but also enough safety for I case of a overflow issue... Also removing the 3 rd baffle would probably get rid of the circulation issue I was talking about all together... How ever if I decide to put in sand in the refuge than there is nothing holding it. In place out of the baffle area...
Do you have a recommended height for all of the baffles, spacing of baffles,? And exact height of each baffle I know people usually have a different size height for each baffle.
I am planning on getting a new skimmer. I do not have the money yet. So what is a safe height to place the baffle at? That will give me enough depth for skimmer but also enough safety for I case of a overflow issue... Also removing the 3 rd baffle would probably get rid of the circulation issue I was talking about all together... How ever if I decide to put in sand in the refuge than there is nothing holding it. In place out of the baffle area...
Do you have a recommended height for all of the baffles, spacing of baffles,? And exact height of each baffle I know people usually have a different size height for each baffle.
Xxero
New member
I usually recommend looking over Melev's sump page:
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html
It has a lot of good D.I.Y. information in there like baffle spacing, height, etc.
As far as a safe height for your intake/skimmer section, most protein skimmers run in anywhere from 5"-7" of water. You could make this baffle 12 inches tall if you like, and just build a little stand for your protein skimmer to sit on to raise it to its desired running water level. Most people make these stands out of eggcrate and zip-ties.
Here is a picture of my old 20g long sump. It is similar to what you are trying to achieve, only in reverse order:
And here is a picture of my new 40b sump. Baffle-less as to keep things simple:
I hope this helps! :bigeyes:
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html
It has a lot of good D.I.Y. information in there like baffle spacing, height, etc.
As far as a safe height for your intake/skimmer section, most protein skimmers run in anywhere from 5"-7" of water. You could make this baffle 12 inches tall if you like, and just build a little stand for your protein skimmer to sit on to raise it to its desired running water level. Most people make these stands out of eggcrate and zip-ties.
Here is a picture of my old 20g long sump. It is similar to what you are trying to achieve, only in reverse order:
And here is a picture of my new 40b sump. Baffle-less as to keep things simple:
I hope this helps! :bigeyes:
Tanthaitrung
New member
If the refuge in the middle, just keeping the baffle 2 and add one baffle more before baffle 1 (like baffle 3). This will push more water flows through the skimmer pump.
Just seeing the instruction of the skimmer, that you are interested in. The instruction will show the water level it needed.
If the baffel is high, you can make a stand for skimmer to bring the water level down as needed. But if the stand of your display tank is not high enough, you might get trouble when taking out the cup of skimmer for cleaning.
If you did not cut the baffle 4, you have to make sure the return pump is never short of water. But do not keep too much water in your sump, because when you need to turn off the return pump, the sump will be over flow
Hope this help
Khanh
Just seeing the instruction of the skimmer, that you are interested in. The instruction will show the water level it needed.
If the baffel is high, you can make a stand for skimmer to bring the water level down as needed. But if the stand of your display tank is not high enough, you might get trouble when taking out the cup of skimmer for cleaning.
If you did not cut the baffle 4, you have to make sure the return pump is never short of water. But do not keep too much water in your sump, because when you need to turn off the return pump, the sump will be over flow
Hope this help
Khanh
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So that helps a lot. But what do you mean with the for the baffle? Cutting the height lower? How low should it be
SFish
New member
Depends on how you want to set the sump up. If you want the return in the last chamber then I would put the bubble trap before that. As stated look up the amount of water the skimmer has to sit in and go a little bit less on the height for the first chamber. I would give the skimmer a few inches of space as far as length goes then after that the other two chambers are really up to you as far as length and height. Just leave space so the water will fit if the power goes out. There are a ton of designs. All I did was split the space that was left between the middle and last chamber on mine. I also made all the baffles the same height to keep things simple. You don't need them to be different heights unless you want more or less water in one chamber vs the others. In the diagram you have all the baffles are the same height. You don't need a second baffle on the right by the way. All that set of 3 baffles on the left are for is to get rid of bubbles. I would not set the first baffle going down. There is no reason to do that and as you said it will not contain your sand. The purpose of the baffles going up is to set the water height. As far as the return I would make it as big as you can and have the baffle as high as you can with out over filling the tank because all your water evaporation will happen in that chamber so the more volume you have the better off you are.
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SFish
New member
No reason to over complicate things. At 5 to 10x you will have plenty of water flow. Also you are probably only going fit a 20 long under a 40 breeder so you don't have that much space to start with that's another reason I would not put extra baffles. All that will do is make your chambers smaller.
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