Check my sump design please!

[den75]

Hi All,
Can you please check the sump design I have put together for a 150G DT. Sump is 50G 36X15X20. I plan on utilizing a Super Reef Octopus 3000SSS skimmer. Dimensions are 12.25X11X24.5. Optimum water height is 6" so I would need to raise the skimmer about 8" in the sump leaving me with 4" of clearance under a 36" cabinet. I plan on using a Water Blaster HY 5000 Return Pump. Flow rate @ 5' would be about 850-900 gph. Would that give me enough flow to split 75/25 between return to DT and Fuge, or should I step the pump up to the 7000?

Thanks!

 

[dattong]

My sump is similar to yours except I have two baffles on the fuge side. It's made from a 40B. I use Quiet One 4000 for return and fuge. From your drawing, I think your sump has room for about 14-15gal back siphon, so just make sure it's adequate with your DT size when you turn off the return pump. I would add another baffle to the fuge side to trap the bubbles and quiet down the falling water from the fuge.

 

[den75]

Thanks dattong. Yeah, I was thinking about adding a baffle on the fuge side. I wasn't quite sure if it was needed or not. I calcualted about the same back siphon. 14-15g seems like enough. Anyone know of a way to calculate the back siphon based on tank size and flow rate?

 

[JAustin]

Looks great. I have a 20 long set up almost the same way.

 

[den75]

Thanks, just found the sump calculator here on RC and found that the 14-15G overflow space I have in the sump may be just at the upper limit of what it can handle if the pump goes out(72X24 tank figuring the water line 2" above the overflow). I may knock down the height of the baffles by a 1/2" or maybe an inch to be on the safe side

 

[clockman]

I question the use of gate valves on your drain lines. You should never nor should you need to restrict the flow draining from your tank. If you shut off these valves for maintenance and forget to open them again before retarting water flow, you could have a big mess on your hands. To alleviate the back siphoning problem drill a hole at or just under the water line on your return nozzle so the siphon will break as soon as the hole is exposed (drill it under or to the side of the nozzle).

 

[den75]

May have to re-think the gate valves on the drain lines now. Idea was to run them full open and just utilize them if I had to shut something down for maintenance etc. But like you said, you forget to open them again it would be quite the mess.

 

[dattong]

Having gate valves on the drain lines is not a bad idea. It depends on how your overflow design. Let say if you have Herbie style, you can have two or three drain lines which you can use one of them as an emergency overflow with the 90 degree connector facing up. You don't need a gate valve on this emergency line. Gate valves on drain lines of Herbie styles will help you tune the siphon to archive dead silence if you don't want the gurgling noise. In case you forget to open the valves on the drain lines after cleaning your sump, the emergency line will help you avoid overflowing your DT.