help me design my first sump

[LISound]

I've only run sumpless tanks in the past due to space limitations.

I now have room for one. it will be going on my 20H which will be upgraded within the year to a custom 35. I was thinking of using a 25 as a sump or another 20H.

It will have 3 chambers. first will recieve the overflow into a filter sock, the skimmer will be in this section as well. chamber 2 will be a DSB and fuge for cheato. 3rd will be return and phosban reactor which will return back into chamber 1.

I'm not sure how to set up the baffels. My skimmer for now will be a HOB remora which i'd like to overdrive with a bigger pump. It's not the pro version.
my return will be a mag 3 into a sea swirl.

flow inside the tank will be provide by 2 6025's.

 

[pjf]

There are many ways to design the sump you want. Here are two examples with a 29-gallon AGA tank. The first has the HOB Remora skimmer that you mentioned.

The second has a Tunze 9010 skimmer instead of the Remora.

In both pictures, the flow goes under the 1st baffle to suspend the chaetomorpha. A Lee's or Penn Plax mesh tank divider keeps the algae from creeping into the return compartment. The flow props up the divider against the 2nd baffle.

The underflow forces debris off the sump bottom and into the algae. The chaetomorpha in the picture acts as a mechanical filter and must be rinsed free of debris each time you change the water. The algae traps more debris than the mesh screen and takes the place of a filter sock.

Not pictured is the MRC FMC-415 reactor that contains GFO and GAC. As you can see, there is plenty of room for the reactor in the return compartment. The advantage of a large return compartment is that it can be used for water changes and mixing salt.

The large return compartment also permits me to reduce the frequency of water top-offs. I only need to top off once a week. The water level sensor above the blue return strainer will shut off the pump if the water level drops too low.

If I had to do this over again, I would choose a tank with a shorter height and a return pump with a slower flow. Since you already have powerheads for circulation, choose a slow return pump that matches your skimmer intake rate. This will reduce the amount of unskimmed water that is returned and mixed back into the water column. A slow return pump will allow proteins to concentrate at the surface and drained into the overflow. Point your powerheads low to avoid disturbing the surface proteins.

A slow return will reduce salt creep and spray. I've had to fabricate glass and acrylic covers over the sump. Replacing my Iwaki MD-30RXT with a slower Iwaki MD-20RXT has helped.

I think that it is smart to use a more powerful feed pump with your Remora. The lower water level of a sump makes the feed pump work harder to pump water and leave less pressure for foam generation. Nevertheless, a true sump skimmer will be more efficient.

 

[LISound]

thanks for the pic's PJF.
I'm going with an insump skimmer at some point, just not right away. I only have one fish for now anyway.
my big concern was to get the DSB going and how I would want water to flow over it.
good point about the skimmer keeping up with the amount of water from the overflow. Right now, I have the maxi 1200 on it in the tank with the overflow box. I'm not sure what the GPH is?

Good idea on the cheato ball acting as a filter. maybe i can use some seagrass in the DSB?

 

[laserjim]

Probably isn't what you are looking for ,but heres mine it might give you an idea.

 

[ZAPCOnj]

I'm also partial to LASERJIM's design. I went with a prefab unit from ADHI but it has the same basic design as Laserjims

 

[hotrodolds]

anyway when more people get pictures of their sump designs we can sticky this thread?

I know i was looking all over for a good thread of sump design pictures

 

[LISound]

Thanks guys,
Laserjim, can you explain the sump, what each chamber baffle does?
Looks pretty fancy.

 

[LISound]

Getting back to this...I can't tell from the pictures how all this works. I've looked at melv's site and his return is in the center chamber

I don't have a lot of room under there. Just picked up a WM s125 which is 10 x 10.