Help me understand my sump?

[Zwid]

Hello all! I have been admiring this hobby for quite some time and finally decided to take the plunge. I'll be setting up sometime in the spring after I soak up all the info I can, and buy all the equipment I need.
I bought a fellow's tank after he just upgraded. 75gallon display tank with a 25 gallon sump. But boy after looking at some diagrams I'm not sure if I have my sump in the right way. The overflow is on the right hand side and the return pump is for the left. Is the way I have it correct in terms of water flowing into each compartment? If anyone has an idea what each compartment is for I'd love to hear it. I was hoping to use the largest section for a refugium for pods. But water flows in under from the next section so it's not closed off? Sorry guys it's hard to guess what someone's layout plan was.

Also anyone have a favorite skimmer? I was going to go with about a 150g skimmer but I'm just not too sure which brand I should go with. I'd love to hear your opinion!

Cheers;
Kyrie

 

[Sk8r]

You're fine. Endmost on the right, your return pump chamber.
Largest section can be a fuge. You may have trouble keeping sand in it, but as a rock-cheatomorpha moss fuge, lit with 6500k floodlight [shop light: Lowes] it should do fine.
Smallest chamber is for your heater. Midsized one, your skimmer.

 

[Zwid]

Thank you very much for your reply. I was wondering, I have a spare 10 gallon tank. Could I mount it above my sump as a refugium? I would split the return pump line to feed back to the DT and also feed the refugium, then the water from the refugium would drop back via overflow to the beginning of the sump?
Provided there is enough clearance for equipment is this a silly idea? I know a welder so making a stand to hold the 10 gallon above the sump shouldn't be a problem.

 

[garyinco]

Why not simply rotate the sump 180 degrees to get the drain directly below your overflow and the return pump closer to your return? No sense having all the piping going back-and-forth across your sump area.

Maybe I'm missing something. It's kinda hard to see in the pic how the baffles are actually set up. It looks like the one separating the far left compartment is not as tall as the others. I would want that as the compartment for my return pump. Simply spinning the sump around 180 degrees would accomplish that.

Oh yeah, had to edit in - replace that outlet with a GFCI outlet while it's easy to do so (before you get up and running). They are very cheap these days and super easy to install. You're going to have a bunch of electrical gadgets immersed in saltwater along with your hands. It makes no sense not to.

 

[Zwid]

Why not simply rotate the sump 180 degrees to get the drain directly below your overflow and the return pump closer to your return? No sense having all the piping going back-and-forth across your sump area.

Maybe I'm missing something. It's kinda hard to see in the pic how the baffles are actually set up. It looks like the one separating the far left compartment is not as tall as the others. I would want that as the compartment for my return pump. Simply spinning the sump around 180 degrees would accomplish that.

Oh yeah, had to edit in - replace that outlet with a GFCI outlet while it's easy to do so (before you get up and running). They are very cheap these days and super easy to install. You're going to have a bunch of electrical gadgets immersed in saltwater along with your hands. It makes no sense not to.

Yeah that's the question. I'm pretty sure I have it backwards aha. I'll have to rotate and thank you I will buy a GFCI outlet. Thanks for your input!

 

[garyinco]

On the skimmer - I'd go with an Aquamaxx ConeS Co-1. Aquamaxx sells great skimmers. Look for a thread by a guy named tivo where he reviews his in the equipment forum. There are a lot of good skimmers around these days (Reef Octopus, Skimz, Eshopps are all somewhat affordable). But I love my Aquamaxx CO-2 on a 105 gallon setup. Well, it is a plastic thing and maybe 'love' is too strong of a word... can't afford any more rumors circulating.