Help with in-tank sump layout

[nick122147]

I'm making a very small sump in my new 100 gallon. Just a place to put the skimmer, heater and a return pump. I need some help to understand a couple of things.
- How high will the water level be in the skimmer section? What would determine this waterlevel, will it be higher than in the return section?
- I'm planning on only one baffle between the skimmer and the return. Can this be a beffle leading the water under, or should it be over?
Look at this google sketchup drawing I made (based on another I found online).

 

[moondoggy4]

You can install adjustable baffles so it can be changed when you change your skimmer.

 

[octavioromo]

I designed my own too

This is the left

This is the right

You determine the the height of the baffles by how much water you want in each chamber and how high you want the water level to be.
What determines the height of at least one baffle is your skimmer. My skimmer runs best between 8-10 inches of water. my water height in the skimmer chamber is about 17.5 inches. and to make my skimmer work in there i made a stand for my skimmer so it sits taller. so now my skimmer is in about 8.5 inches. i did this so i can use as much water in the stand and still have the skimmer work properly. if you make more baffles you can have a small refugium there. In my design water flows left to right raw water comes into the first chamber with the skimmer through a 100 micron filter bag, then falls over to he next chamber where im going to have a small refugium then it falls into the last chamber through teeth so if i have snails its harder for them to get through or anything else over. in the last chamber is just the return pump and in there will be the only place that the water level will fluctuate. then you can determine how much top off you replenish or you set up an auto top off. hope that helps some let me know if you got any more questions.

 

[nick122147]

Thanks alot for your drawings, they send me in the right direction.

I have a couple of questions.
Is it ok with 2 baffles instead of three? like this?

Or could I get by with only one like this? My concern then is that the water will be standing still in the bottom of the skimmer section. But the skimmer input/output is down there, so that might stir it up a little..?

What is the absolute minimume space between the baffles, if having two?

First, I wanted to make this without any return section, leading the skimmer output out of the "sump". But I'm not sure how this would wowk, and I think there could be problems with the water level for the skimmer to function at is best. I thought maybe it would work if I "overfill" the overflow, so that the waterlevel is quite high on the the teeth. Then the evaporation should accour both in the main tank and in the skimmer room. But then the water going to the skimmer would come from deeper layer of surface water.

Thanks!

 

[nick122147]

I guess I should go for the 2 baffle design. Could I get by with just half a inch between the baffles since I don't have any big waterfall and shouldn't have that many microbubbles?

I'm thinking of making the filtersection as a box which I could take out of the tank if it doesn't work any good. But then I need to fasten it in some way so it doesn't float up.

How hard is it to remove when siliconed?