help with sump space

eon

ಠ_ಠ
i don't have much space in my stand so i need some help, below are some sketch up drawings of what i have come up with so far. i have a euro-reef cs-80 and i want to know if the space i have for it is enough and also if some one could tell me the space required for the return which will probably house a mag5 or 7.

thanks

sump (top-left skimmer area, bottem-left return, right, refugium)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30564223@N07/3773927140/" title="sump by csarrate, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2467/3773927140_37c253b539.jpg" width="499" height="500" alt="sump" /></a>

stand w/ current sump and an electrical box
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30564223@N07/3756052791/" title="standwelec by csarrate, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2632/3756052791_e2bc77f0a3.jpg" width="455" height="500" alt="standwelec" /></a>
 
The baffles and the teeth for the fuge section are too high. Odds are very good that when your main pump is off and the water flows back into the sump (( until the siphon breaks )) that it will overflow the sump. Without knowing what size tank this is for, can only guess how much you should lower them by, but I would say around 5".
 
is this better?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30564223@N07/3773558635/" title="sump2 by csarrate, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3563/3773558635_e55990eda5.jpg" width="500" height="498" alt="sump2" /></a>

also how small could i make the return if i used an external pump lats say a pan world 40x

btw i have a 44g tank
 
From what I can tell, you do not have enough space to get the skimmer in and out of the sump. Your really should consider this as periodic cleaning should be preformed.

Access to the sump is key for maintenance and your willing to do it, make it as easy on yourself as possible.

A couple of things I personally have been wanting to play with:

Make it somewhat modular and stack a couple of chambers taking advatage of the energy the pump used to pump the water up. Stack a few pieces together, higher, limiting the drop and wasted energy. This will make good use of your space and allow you to take it apart for accessing other items.

Put the whole thing on industrial drawer slides with the ability to pull it out for maintenance, this may solve your first problem I see.

Design a "sump for your sump" an area lower than the rest, where the detritus may collect or be pushed into. This could be as soon as it drops into the sump, causing a lower velocity flow because of the volume allowing the material to settle out.

I was planning on adding this, as well as a bulkhead in the bottom panel to quickly and easily drain the sump and clean it out regularly.

Make sure the area that the pump sits is as big as possible, if it is too small in volume, it will drop quickly over the day, limiting the time between top offs.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15447574#post15447574 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
The baffles and the teeth for the fuge section are too high. Odds are very good that when your main pump is off and the water flows back into the sump (( until the siphon breaks )) that it will overflow the sump. Without knowing what size tank this is for, can only guess how much you should lower them by, but I would say around 5".

Agreed,

Be conservative on the water level, and give yourself plenty of room for when you add equipment as well as this will displace a lot of water.

And I would reconsider the electrical placement. FWIW, I ended up building another stand to match mine, this is where all my electrical is and provides storage for testing and equipment, not to mention a work area.....all of which you will need.
 
dots, thanks for all the info and the ideas although i still don't completely understand the changes u are talking about for the sump.
"Make it somewhat modular and stack a couple of chambers taking advatage of the energy the pump used to pump the water up."

i have lowered the interior panels (baffles and teeth) to about 11" so it will give me about 4-5" of safety, as for the height of the stand i have already started building it and decided to make it a bit taller (added 6" to the upright 2x4s) so if the sump stays 16" than i will have about an additional 16" of head room.

unfortunately i live in a small apartment so this has a very limited space so the electrical box has to be inside the stand the only thing that i will have externally is an ato which i plan to put a 5 gallon container in a closet nearby

one more thing i will be adding those drawer slides, genius! lol :D
 
Using a small sump, your return area will of course be smaller. It will be imperative to have a auto top off system. This will keep the water in the return area cosistent. Without an ATO, if the water level drops even slightly, you will begin to suck air into the return pump.

You have gotten some great information from previous posters. Get as much as you can before you build it. Got to hate the "wish I would have..." thoughts you will have later on.

Good luck.
 
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