My Sump Design

[MVlk]

As per my homepage and in Nightfire's sump thread, I am building my 10 gallon refugium. This will be above the DT and will gravity feed back. I am wondering if I should ditch the traditional three area design and just have a intake / refugium section. This would allow me of course to increase the intake area for a skimmer and also increase the fuge area.

Here is a shot of the 10 gallon so far with the intake planned. I'll try to post more details soon but need to take my wife to the doctor. You can see more in my homepage as well.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[supertech99]

do you think you may have a microbuble issue with just 2 sections? What skimmer are you planning?

 

[MVlk]

Skimmer is unknown. I may do something like the Coralife 65. Small tank so I do not need anything too big. On reason I thought I may not need the bubble trap is I will have one before the refugium/return and since I am gravity feeding back down to the display I will get some bubbles likely anyhow. My return will be to the second chamber in the back of my tank where my current skimmer feeds into now. That section feeds to the return chamber from below so there is some bubble trapping there already.

 

[andywe]

Mike,

this might be good for a skimmer for oyu.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1757650

 

[MVlk]

I saw that skimmer posted... I think it may be too small and maybe not likely to be better than the Sapphire skimmer I have now? The big issue is going to be height. With only 17" to the ceiling, I am pretty limited. Even the Coralife 65 is to tall.

 

[ZachB]

Give John a call and see if he can do a custom I-Tech for you. They were playing around with Nano style designs, he can probably get something together for you.

 

[MVlk]

The skimmer is mostly a secondary question. I can always add one later. First concern is the baffles since I will put those in place tomorrow or Wed. Thoughts on this?

 

[mixer911]

The skimmer is mostly a secondary question. I can always add one later. First concern is the baffles since I will put those in place tomorrow or Wed. Thoughts on this?

I would decide on a skimmer then layout the baffles. Just my .02. I have layed out a lot of sumps and knowing what equipment you are going to use in it plays a big part of the design. Granted this is a nano sump, you could always rebuild it as it is not a big investment, but my theroy is always "do it right the first time". Skimmers and microbubbles are a PITA sometimes.

As for skimmers the coralife are junk, don't waste you money. I have used one and know plenty of others that have also and needless to say they no longer would again. Go with the Tunze Nano DOC and you can't go wrong. They kick butt.

 

[MVlk]

Ideally I agree Rick. However, if I want to put most skimmers in the sump, I of course need to increase the intake area to 5" + ... to keep any decent refugium area I then need to eliminate the bubble trap before the return. Do you think this will be a big issue since it will gravity feed into the DT and still have baffle to travel under?

Also, I am not finding many short skimmers under 20" and ideally under 17" that would work. The Sapphire I have in now works well and there is no reason to scrap it immediately unless cheap / ideal one is available. I am perhaps over thinking it all and should leave the skimmer as is in the DT for a year or more. I can then always re-configure.

I am not trying to be a pain or ignore anyone, just trying to get it right as much as possible. Planning for future use seems to be the hardest part of this hobby for me.

 

[supertech99]

I have heard that the CSS throw a lot of microbubbles back in the tank as I was considering getting one before I got my ASM, just FYI. I am currently using a 7gal homemade remote refugium for my 75 gallon and it made a huge difference when I installed it so I am confident that if you have to shrink your fuge a little that it will still be wildly bennificial! You could always try a 20L/15L if your space limmiting factor is height as they are only 13in tall...i know lots of help now that you already plumbed it, right. I think your set up is very cool and look forward to seeing more pictures of the fuge in action!

 

[shanealanbeaty]

I had the same problem with the sump and stand restrictions. I bought a used Tunze 9005 in another forum and never looked back. Crazy good!