My Sump Design

[AT_Hiker]

I have a 20 gal sump that measueres 30"x12"x12". I'm trying to finish off my sump design, and had pretty much decided to not add a refugium section because I'm limited on space. I have 2 Eheim Jager 150W heaters that take up about 15" of space, and I was going to put them in the same section as the skimmer. (an SRO XP1000SSS) I talked to someone at a local reefers meeting about skipping the refugium, and he said I should try to make an area for one no matter how small. So I'm tryiing to carve out a space. The height of my bubble baffles will be 7.5", 9" and 6.5". (see drawing) If I put in another baffle for the refugium can it be the same height as the last one in my bubble baffles? 6.5" Do I need to worry about the pump running dry with this setup?

 

[thegrun]

The return pump section looks too small. You should run a test on your DT to determine exactly how much drain down water you will need to account for. As you have it currently designed, if the top of the intake on your return pump is 2" from the bottom of the tank you only have room for about 1-1/4 gallons of drain down which is almost certainly not enough. You could help by raising all the baffles (10", 10", 9.", 9") and set the skimmer on an egg crate stand.

 

[AT_Hiker]

I ran a flood test before I put in any baffles and the water rise was 1 1/4". There's plenty of space above the baffles to handle that much water. Won't the water just flow over the baffles into another section?

 

[slipknottin]

I ran a flood test before I put in any baffles and the water rise was 1 1/4". There's plenty of space above the baffles to handle that much water. Won't the water just flow over the baffles into another section?

Yes. Your sump setup looks fine to me. Just make sure you have enough room for the return pump and skimmer. Baffles dont have to be far apart, can put them less than an inch apart. Will still flow plenty of water.

 

[sleepydoc]

You can put your heaters in the return section if that makes a difference.

The sequential baffle height needs to be decreasing. If it isn't (i.e. baffle 4 is higher than baffle 3,) water will just rise to the height of baffle 4. If you want the baffles to be higher, you can put your skimmer on a stand and raise the bubble trap baffles. you can also put the bubble trap after the fuge rather than before. As you have it, there's probably not much benefit to the first baffle.

Remember the only chamber where the water level will change is the return pump chamber. If the return chamber is small, you will have a limited reserve for evaporation to occur. This is less of an issue if you have an ATO, but if the ATO fails, this determines how much time you have before your pump starts churning bubbles in your DT and then burns out.

If you really wanted to get creative, you can have your fuge in a separate tank that overflows back into your sump.

 

[AT_Hiker]

Remember the only chamber where the water level will change is the return pump chamber. If the return chamber is small, you will have a limited reserve for evaporation to occur. This is less of an issue if you have an ATO, but if the ATO fails, this determines how much time you have before your pump starts churning bubbles in your DT and then burns out.

Yeah, I have an ATO....it's called ME. So, if I'm not running an ATO I should make the return section bigger so that I'll have more reserve for evaporation. Makes sense. I think I might return to my original idea which is a section for the skimmer, and a larger area for the return with heaters on the return side, and just skip the fuge for now.

I was just hoping to be able to support Anthias and Dragonets someday. Perhaps I can find a way to be creative with a separate tank for the fuge.

 

[sleepydoc]

If you're the ATO, I would definitely make the return section larger. I have a 120 (4 ft x 2 ft surface area) and it goes through 1-2 gallons a day, depending on humidity, etc. so if your return section can only hold 2 gallons, you don't have much time!

It's also possible to have the skimmer outside the sump, if that makes a difference.

 

[Kawi9_cf]

I would try to make the return large enough so that the pump can last 3-4 days without running dry

 

[Kyle918]

I would try to make the return large enough so that the pump can last 3-4 days without running dry

Wouldn't going that long between adding water cause the salinity to rise?? Then suddenly drop when he adds fresh water after 3-4 days of loosing it?

Also, for a tank that size and a fuge as small as that, I wouldn't bother. I doubt it would be large enough to be of any real value except for helping with PH swings at night. Even I plan to have a larger fuge with the same size sump you have, must be the size 20 long aqueon, and I only have a 50 gallon DT. I have two 100 ehiems that are only 12 inches though

 

[Kawi9_cf]

I would never intentionally go that long either but I like to have as many fail safes as possible. I think if your gonna take the time to set up a saltwater tank you should set up an ato. You can set up a basic ato system for under $25

 

[Huntor0]

I have a similar setup the only thing different is I put my bubble trap right before the return pump to reduce micro bubbles.

 

[AT_Hiker]

I have a similar setup the only thing different is I put my bubble trap right before the return pump to reduce micro bubbles.

Does it matter if the bubble trap is further away like I have draw?

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[zeebies]

If this were my set-up, I'd switch the return and fuge sections. This would give you more volume in the return area. You can feed the fuge from a T off of the return.

 

[Sethjamto]

IMO and ATO is a must on a 20g sump. I built a 20g similar to yours based on advise here. I found that before I bought the ATO I was topping water daily trying to maintain a good water level. Now I have the ATO pulling RODI from a 5.5g tank right beside the sump and only need to top off every 4 days or so now. It's also nice to stabilize the salinity to when running an ATO. The larger you can make the return section the better. K