Need help with Baffle Design

[phish guy]

i have a 30 gallon sump for my 150 gal tank. the sump is 36 X 12 X 16 inches high. i want to have 3 chambers. a skimmer chamber, fuge in the middle, then a chamber for the return. but what i am new with is the design of the baffles, and the size of the glass i need to be cut, to fit it vertically inside the sump, without breaking the sump or baffles. i wanted to set up the baffles so that micro bubbles are at a minimum. i know i need the skimmer chamber to be 15 inches long, because of the in sump skimmer being 15 inches wide with the pump. i am open to sizes of the fuge, and the return must be big enough for a MAG 24 return. any designers out there who could help me out, would be great thank you

 

[uncleof6]

Baffle width: 1/8" shorter than the INSIDE width of the tank.
You need 15.5" for the skimmer (so it is not touching the glass)

This is an awfully skinning sump for your tank, a 40 breeder would make a far better sump. ($1 per gallon sale item) Baffle design, is simple. as below: Skimmer left, return in the CENTER, fuge on the right. (separates the fuge from the main flow of the tank, and allows more "fuge" volume, without having to cram the pump in. You want a few days of run time, with out running dry due to evaporation, regardless of whether you use an ATO or not. They do fail.
Example heights: 9" for skimmer section, 12 -~ for the fuge baffle as below.

 

[phish guy]

i wanted to get a bigger sump but i have a 150 gallon that is only 18 inches wide, and the 40 breeder i originally bought did not fit under the stand. if the skimmer is in the right, it looks like the water level will be lower in the return chamber, than the fuge, meaning how will the fuge fill up??

 

[phish guy]

how high should the bubble trap baffles be?

 

[wizzbane15]

consider using acrylic pieces for the internal baffles. Its easy to buy and cut. You can still silicone them in too. With a sump that size, you do not need to worry about using baffles to take any cross-bracing stress from the sump bowing, so acrylic can work for you.

 

[phish guy]

i planned on using acrylic or plexiglass. just not sure how high i should cut the baffles.

 

[reefermad619]

Dont use acrylic. There's a more than a couple of threads on here about how acrylic baffles caused the sump to crack. Acrylic expands when in water. Glass doesn't. Not to mention silicone will stick to acrylic, but it won't adhere to it. Which means the baffles can and do come loose. If you have a glass sump, use glass baffles. Do like unc said. 1/8" shorter than inside dims of tank. And if you want nip a little of each corner off the bottom of the baffle. That will let the baffle sit on the bottom glass and not sit on the silicone of the front and back seams. What are the dims of the DT? A mag 24 in a 30 gal sump sound like Alot of flow thru a smallish sump. When there's too much flow, you'll get rapids in the sump.

As far as baffles height goes, that's up to you. Cut em as high as you feel comfortable running the sump. Just make sure you have enough room in the sump for backflow from power outages and when turning the return off.

 

[phish guy]

will i get rapids even if i have the pump sectioned off by itself?

 

[reefermad619]

Depends on how much flow you have going thru the sump. Mag24 is 2400gph @ 0' of head? Usually high flow sumps have the baffles spaced further apart than 1". What are your DT dims?

 

[uncleof6]

i planned on using acrylic or plexiglass. just not sure how high i should cut the baffles.

Plexiglass is a generic term for acrylic. Plexiglas, is a brand name

 

[phish guy]

Depends on how much flow you have going thru the sump. Mag24 is 2400gph @ 0' of head? Usually high flow sumps have the baffles spaced further apart than 1". What are your DT dims?

it is a 150 gallon tank that is 72 X 18 X 29. i will have a ball valve to regulate the flow before it is T'd off going to both overflows.

 

[uncleof6]

i wanted to get a bigger sump but i have a 150 gallon that is only 18 inches wide, and the 40 breeder i originally bought did not fit under the stand. if the skimmer is in the right, it looks like the water level will be lower in the return chamber, than the fuge, meaning how will the fuge fill up??

Sorry bout that, standard 150 is 72 x 24 x 20.

The skimmer is on the left, in my drawing. The water level will always be lower in the return section, in a well designed sump. The "fuge" is filled with a branch from the return line. Seems you will have some flow leftover for that, as the sump you are planning will not readily handle the output of the Mag 24, it is not wide enough. It is going to get a bit noisy, and probably make some bubbles. I do like that size pump for that tank however.

 

[j_rizzo]

i wanted to get a bigger sump but i have a 150 gallon that is only 18 inches wide, and the 40 breeder i originally bought did not fit under the stand. if the skimmer is in the right, it looks like the water level will be lower in the return chamber, than the fuge, meaning how will the fuge fill up??

You will need to split the plumbing coming from your display in two, and use a ball valve to regulate the flow to the fuge side. This will give you a nice way to have low flow going trough your fuge and still have the majority of the water head to the skimmer area.

 

[phish guy]

with the design given to me, i was planning before to have the skimmer and intake on the right, fuge in the middle, and return on the left, so that i wont have to split up the intakes and worry about flow going into two separate baffles. would that work also?

 

[uncleof6]

You will need to split the plumbing coming from your display in two, and use a ball valve to regulate the flow to the fuge side. This will give you a nice way to have low flow going trough your fuge and still have the majority of the water head to the skimmer area.

Unless you are running a siphon system, there should be no valves in the drain system. Regulating a drain with a valve, adds an additional restriction, and further aggravates open channel drain system problems. Splitting the drain lines adds more issues. There is no reason to have 'low' flow through the fuge. High flow works every bit as well. What you want to avoid, is low flow that allows garbage to settle out, and turn your fuge into a garbage dump.

 

[reefermad619]

If the tank is 72"L, do yourself a favor and get a bigger tank for your sump. I have a 60 gal for my 180 and it's 48&1/2"x15&1/2"x17&1/4".

 

[uncleof6]

with the design given to me, i was planning before to have the skimmer and intake on the right, fuge in the middle, and return on the left, so that i wont have to split up the intakes and worry about flow going into two separate baffles. would that work also?

This works, however it does not work as well, and there is no advantage to having 100% of your flow going through the fuge. Power feeding as an accessory, allows better control. With center return you will be able to have more volume in the "fuge" however, for this tank, anything less than 15 gallons in the fuge, will not be as advantageous. 10% system volume.

Don't split the drains. It just causes problems; and most drain designs do not respond well to valves or tees in them. Power feed the "fuge" from the return pump.

The short and long of this is, for your tank, you want a larger sump: as wide (front to back) and as long as you can make it, and still have room in the stand. You are going to have power out drain down issues, and will not be able to run much volume (around half full is the norm,) and you flow will be limited due to the width vs noise and bubbles.

 

[phish guy]

what size sump should i get for that size tank that is only 18 inches wide front to back, but also, not too high to the point where is cant take out my skimmer for cleaning? my stand is only 28 inches high. many standard tanks only come in either 12 or 18 inches.

 

[phish guy]

would a 55 gallon work as a sump? (48 X 12 X 21)
this way i will have more water to hold in case of power outage and i can make the chambers bigger which will hopfully cut down on the noise being made. is that correct?

 

[uncleof6]

The noise would be caused by the width of the baffles. The height of the water going over the baffles. Flow rate vs width of the baffle.

48" is a great length. 21" is a bit high, considering the sump is only 12" wide. I understand, you are trying to fit something in a skinny stand... it is what it is.