New sump plan

T

Tommy3492

New member
Hey guys so i finally have given up on the sump that came with my tank, it just sucks, alot of wasted space a a butt load of micro bubbles...


So i want to make a DIY sump, from a AGA from petco, i can put a sump in there 42 inches long, and 13 inches wide... i want to incorporate a awesome fuge as well... i have a ASM g3 skimmer which has to be set inside the sump unfortunatly, and on the return in i have got 2 reio 14h pumping throught 2 diffenent bulkhead going into the tank....


So what i want to acomplish with this new fuge desing is i want

1. absolutly NO MICROBUBBLES!!!

2. Want to incoprorate a very efficent sump desing

3. and i want a great fuge.


So i was wondering if you guys know of any good ideas for a sump plan or something i should consider and look into when i try to build my sump.


Thanks,

Tom
 
sorry for double post but on my current sump the oveflow is flowing into a tube which is installed via the sump on the top of it through a bulkhead, so it goes directly through the top...

How would i be able the get the water into the sump through overflow.... i dont want PVC
 
Tommy
there are a lot of plans around for sumps...

should not be hard to find something you like or that will work for you... also seems to be very easy to do as well - perhaps gettiing glass cut at local glass store (the diy forum has a ton of plans on sump designs etc)

fwiw
personally like the idea of a separate dedicated refugium... have it this way now and will have it this way in our next upgrade as well (of course just bigger lol)... thats just if one can find the room for it or in some way incorporate it into their system... seems refugiums are becoming more and more popluar these days!

good luck

(this was a free bump for ya! ;) )

regards
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11855471#post11855471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tommy3492
alright cool, i got a question though, can someone explain to me the principle of a bubble trap?
Click to expand...

Basically, a bubble trap works because bubbles will always rise to the top of the water column. With an over-under-over bubble trap, for example, as the water flows under the middle baffle, the bubbles will tend to stay behind. It doesn't always work perfectly though, as quite a few bubbles will still make it through just hitchhiking along with the current.

For this you want to make sure you've got enough space between your bubble trap baffles. Marc (melevsreef.com) prefers a 1" space between baffles. I'd go with even more if you have room.

Study the information on Marc's site: http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

Hope that helps!
 
How about this desing?




sumpdesgin.jpg




I was worried about my Reio pumps acutally causing the microbubbles, can they do that?
 
I like to show this diagram I made for a friend as a general 'sump theory' Of course many things can be changed or re-arranged, and in your case you will have much more room than this. But I feel this shows the theory behind a great, efficient sump made from an existing glass/plexi tank. Let me know if you have any questions.

sump.jpg
 
Tommy - your design would work OK, but I would recommend a Skimmer->Return<-Refugium configuration. You really want slower flow going through your refugium, and you really can't do that with the configuration you have.

All you need to do is split your return line so one goes to your skimmer section, and another goes to your refugium. You can install a ball valve on the line going into your refugium so you can control the flow a bit better.

Also, with this setup, since the flow through the refugium is slower, you shouldn't have much of a microbubble issue from that side, so you can get rid of the other bubble trap - just one baffle separating the refugium and the return section.

One last advantage of this setup - you can make the refugium baffle higher than the skimmer section baffles, giving you more water volume in the refugium section.

Again, check out Marc's site - most of what I know about these things, I learned from Marc! :-)
 
alright , for the return setup i have a flexible tubing going from a bulkhead on the bottom of my tank to the sump, but in the sump there is a piece of acylic over the top which another bulkhead fits so it just fits right in, for the desing you are talking about how would i go about mounting the sysetm to each end, and so what i understand is that, some kind of two way valve comming from the bulkhead in the tank.... im not sure what your really talking about, lol..

Could you explain to me how the overflow tube would work? cause i dont really want PVC.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11856034#post11856034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tommy3492
alright , for the return setup i have a flexible tubing going from a bulkhead on the bottom of my tank to the sump, but in the sump there is a piece of acylic over the top which another bulkhead fits so it just fits right in, for the desing you are talking about how would i go about mounting the sysetm to each end, and so what i understand is that, some kind of two way valve comming from the bulkhead in the tank.... im not sure what your really talking about, lol..

Could you explain to me how the overflow tube would work? cause i dont really want PVC.
Click to expand...


Hmmm....I assumed you were starting with a standard glass aquarium which you were going to convert into a sump/refugium. You're right - if there's an acrylic top to it, you'd have to retrofit it so you can run your flexible tubing through the top into the skimmer and refugium sections.

As for how you'd split your overflow, I'm assuming you have 1" vinyl tubing coming down from the bulkhead. You can use hose barbs like the ones shown here: http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~plumbing_parts_fittings_hose_barb_hosebarb.html

You can use either a Y or Tee fitting, and use hose clamps to make sure they don't fall out. For the ball valve, I'm not sure, because the only ball valves I've seen attach to PVC. Maybe someone can chime on?
 
yea thanks, did you have a problem with the space you will have in the middle cause of the two bubble traps, and do you have bubbles in you tank ?
 
and so i am going to take your advice about having the fuge on the far left side, and having the overflow and skimmer on right and the return pumps in middle.... so if i make the bubble trap correctly on the right, and if i make a correct bubble trap on the left, i should have no bubbles at all???


And is it possible for the Reio pumps i have to make microbubbles?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11855948#post11855948 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rustybucket145
I like to show this diagram I made for a friend as a general 'sump theory' Of course many things can be changed or re-arranged, and in your case you will have much more room than this. But I feel this shows the theory behind a great, efficient sump made from an existing glass/plexi tank. Let me know if you have any questions.

sump.jpg
Click to expand...

nice diagram!


regards
 
and so i am going to take your advice about having the fuge on the far left side, and having the overflow and skimmer on right and the return pumps in middle.... so if i make the bubble trap correctly on the right, and if i make a correct bubble trap on the left, i should have no bubbles at all???
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll need the bubble trap on the left side, just one baffle, but I guess it wouldn't hurt. I just don't see very many bubbles spilling over from my refugium, and I'd rather use the space for more water volume.

As for the skimmer section on the right though, yes, you'll have tons of microbubbles there. Just make sure you space your bubble trap baffles far enough from each other - at least 1" between each baffle, if not more. I have an over-under-over setup on mine, and they're have about 0.75" space between them, and I still get some microbubbles that make it through. If I had to do it over again, I'd make sure and have 1" space between my baffles, and have 4 baffles in an under-over-under-over configuration.

Reason being, most of my microbubbles come from the drain into my sump, and most of these bubbles rise to the surface pretty quickly. Having the first baffle go under would cut a lot of these bubbles out from the get go.
 
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