New Sump (Planning)

[flounderfish]

I'd like to say that I hate water changes. I spill, I suck water, it just seems stupid. *I know people have pumps and can do it easier than a siphon. But with all this, my water changes force me to turn off the return pump, and I end up with the display tank lowering its water level exposing corals and creatures for who knows how long it takes me to do this.

I'm looking for tips/suggestions for this design.
I know the picture is rough, but it took forever on sketchup. So I went paint instead.

The sump is 6' 125gallons. Just a plain ol' (drill-able) sump. I wont have live rock in it, it wont be half fuge, just used as a sump.


I'd like to drill it 65 gallons down from where my normal operating water level will be. So that with a switch of a valve, I will have 65 gallons draining from my tank straight into the floor drain. (Yes, slow enough not to flood my floor)

I want to keep enough water in the sump to keep everything running as if the 65 gallons was never there in the first place and doesnt have to be. I will shut the valve, then open the valve on my water container above the sump and dump 65 fresh saltwater back into my system without ever turning on or off a pump or siphon. Just two simple valves....



Gray boxes represent return pumps/heaters/feed pumps to my skimmer.

I am not sure where to put some baffles. I'd like them to reduce bubbles, and hopefully contain detritus. (For yes....when I siphon it out...but so rarely that it doesnt matter if it happens once every 2 or 6 months.)

Blue line = Normal Operating level
Pink line = Operating level during water change

Inside the sump I will have the following:
-Return Pump (To Display)
-Return Pump (To Frag)
-Return Pump (To Skimmer)
-Return Pump (To Fuge)
-Return Pump (Carbon Reactor)

-Return pipe (from display)
-Return pipe (Fuge)
-Return pipe (frag)
-Return pipe (Skimmer)
-Return pipe (Carbon)

-Heaters
-Probes (AC/PH)

*I know it seems like a lot of pumps and pipes. I might be able to get bigger pumps and "t" them off with valves to control the flow. I'm not committed either way

Thanks for reading!
I appreciate the feedback
Flounder

Build-in-process:
200 Gallon Display, 125g Sump, 40g Frag, 40g Fuge, 5g Skimmer

 

[erics3000]

If you already have the pumps than you might as well use them. I would put a couple baffles in. Where your returns dump from the display is where I would put the skimmer pump, say in the far side. Than it would be easier to clean that first section every time you do a w/c. You could use socks they help with bubbles but you have to change them out regularly. You could use the center for macro if you don't already have sump.

 

[flounderfish]

I've got a separate fuge for macro, but I was just wondering if baffles would help control some of the bubbles and also detritus

 

[serpentman]

I ran a baffle-less sump just like this for years. Water changes were very easy. The only drawback was microbubbles. Depending on your turnover rate, this may or may not be an issue.