Researching phase for my first reef tank.

Baffles set your water height. Some people put the return in the middle to get a bigger return area which helps with evaporation. Like this

 
SFish said:
Baffles set your water height. Some people put the return in the middle to get a bigger return area which helps with evaporation. Like this

Click to expand...
Huh, that's not a bad idea. Then I can keep lighting isolated to the one side and hopefully not get too much algae growth in the main parts of the sump.
How do I know how to set up baffles for specific heights? Like if I need no less than 8" for the skimmer? I was going to buy a kit and install it into a 20 gallon long myself. But I'm open to just making my own baffles and everything if I can come up with a dependable plan. I work at Petco so a 20 gallon with my discount during the DPG sale is pretty dang cheap.

Btw, I REALLY greatly appreciate the time you're taking with me. There's a huge learning curve and though I know one day I'll look back and it'll just seem like common sense, I'll admit it's a bit daunting in the beginning.

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I think both setups for a sump are fine. The chamber where you put the skimmer I would set the height according to how deep the skimmer has to sit in water. See at the bottom of the pic it says 8" to 9.5"? I would go a little bit less as the water is going to be a little bit higher then the baffle so you could go 8". You can go higher if you raise the skimmer up by putting it on something like egg crate. The other two baffles are really up to you as far as height. You don't want to go to high because if the power goes out some of the water is going to go back in the sump. The easiest thing to do as far as the baffles are concerned is find a local glass shop and have them cut them for you. I waited for your $/gal sale and picked up a 20 long for $20 and spent $30 on the glass. As far as height I made it simple and went with the same height on all the glass. Don't forget the bubble trap. I would go a few inches away from the skimmer for that chamber and the other two are really up to you. I just split what was left space wise to make it easy. You can mark on the outside of the tank where you want the baffles. That will help set them in place.
 
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SFish said:
I think both setups for a sump are fine. The chamber where you put the skimmer I would set the height according to how deep the skimmer has to sit in water. See at the bottom of the pic it says 8" to 9.5"? I would go a little bit less as the water is going to be a little bit higher then the baffle so you could go 8". You can go higher if you raise the skimmer up by putting it on something like egg crate. The other two baffles are really up to you as far as height. You don't want to go to high because if the power goes out some of the water is going to go back in the sump. The easiest thing to do as far as the baffles are concerned is find a local glass shop and have them cut them for you. I waited for your $/gal sale and picked up a 20 long for $20 and spent $30 on the glass. As far as height I made it simple and went with the same height on all the glass. Don't forget the bubble trap. I would go a few inches away from the skimmer for that chamber and the other two are really up to you. I just split what was left space wise to make it easy. You can mark on the outside of the tank where you want the baffles. That will help set them in place.
Click to expand...
Okay, awesome. I can definitely do that. I will probably mark the sides or use cardboard and post here before I out it together to make sure everything is correct. So in a previous picture you posted about how to properly control flow on the return pump it featured a tee that drains excess water right back into the chamber with the return pump. In theory, if my skimmer is to the left, return in the center, and fuge to the right, can I have it set like that and have the water flow into the fuge section? I've been reading a little bit about the Herbie method overflow, still have to read more and read about beananimal too. Anyway, it was mentioned that 1" drain pipe could safely handle around 330 GPH and that I can (obviously) increase flow in the DT with power heads and such so that I don't need to have so much flow going through the sump in case of clogs in the main siphon line. So, based on that, in theory, I could have the return pump be around 400 GPH (more?) and tee it off so the excess feeds into the fuge? Or does that just complicate things? Haha.
The plumbing is where I have to do a lot of learning!
Also, really dumb question. Which chamber does the intake for the sump go to? I was going to use filter socks when I was thinking of buying a sump kit and it comes with two holders to slide the socks into. How do I attach them in a DIY sump and will I have space to put them in the same chamber as the skimmer?

Even more stupid question, when you see tanks that have a circulation pump where the fan part is in the tank and the motor is on the other side, is that drilled and installed or is it mag driven?

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So in a previous picture you posted about how to properly control flow on the return pump it featured a tee that drains excess water right back into the chamber with the return pump. In theory, if my skimmer is to the left, return in the center, and fuge to the right, can I have it set like that and have the water flow into the fuge section?

I would have the water flow to the skimmer section as that's where I would put the bubble trap after. I should also add this is only need for an AC pump as DC pumps are controllable.
 
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I've been reading a little bit about the Herbie method overflow, still have to read more and read about beananimal too. Anyway, it was mentioned that 1" drain pipe could safely handle around 330 GPH

I know these are really good set ups but I couldn't tell you much about them so I'll leave that one for someone else. My over flow is a different style.
 
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the DT with power heads and such so that I don't need to have so much flow going through the sump in case of clogs in the main siphon line. So, based on that, in theory, I could have the return pump be around 400 GPH (more?) and tee it off so the excess feeds into the fuge? Or does that just complicate things? Haha.


The flow through the sump after head loss should be around 5x the total volume (DT+Sump). If you want to run a reactor and or other things then I would get a stronger / larger pump. The flow in the DT tank depends on the type of corals you want to keep which is done with power heads. Think of the sump as your filter so your return pump is not there to provide your tank with flow that is the job of your power heads. Your return pump size depends on how high the water has to go up and if you use PVC then the diameter and number of 90's and 45's.

For example if you look at this chart you can see how height effects flow

 
The plumbing is where I have to do a lot of learning!
Also, really dumb question. Which chamber does the intake for the sump go to?

If you want the return in the middle then you have to split it to both sides like this (keep in mind there are a ton of sump designs)

 
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I was going to use filter socks when I was thinking of buying a sump kit and it comes with two holders to slide the socks into. How do I attach them in a DIY sump and will I have space to put them in the same chamber as the skimmer?


You can buy holders or use draw string filter socks.



 
Even more stupid question, when you see tanks that have a circulation pump where the fan part is in the tank and the motor is on the other side, is that drilled and installed or is it mag driven?


Those are Eco tech power heads. They are magnetic and as far as I know the only power heads made this way. They are very good but come at a high cost.

http://youtu.be/jJk1EmrgaYQ

http://youtu.be/BpdpIoQnp_w
 
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SFish said:
The plumbing is where I have to do a lot of learning!
Also, really dumb question. Which chamber does the intake for the sump go to?

If you want the return in the middle then you have to split it to both sides like this (keep in mind there are a ton of sump designs)

Click to expand...
Is that a pipe going from the skimmer over the heater or is it just illustrating the direction of water flow? Does gravity alone split the flow 90%/10% or is there likely a valve?
How do you keep the sand bed moving?
More questions to come when it's not late at night and my brain isn't half asleep.

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That is the output of the skimmer they piped over. In this design they put a valve. You don't want the sand bed to move at all. To be honest you don't really have the length to design a sump this way. If you put two bubble traps like that the middle section is going to end up pretty small.
 
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SFish said:
Some more designs







Click to expand...
I really like the way the last one looks. I was thinking of getting a DC pump. Do I need to have water feeding directly to the fuge compartment? Am I just trying to achieve movement in that section? I'll need to learn more about deep sand beds as in freshwater any deep sand must be turned occasionally or have snails to burrow in it and keep it oxygenated and keep gas and bacteria pockets from forming. Funny how some principles cross over and some are completely different.

Again, seriously, thank you for hand holding with me. I know I can probably find all this myself but having you translate the info into newbie is so ridiculously helpful and amazing.

I went to one of my LFS and asked for quotes on tanks and just overflows and custom stand that I can access from both sides. The tank manufacturer, ATM, is local so custom tanks aren't ridiculous.

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I went to one of my LFS and asked for quotes on tanks and just overflows and custom stand that I can access from both sides. The tank manufacturer, ATM, is local so custom tanks aren't ridiculous.


I would just make your own stand. It will cost you less and be better made. Very easy to do (2x4's). Check out the video

http://youtu.be/jN4Y9AYuwcQ

A few pictures









 
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I'll need to learn more about deep sand beds as in freshwater any deep sand must be turned occasionally or have snails to burrow in it and keep it oxygenated and keep gas and bacteria pockets from forming. Funny how some principles cross over and some are completely different.


Yes snails and worms stir the sand bed. You don't want to mess with a DSB. if you stir it up by hand you could crash your system. I should also add you don't need to run a deep sand bed. Know this if you do there is a danger of your whole tank crashing / everything dieing. This is one of those things where some people have great luck and a lot of people have system crashes. If you do run one I would do a remote DSB as they are ugly in the DT and you can take it off line easily if you want. This topic with in it self is a debate as to how well they work and what the dangers are. Personally I would run an ATS instead.

DSB

http://166.78.194.236/forums/showthread.php?t=2268433&page=23

http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2123214

ATS

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1977420

https://www.algaescrubbing.com/threads/algae-scrubber-basics.264/
 
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I really like the way the last one looks. I was thinking of getting a DC pump. Do I need to have water feeding directly to the fuge compartment? Am I just trying to achieve movement in that section?

If your going to buy a DC pump then there is no need for that T off the pump. You can not control the speed of an AC pump so they put the T there to bleed some water off and slow the pump down where as a DC pump you can just turn the pump down. In the last pic all they did was say I need to get water to this side of the sump and bleed some flow off the pump at the same time so I'll just pump the excess to the other side of the sump. The thing I would be scared of is bubbles coming off that pipe and going up the return. Most people T off the over flow.

As far as DC pumps I would check out the Vectra. They also make a bigger version the L1.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ecotech-vectra-m1-dc.html
 
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I went to one of my LFS and asked for quotes on tanks


Why not just buy a 40 breeder from Petco for $40? wait for the $/gal sale.
 
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Again, seriously, thank you for hand holding with me. I know I can probably find all this myself but having you translate the info into newbie is so ridiculously helpful and amazing.


I by no means am any type of expert. Doing the best I can to help. There are people who can explain these things way better then me. Sk8r is very knowledgeable and helpful.
 
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