Sump baffels

[fkdenton]

I am making a sump for my 72 bowfront. I have a new 38 gallon tank to use. It is 36Lx12Wx19.5 tall. I want to put 4 or 5 baffels in it and want to use glass. Here are 3 differnt ideas. It has to have enough room for my octopus NW200 and I will have either 2 mag5s or a mag 5and a mag7. 1 for a return and 1 to go to my refugium
I dont need any room for a fuge because there will be a seperate refugium/DSB
1.

2.

3.

I have a few ?s
1. How thick of glass do I need to use?
2. How tall do the glass pieces need to be?
3. What layout looks right?



Thanks for the help

 

[kipher]

1. As long as there is water of equal height on either side, the glass won't be really stressed at all. (if you trust a structural engineer on this topic) Therefore it doesn't really matter. I think mine are 3/16" Have the glass shop bevel the edges of the glass so you don't cut your hands though.

2. That really depends on how much water your return lines will siphon back in to the sump, when the return pump is turned off. Drill anti-siphon holes in your return plumbing just below the water line of your display tank and you won't siphon much. My water level rises probably 2-3 inches in my 29G sump tank. One other thing to consider though, if you are putting you skimmer in the sump, the skimmer should be rated to work in a specific water depth or else you will need to put the skimmer on a stand. No biggie provided the skimmer height plus skimmer stand height are less that the height of the inside of your tank stand. (leaving room to remove the skimmer cup of course)

3. My sump is most like your number 3. I have a skimmer section, then fuge, then bubble trap, then return. But there are several ways to do it. In my mind your plumbing is easier to run with this set up.

 

[Schplitter]

You can use the home depot glass. I think it's 3/16th. Layout # 1 or 3 will work. I would make the baffles between 10 and 12 inches tall. It may be a good idea to add one more under baffle right after the skimmer. So it's under, over, under, over

BK

 

[kipher]

Those heights sound good. I think mine are 10" tall. I got all of my glass cut for me by a glass shop. THis is because I wanted the glass to fit the width of the tank pretty closely. However the silicone you use will help quite a bit on the fudge factor here. I didn't trust myself enough to cut it accurately. In all my glass cost me like $20. And that was cut to size and with all 4 edges of each piece beveled.

 

[latazyo]

having all of those overs is pointless

the bubbles can only get out of the water if the water is moving down (as in, an under)

either do as BK said or change it to under over under

also when the water is in a column where its going under, widen the gap between the baffles to slow the water down

 

[fkdenton]

I also need to know how I can plumb a refugium into the system. I have a 30g breeder that I want to use as a fuge. I want it to gravity drain into the display tank. I plan on having a seperate mag 5 to feed the fuge.

 

[ncox38]

Yes, increase the distance between the baffles to at least 2 inches, also make sure the the water going into the return pump chamber discharges underwater. I am getting ready to tear out my sump right now because i didnt do this and bubbles get sucked through the bubble trap because the baffles are only an inch apart, and if the water level has dropped more than an inch the fall of the water coming "over" creates more bubbles.

 

[latazyo]

fkdenton

if you can accomodate it, you could position your fuge between the tank and sump and gravity feed from tank to fuge, then gravity feed from fuge to sump

then you wont need an additional pump at all

 

[kipher]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9903335#post9903335 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latazyo
fkdenton

if you can accomodate it, you could position your fuge between the tank and sump and gravity feed from tank to fuge, then gravity feed from fuge to sump

then you wont need an additional pump at all

This is the only way I would do it. If you had to use 2 pump in the system they would have to pump at exactly the same rate or you would drain one tank and overflow another. Which I'm sure is impossible to accomplish.

 

[fkdenton]

yeah I figured that wouldnt work. I think now the water is going to go from tank-fuge-sump-back up to tank.

 

[latazyo]

or you could do what I did and T off of your return pump

red house, second to last page (might be last page) for details

 

[kipher]

Actually if you wanted to use two pumps, I came up with a way that it would probably work. You couldn't run the fuge and sump in series, but you could run them in parralle. For example, run your overflows from your display into the sump. Then from the sumps skimmer section (assuming this is your first section of your sump) run a pump up to your separate fuge. Using an overflow box from the fuge just feed the water back into the sump somewhere. I don't see any flaws in this plan. Does anyone else?