Sump design - Need input

[MrsReefK]

Hi guys,

We are building our 125g sump for our 290g display tank. We are getting VERY little ( :thumbdown:sad1 response to our build thread, so I'm posting this here as well.

Here are our sump plans, good? bad? ugly? Lay it on us! We want to do this as 'right' as we possibly can.


Our 290g hex flat back in wall build with 125g sump:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2533793

 

[swiftvision]

I'm no expert but that is one giant Fuge area.

 

[MrsReefK]

Thanks! That's what I was going for. Anyone else see anything we should change before we start building this?

 

[Chuckd76]

It's hard (for me at least) to tell whether or not your fuge comes before any equipment (reactor,skimmer, etc). As long as the fuge is last, so pods don't get skimmed off, the design possibilities are endless.
As for my own fuge, after searching and scaring myself that I was doing the wrong design, I came up with from right to left:
Drain section with skimmer,
Return,
Water change section,
Fuge.
My return pump is tee'd to my fuge so water passes through it and then flows through the water change area and then to the return.
If I knew then what I know now I'd forego the WC area, make my fuge slightly larger, do an ato reservoir and make my drain section baffled off so I could skip the socks.
I'm only working with a 55 but I believe the fuge rule of thumb is a minimum of 20% of your water volume for it to be effective. I'm off a little at 9.7 gallons for 70 gallons of system volume but you may find you can shrink yours a bit and figure out what works best for you.
HTH.

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[MrsReefK]

Hey Chuck, your input definitely helps. Thank you! Essentially the water is going through the fuge last, sort of. If you follow both drawings, you can see where the water leaves the sump to the tree, and then where the tree joins back to the fuge.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Honestly - I am not a big fan of refugia, they end up being not much more than detritus traps. Macro export? Run a turf scrubber.

Throw the "rules of thumb" out the window. There is no need for "low flow" if you want a refugium and are willing to deal with the mess it will make. The lower the flow, the more detritus will become trapped and the harder it will be to clean.

Certainly, a purposeful detritus trap that is easy to clean could be of benefit, but a filter sock and a power head a few times a month/year can do the same thing.


Pods and other macro/micro fauna in sump? Put a pile of life rock on a platform. You can then use a PH to blow the rocks off and keep the detritus from settling under them. Keep the light out of the sump, other than for maintenance, and you will get all kinds of non photosynethetic stuff growing.

Don't worry too much about pods and other fauna from being "skimmed out" or damaged by pumps, etc. There will be plenty and an ever changing variety in your system.

Concentrate more on ease of maintenance. Filter socks are a ***** to change if you do not do a LOT of planning. The same goes for skimmers, reactors, etc.

A tightly packed sump that is hard to clean and hard to maintain is a drag. You will soon find yourself neglecting husbandry because it is a PITA.