sump DIY

S

stevestank

New member
Hello! I thought I'd ask my fellow reefers for some advice. I'm going to be taking my Eheim 2229 wet/dry filter off of my 72 gallon reef tank. I plan on using a 20 gallon high tank for a sump. a friend of mine is giving me a 500gph catalina submersable pump and an overflow box with utube. I'll have to figure out how to plumb everything.

My plan is to locate my Coralife SuperSkimmer 125 in the sump along with a heater, HOT Magnum, and the submersible pump. I'd also like to get some substrate/livesand along with calurpa and rock involved inside this tank as well as lighting.

could some of you please comment on how you would partition this 20 high, what materials you would use, etc... I'm sort of thinking the bubble diffuser from the skimmer, the pump, and the Magnum will be stirring up things to the point it'll be tough to grow calurpa and keep substrate/sand from clouding the entire system.

Thanks in advance for your advice...

Would anyone use the effisubstrate, Kent Nitrate Sponge, and two separate micron bags with Phoszorb and carbon from the Eheim in the new sump? Placement? Configuration?
 
I'll take a shot...

What's the Magnum for? Carbon?

You need to look at a couple of measurements. Footprint of the skimmer for one. Your skimmer section should be as small as possible given this footprint. Also, skimmers work at a range of heights. Find out what it is for the SS125. Also the height and the clearance in your stand. If you want to build your baffles higher than the height needed by the skimmer, you will have to put it on a stand.

How long is the heater and will it turn off if exposed to air?

Do you have an auto topoff? If not, how much do you evaporate each day and how frequently do you want to add water?

Check out this site for general ideas: http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html
 
sump

sump

http://www.melevsreef.com/sump.html

I think I'll model my sump like the one below the main tank in the above url.

One difference is that I'll house the pump and the skimmer on the left side and route the skimmer output bubble diffuser box into the right hand refugium compartment to keep those bubbles running through the bubble trap. My heater needs to stay submerged. I'll mount that horizontal along the bottom of the right hand compartment. Magnum is for carbon and nitrate sponge substrate. I evap about 1.5 gallons each day (topless tank) Having a 20 gallon sump/refugium will allow me to not have to babysit the tank every day with Kalk drip. Seems like I over-supplement my tank with calcium anyway. How does this sound?
 
Well most of your bubbles will come from your overflow, not your skimmer. My skimmer is bubble-less. Might not be necessary.

Remember that you will evaporate out of the return section only because of the baffles. Since your skimmer works best with a constant water level, you would need an auto-topoff to keep the level constant in the skimmer/return section.

It's very hard to make a 20g sump that isn't set up for top off. I use a 20g long and have a G3 skimmer (footprint is 12x14) My tank is 30" long and I couldn't make an effective 3 section sump without it. Remember you have to leave room for excess water from the overflow/pipes in case of power outage. For me I needed to set aside 7g of my sump for this. Your skimmer needs 6x11, so you might be able to squeeze it and the return pump into an area 10x12. If you need 7g for overflow, that 6"x12"x24", so the absolute highest your baffles could be is 10". That would leave you about 6g for fuge, minus the space for your overflow (maybe 1.5g?). So now you're down to about 4.5g. That's a lot of work for the size you're getting.
 
What I'm worried about is pumping too much water out of the skimmer/return pump section than can come through the baffles. I think I understand the power outage issue and leaving enough room for tank drain in that event. My overflow box is adjustable so I can set it to the height needed to drain as little water as possible while maintaining flow. The tank I'm getting is 2 ft wide by 17 inches high by 12 deep. I went to Home Depot and looked at Lexan and acrylic sheets. I'm not sure what to buy. I did buy some Loctite super bond that is aquarium safe. Seems like good stuff to glue in my bubble trap baffles once I figure out what I'm doing. The footprint for my skimmer is pretty small. Seems like it's only 5 inches square. The skimmer intake pump hangs from above. I suppose the 500 gallon return pump can be situated below the skimmer pump. I figure that section of the fuge might be 7 inches wide by 12 inches deep leaving 17 inches for the bubble trap baffles and fuge.

My return pump will be rated at 500 gallons but will have to pump up around 4.5 feet. That might yield 300 or so? not sure. Also, my skimmer will be pumping at it's capacity. I wonder how far apart the bubble trap baffles should be to allow for adequate flow to accomodate both pumps pumping water out of such a small section? I really do appreciate your thoughts. Maybe I can return the favor sometime..
 
Steve,

With that size tank maybe leave 3g for poweroutages. Remeber it's everything that's in your pipes (including return) as well as your skimmer (above the water line) and you have to account for the when your siphon break will occur on your return flow as well (assuming its outlet is underwater).

I push about 450gph and use 1" baffles.

As for actual construction, can't help you there. I made mine out of glass. Good luck!
 
Another question: how do you keep the calurpa from moving from the fuge into the pump area of the sump (through the baffles)? Can that be a problem?
 
Steve,

That's pretty much what mine looks like but I didn't use sand in my fuge so I seperated my fuge area (which is just rubble and cheato) from my return pump with a tank divider you can get at any pet shop. It's a plastic mesh screen, large enough for water to flow but traps most large debris.
 
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