Sump/refugium Design...any thoughts?

[hipertec]

With the help of a reefer friend from this board, we have come to this design. It will be in a 180 gallon with a center overflow.

The sump is at 48"L x 19.5"H x 12.5" W

Attached is my drawing that I think would work best. Please correct if there is a better concept. This is my first time designing.

The first chamber will house a sock and a skimmer. 16" in Length with 2 baffles that are 12" high

The second chamber is the refugium- 16" in Length and 3 baffles.

Then the return area at 15"...

QUESTIONS:
1. is this a good design?
2. Is the 12" baffle high enough or too high?
3. is the 1.5" off the floor for the baffle too much or should I go to 1" off the floor?
4. Is there enough baffles?
5. Is the return chamber big enough? I want to do about 5gallon water changes without turning off the system. ( I will have a RIO 2500 and a Rio 32HF as return pumps.)
6. How about the refugium? Is a 12" wall good or should I go higher? I want the biggest area to hold water for evaporation.
7. How about the size of the refugium at 16" L?
8. I did a 2" opening in the last set of baffles for a carbon bag...good idea and placement?
9. Will I still get the 15" on the return area, since I lowered the last baffle to 10" h?

Any thoughts or comments or corrections would be greatly appreciated!

 

[sjm817]

1)Looks pretty good
2)could go higher since it is a tall sump, but 12" is high for a skimmer
3)1.5" off floor is good. I'd also use 1.5" in between except for the one for carbon
4)yes
5)return size is fine. You need to turn off return when doing water change.
6)evaporation wont be seen in fuge, It is seen in return section
7)good
8)good
9) no it will be whatever you want it to be and will lower as evaporation happens

Other: can you go wider than 12"? a 75G would give you a lot more room. 18" wide helps a lot with space and 18" wide baffles work better than 12"

 

[jamesBS]

Looks good

 

[Julio]

Why 2 seperate refugium areas instead of just one?

 

[forensicdoc]

You could put three baffles between the skimmer section and the refugium section. This will limit microbubbles in the fuge. Then you just need an overflow into the return. Many just cut teeth into the top of a single baffle between the two sections to help keep critters in the fuge.