<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15665261#post15665261 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by McLovit
Boret, i am not handy with adding text to pictures yet, so i will try and describe it to you.
the far left will be the entry chamber and then will flow over the adjustable height lever, which i will turn around to limit the noise. That space (front left) will be for live rock/fug/frag (?).
It then will go under a built in wall that will meet up to the wet/dry sump which is 16" tall. That is the sump for which i will cut out a section to allow water to flow into the skimmer area. That small remaining area in the CPR is about 5" wide and i will cut a 5" section out of the skimmer section. I just need to know how deep to cut this 5" section from the top down.
Return will be right of skimmer with under/over/under bubble trap.
I have noticed noise coming from the adjustable bevel, but it seemed to be b/c the lip was making a 'water fall' like noise. I can alway make a teethed separation to quiet it down.
hope that helped.
thanx
All you need to do is to open the image with PAINT (simple picture editing program inside Accessories in XP) or better yet download PAINT.net, a free application that it is a fairly powerful pic/photo editing software.
Anyway, here is your pic with a couple of areas highlighted and some text:
Purple area:
This is that annoying water level gate from the CPR skimmer. It is effective at controlling the water level in the first (water entry) section, but you removed the CPR skimmer from there and will not use it for that so it is a totally useless part that you would be better off removing. The inverted L shaped lip on that movable gate creates a water cascade and tons of noise. Originally it is design to have bioballs (media) in there, limiting, somehow, the noise from the water.... when I had it I end up putting a flat piece of plastic so the water will get diverted to the sides. I would completely remove the gate (all you need to do is unscrew it) and let the water fall a bit more naturally into that second chamber. You can "plug" the slit between the chambers with a flat piece of acrylic silicone in placed. I would put it facing the first chamber (
A) so the water will push it against the plastic.
Yellow Area:
This is where you will connect chamber
C to
D.
You want to keep a constant water level in the skimmer section (section
D), so ideally you will cut the plastic between section C and D and between section D and E the same height (marked with the Yellow Arrows). You should probably make it 10" high as you can always raise the skimmer to place it at 8" which is probably the ideal. If you know exactly where your skimmer works best (i.e 9.5") then you can make it that height but then your sump will only be good for that skimmer!
If water is coming only from the top of the 10" (bottom yellow arrow) that will be the min height of water that you will have/need in sections B and C in order to get water into the skimmer section (D). That will not leave a lot of room for overflow.... but might be enough. You will have to test it to find out exactly how much water will go back into the sump when you turn off the return pump. Remember that you will get water in the sump from both the overflow and the return pipe that will back siphon.
The other option would be to drill big holes in the area marked with the Yellow Box, big enough to feed enough water into the skimmer section at the same rate that water is returning into the display tank. This will also make the water in sections B and C the same height as section D where the skimmer sits.
There is one semi flaw in the whole design.... the skimmer is pretty much the last section of the sump, so the live rock and macro algae will be in sections A, B and/or C, so any pods that travel from the macro algae/fuge section into the tank, will have to survive the skimmer. Second flaw, you have so many sections that you will have a lot of crevices for detritus to build up, and will make cleaning the whole thing a tough job.
Last complaint,
, you are "gluing" a bunch of parts... watch out for leaks, it will be a challenge to make it completely leak free with so many different cuts and unions.
I hope this helps, at least to work through the design. I can only make suggestions from the pictures so my apologies in advance if I got any part wrong.
Good luck.
OT: Tomorrow I'm going on a business trip for a week so I will have limited access to the board and might take a while to respond.
