Which would you do?

[Reggae Fish]

The sump I bought is 36"L x 18"W x 16"H

I was going to do a bubble trap and basically 3 chambers (Skimmer Area, Return Area, and Fuge) The acrylic pieces have not yet been cut.

The stand that is being made for me has doors on the sides. Also, on the inside on the bottom, it has a hinged door that can open so if anything overflows, I can open that and blow a fan down there so I don't ruin my floor.
That door will be on the opposite side as the sump so I don't have to remove the sump should I need access to that door. I was just going to put my "top off reservoir" over that door which I could remove easier.

Should I stick with that idea or change the sump to the picture below where basically I can incorporate the "top off reservoir" into the sump design and run my skimmer outside of my sump. Thoughts please!!!

 

[latazyo]

you dont want your skimmer coming off of your fuge and skimming away pods, etc

16.4g is a pretty large top off reservoir for a 72g tank....that doesnt leave you much sump volume and if you have an ATO malfunction it may not be able to handle the full 16 gallons

other than that, consider under - over - under baffles...bubbles can only escape when water is moving down

 

[Reggae Fish]

I've decided to stick with my original design and scrap this...This will be for a 120 (not my current 72)

 

[mpcart]

I know you are going to change your design, but your top off reservoir wouldn't be 16.4 gallons in the design posted above. Water seeks its own level and, in order for your bubble traps to work, your topoff area couldn't be more than 7inches (the height of your bubble trap). If you filled it more than that then the water would be above your traps and they would be ineffective.

-Mike

 

[Reggae Fish]

the sump won't have the top off reservoir but I was going to do it basically as a seperate unit but attatched to the sump. It would not affect the bubble traps, etc... at all.