Would This Design Work?

[Nick30G]

Im in the process of looking for plans for a 10 gallon sump and came across this one here online http://imgur.com/a/Nq3ht . Would this sump design work? Would there be any issues with this design? Would it work properly? This sump needs to seat a Bubble Magus Curve 5, a Eheim Compact 2000+ return pump and i would like a fuge. Thanks!

 

[thegrun]

How big is your display tank? How much drain down water (the water that runs back down to your sump when you turn off the return pump or lose power) do you need to account for? A 10 gallon tank does not give you much room for error, particularly if you have a refugium in it. I size my return pump section large enough to accommodate all the drain down water, if you don't then the water level in your refugium will rise when the return pump is off, your macro algae is likely to float over your divider and then when the pump turns back on it will suck algae into your impeller. You also could risk a flood if the drain down water has a greater volume than the space available in the sump. If the design shown does accommodate all the drain down water it is a good design.

 

[Nick30G]

How big is your display tank? How much drain down water (the water that runs back down to your sump when you turn off the return pump or lose power) do you need to account for? A 10 gallon tank does not give you much room for error, particularly if you have a refugium in it. I size my return pump section large enough to accommodate all the drain down water, if you don't then the water level in your refugium will rise when the return pump is off, your macro algae is likely to float over your divider and then when the pump turns back on it will suck algae into your impeller. You also could risk a flood if the drain down water has a greater volume than the space available in the sump. If the design shown does accommodate all the drain down water it is a good design.

The DT is 37 gallons. Im not sure how much water would drain down the sump in the event of a power outage. I think a calculator said anywhere between 1.6-3.1 gallons depending on how high the water is above the overflow teeth. Any advice?

 

[mark.siddle2448]

Hi Nick. I have a similar design sump running my 40g DT. The central Refugium has always served me well. My sump was a diy job. The only difference is the I have 2 additional baffles to your design. The first baffle after the protein skimmer water goes under then over the next baffle into the refugium. Then at the other end of the refugium water goes over a baffle and then under a final baffle into the pump chamber. I just find for the sake of two extra pieces of glass it makes the design quieter and breaks up any microbubbles. Hope that helps! Thanks mark


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[Nick30G]

Hi Nick. I have a similar design sump running my 40g DT. The central Refugium has always served me well. My sump was a diy job. The only difference is the I have 2 additional baffles to your design. The first baffle after the protein skimmer water goes under then over the next baffle into the refugium. Then at the other end of the refugium water goes over a baffle and then under a final baffle into the pump chamber. I just find for the sake of two extra pieces of glass it makes the design quieter and breaks up any microbubbles. Hope that helps! Thanks mark


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Ok. Can you tell me your measurements in height for all the baffles. I would like my skimmer section to be 8 inches.

 

[thegrun]

The DT is 37 gallons. Im not sure how much water would drain down the sump in the event of a power outage. I think a calculator said anywhere between 1.6-3.1 gallons depending on how high the water is above the overflow teeth. Any advice?

Fill up the tank outside and run the return pump in a 5 gallon bucket. Once the tank with the return pump running has reached an equilibrium with the drainage water put a mark on the bucket at the water line. Turn off the pump and then measure all the water that drains down into the 5 gallon bucket above the mark. That is how much water you must contend with in your sump design (one gallon equals 231 cubic inches). Figure the running water level in your sump at 2" above the return pump to avoid a whirlpool that will; suck air into the return pump.

 

[Nick30G]

I dont think the chateo in the fuge is going to overflow into the return section.... the whole water level in the sump would have to rise like 4 inches.