Yet Another Sump Rebuild

[ca1ore]

Need a bigger sump. The current stock 75 just ain't cutting it anymore for my now almost 400 gallons of total water volume. Here's the current setup .....


The replacement will be this 120 oceanic. I removed the dual overflows (not an easy task) and will use the four holes in the bottom ..... just not sure how yet.

This is the current plan. My skimmer is external, so no space needed in the sump; so I think lots of refugium space is in order. Bottom holes means the sump will have to sit about a foot above the basement floor (my current sump is even higher); will use one hole for the main return, a second for the settling chamber drain, and the last two maybe for my manifold pump (unless anyone has a better idea).

 

[intyme]

Woah

 

[sleepydoc]

Yeah, I think Justin got it right!

Using the bottom bulkheads will save space, maximize the evaporation safety factor before your return pump goes dry and also minimize the risk that bubbles will get sucked into the return. I'm assuming you have an external return pump? If so, it will also help with priming the return pump.

How much flow are you targeting? It looks like you only have about 12 linear inches of baffle for water to flow through before going to the return. I'm wondering if that could pose issues.

In your diagram, you have a drain, 2 manifolds and a return. Is the drain just used to drain the sump? What are the 2 manifolds used for? Also, why do you need 3 separate refugiums?

 

[ca1ore]

Thanks for the observations. None of this yet cast in stone but the thinking is ......

Drain is just for the first settling chamber. By having two under-over baffles, I'm hopeful that it will act as a detritus trap and I'd be able to clear it periodically, and easily, with the bottom drain. Given that I don't run an internal skimmer, maybe I don't even need a bubble trap at the return chamber. I run low flow, about 3x DT/hr using an external Panworld 150, so probably 12" of linear overflow would sufficient, but it's a good point so I'll extend it a bit I think. The two holes marked 'manifold' was just my noodling about how to possibly use them. I currently run three internal sicce pumps to power various devices and could eliminate them with a single Panworld 40 external that I have sitting idle.

The three refugiums would be isolated with removable eggcrate dividers. I currently grow both Chaeto and dragons breath, and the former will smother the latter, thus two chambers is best. The third would be for the occasional vacation for my large clams that do get nipped a bit in the DT. I discovered to my chagrin that putting a large clam into a shallow frag tank is not a good idea.

 

[ca1ore]

New sump is now cleaned and most baffles installed. Largely kept to my original design.

 

[davandwilk]

Wires and Pipes oh my!!!! Forget about the sump, whats going on in that first pic.:hmm3: