need help on sump design!

[krak256]

i am planning on building a sump for my 70g cube with a 20g long. i think i have the design down but i need help with plumbing. im not sure what i will need to use to split the flow between the skimmer and refuge area. the 70g cube will have a corner overflow:

the first area is for the skimmer, and will be 10in wide. i hope that is more than enough room to fit the swc 160 skimmer. the first baffle will be 7.5in tall, to accommodate for the skimmer's needs.

I expect to lose 2 inches for all three baffles. the return area will be about 11 in with a refuge that's 7in. the baffle for the fuge will be about 8.5in tall and hopefully I can find a glass cutter to make teeth.

can i just build my fuge in the center and have the return on the far right? lastly, should I be making the baffles out of glass or acrylic? i heard that acrylic doesn't bond to glass well. thanks in advance!

 

[ryangrieder]

yeah you can build the fuge in the middle. the one i build goes fuge, skimmer/lr, bubble catcher, 9 inch of empty space if i have a hurt fish kind of like a mini qt without chemicals, then pump

 

[jaa1456]

I would go fuge in the middle, and return to the far right. And add a baffle before the return

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I would go fuge in the middle, and return to the far right. And add a baffle before the return

+1

Inlet into sump 1st chamber w/ filter sock and protein skimmer--baffle--fuge--bubble trap-- return chamber for all the pumps that will return water to display tank and whatever reactors you run.

 

[krak256]

+1

Inlet into sump 1st chamber w/ filter sock and protein skimmer--baffle--fuge--bubble trap-- return chamber for all the pumps that will return water to display tank and whatever reactors you run.

thanks guys! wait, is it better to have the bubble trap before the fuge or after?

also, i heard if you have the fuge in the middle, you can't adjust the flow through the fuge, which is a bad thing. does that matter for me?

 

[JimmyR1rider]

You want the bubble trap to be the last thing before your return chamber- its to trap any micro bubbles or regular bubbles made by your skimmer or the water draining into your sump from making it to your return chamber and getting pumped back into your display tank.

Yes thats the drawback about having a fuge in your sump- its not a true fuge- a true fuge is actually above and behind the tank and water gets pumped super slow through it so the algae cheato or whatever you use to denitrify the water as well as pods and such thrive then the water gets drained out the fuge to the display, which will also feed the tank some of the pods and fish can eat them.

 

[Keith P]

I like your design. You can either tee off the return or, preferably, tee off of the drain to add flow to the fuge. Feed that fuge with fresh tank water

Use acrylic. Making teeth is quite easy with a dremil. I had the acrylic cut at home depot. It took them about 7 times to get it right. They only charged me for the pieces I needed.

 

[Imbarrie]

The main issue with acrylic to glass is the different expansion rates of the two materials. Give yourself a little wiggle room between acrylic to glass. If it's too tight I have read about acrylic expansion cracking the side glass of a sump. Just something to keep in mind.

I prefer all glass myself but I had a bunch of scrap glass so I learned how to cut it.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Keith P]

I prefer all glass myself but I had a bunch of scrap glass so I learned how to cut it.

I assume you couldn't cut teeth into the dividers.

 

[krak256]

I like your design. You can either tee off the return or, preferably, tee off of the drain to add flow to the fuge. Feed that fuge with fresh tank water

Use acrylic. Making teeth is quite easy with a dremil. I had the acrylic cut at home depot. It took them about 7 times to get it right. They only charged me for the pieces I needed.

keith, how do i make a tee? what plumbing supplies would i need for that?

 

[Keith P]

You can get them from a plumbing supply store

Just be sure you put unions and valves where needed to help make your life easier.

I totally stole this pic, but it gives you an idea of how to plumb the tee into a drain

 

[JimmyR1rider]

They sell TEE connectors for tubing of you use that and Lowes or Home Depot sell pvc TEE's if you use pvc- its just a fitting shaped like the letter T you cut your drainline at 1 point and put this in where you cut it- so the top and bottom pieces of drain line pug in- then the single outlet will stick out to the side, you extend that out and can put a ball valve on it to regulate the flow going through it and it will hijack in a way some of your drain water to feed the fuge- only need this if your doing a separate fuge- if your fuge is the middle chamber of your sump just use the natural flow of your sump no need to add anymore flow to it.

Sorry Keith beat me to it I am the king of redundacy lol

 

[krak256]

hahaha no way jimmy that was helpful. keith, great pictures! definitely helps a lot.

should i go through the trouble and plumb the fuge on the right or just keep it in the middle? i feel like having the fuge in the middle is A LOT easier, especially in sump building. i just wonder if flow will be too high for life(pods) to colonize

 

[kaOzGrUnT]

IMO have controlled flow into fuge area, I've read it's better that way. Now the question I've asked and gotten many different answers for is: should you have the water to the fuge come from the tank or the return line.... good luck and take you pick, I am still deciding on that one for my new tank.

 

[Keith P]

Now the question I've asked and gotten many different answers for is: should you have the water to the fuge come from the tank or the return line

The theory I read is that feeding the refugium from the drain gives the fuge fresh tank water to feed off of. Their will be less food for the fuge from water that has been skimmed. I don't know if I beleive that this really impacts things that much.

I imagine it would be better to split the drain between a recirculating skimmer and let the rest dump in the skimmer compartment. Then feed the refugium from the return pump.

 

[dacaptain78]

I like the way you have the sump arranged in your drawing as well. My sump is set up similarly. I would suggest making the fuge bigger. I don't think you need to have such a large area dedicated to the return section, unless you plan on stuffing a lot of other equipment in there. I would make it an even split between the return and the fuge area, if not making the fuge area an inch or two bigger.

 

[krak256]

I like the way you have the sump arranged in your drawing as well. My sump is set up similarly. I would suggest making the fuge bigger. I don't think you need to have such a large area dedicated to the return section, unless you plan on stuffing a lot of other equipment in there. I would make it an even split between the return and the fuge area, if not making the fuge area an inch or two bigger.

dacaptain, the reason why i made the return section so large is so top offs aren't required every minute or so. i too also thought 11in was a bit big, but yea, i may make the return section smaller. i still cant decide on whether to have the fuge in the middle or not.

the reason why im hesitant to make the fuge on the right is because of the extra plumbing im going to have to do. ive never done plumbing before... so im afraid of screwing it up.

 

[dacaptain78]

The plumbing is easy. Just measure twice and cut once

 

[Keith P]

The plumbing is easy. Just measure twice and cut once

Agreed


In regards to the return chamber.
Keep in mind that 1 cubic foot of water is 7.48 US gallons.
I would assume 1 gal of evap a day (any one else want to chime in on this).

Your return area is 12"X12", so every 1" of water is approx .62 gallons.


Figure out how much water you need above your pump for it to not draw in air. Take 7.5 (the height of your baffles) minus the number you just measured (water height fo the pump to not suck air).

Multiply that number by .62. Hopefully you have a number more than a 1, which is 1 gallons.

Sorry for the long boring (and probably confusing) equation.

Try this:

A= Height of water for pump to not suck air

(7.5 - A)*0.62= gallons of water before water change is nessecary


I have hand top off my tank twice a day to avoid bubbles. I should have calculated this first :fishhit:

 

[kaOzGrUnT]

The theory I read is that feeding the refugium from the drain gives the fuge fresh tank water to feed off of. Their will be less food for the fuge from water that has been skimmed. I don't know if I beleive that this really impacts things that much.

I imagine it would be better to split the drain between a recirculating skimmer and let the rest dump in the skimmer compartment. Then feed the refugium from the return pump.

I agree with you, my main concern of feeding the refugium from the drain is that there is no filtering between DT and Fuge.
So... I rather have socks at the end of the drain from over flow (glass-holes.com) and in the sump have your reactors and feed your fuge from return line.