Sump Design

josefernando · 09/22/2010, 09:40 AM

I am designing a new sump, my first objective is that the chamber were the skimer is the water level is always the same, so i dont have to be calibrating it all the time, second that the maintenance is easier.

can you give some advice a for upgrading mi design, also if you can help me whit the dimensions of chambers, because i am not shure how will the water behave in my design.

The principal aquarium is 50 gallons, an the skimer works the best at 8 inches.

tks,

DanMgy · 09/22/2010, 03:06 PM

Jose- You should take a look over in the DIY forum and run a search, there is a number of posts about this and a lot of really good information.

I am by no means an expert but having just gone through the process of researching and building a sump I picked up a bit of info. First, unless you plan on cleaning the sponge on a weekly basis I would avoid that completely. I am sure people use things like that and works successfully , but I wanted simple and minimal maintenance. From where the drain line enters you do not need the first two baffles to regulate the water, if you sent the first baffle height after your skimmer at 8 inches it will maintain the water level for you. With your design you need to make the baffle after the micro-algae the same height as the two low bubble trap baffles, if you make it higher you will increase the water height in your skimmer section. It looks like are planning on using a DSB or VDSB, I would highly encourage you to avoid this. From what I have read they are VERY difficult to run and maintain and you need an extremely high flow to make it effective, just stick with some micro-algae.

I was using a 29g tank I wanted to keep more water in the sump and I needed 8 inches for the skimmer section as you so I set it up a little bit differently, so I went Fuge-->Return<--Skimmer. You have yours setup to flow as Return<--Fuge<--Skimmer. People use both so I don't think there is one preferred method over the other. I just felt that it would be beneficial if I split the drain line so one runs into the Fuge and the other the Skimmer sections. If for any reason I could close a valve to either section and still utilize the other to keep the flow running. A good site you should also look at that a lot people have recommended here is http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html, there are a number of designs you can look at and get some good info.

Again, I am sure that plenty of people have used the design you have sketched up and used DSB and filters, but when I made mine my moto was K.I.S.S.

allactiondan · 09/22/2010, 08:16 PM

+1 on the Fuge-->Return<--Skimmer design.
+1 on melevsreef.com -very good site for sumps.

09/22/2010, 09:40 AM	#1
josefernando Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 5	Sump Design I am designing a new sump, my first objective is that the chamber were the skimer is the water level is always the same, so i dont have to be calibrating it all the time, second that the maintenance is easier. can you give some advice a for upgrading mi design, also if you can help me whit the dimensions of chambers, because i am not shure how will the water behave in my design. The principal aquarium is 50 gallons, an the skimer works the best at 8 inches. tks,

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09/22/2010, 03:06 PM	#2
DanMgy Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: South Florida Posts: 204	Jose- You should take a look over in the DIY forum and run a search, there is a number of posts about this and a lot of really good information. I am by no means an expert but having just gone through the process of researching and building a sump I picked up a bit of info. First, unless you plan on cleaning the sponge on a weekly basis I would avoid that completely. I am sure people use things like that and works successfully , but I wanted simple and minimal maintenance. From where the drain line enters you do not need the first two baffles to regulate the water, if you sent the first baffle height after your skimmer at 8 inches it will maintain the water level for you. With your design you need to make the baffle after the micro-algae the same height as the two low bubble trap baffles, if you make it higher you will increase the water height in your skimmer section. It looks like are planning on using a DSB or VDSB, I would highly encourage you to avoid this. From what I have read they are VERY difficult to run and maintain and you need an extremely high flow to make it effective, just stick with some micro-algae. I was using a 29g tank I wanted to keep more water in the sump and I needed 8 inches for the skimmer section as you so I set it up a little bit differently, so I went Fuge-->Return<--Skimmer. You have yours setup to flow as Return<--Fuge<--Skimmer. People use both so I don't think there is one preferred method over the other. I just felt that it would be beneficial if I split the drain line so one runs into the Fuge and the other the Skimmer sections. If for any reason I could close a valve to either section and still utilize the other to keep the flow running. A good site you should also look at that a lot people have recommended here is http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html, there are a number of designs you can look at and get some good info. Again, I am sure that plenty of people have used the design you have sketched up and used DSB and filters, but when I made mine my moto was K.I.S.S.

09/22/2010, 08:16 PM	#3
allactiondan Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 113	+1 on the Fuge-->Return<--Skimmer design. +1 on melevsreef.com -very good site for sumps.