Please critique my sump design/build

[Jon01]

After several years raising african cichlids I am putting together my first reef tank. - a 40B which has a custom overflow made by a local acrylic tank builder.
I am looking for advice regarding my sump layout and flow.

Here is a description of what I've got going on thus far:

Overflow has 2 3/4" overflows out of tank into a box on the back with a 2" overflow feeding the sump.


Sump is ~29x12x18.
Here is a pic of it. Bad pic but it's all I have on hand.


Here's a pic of the plumbing I have roughed in. I'm still waiting on my pump and filter sock.


Here is what I have envisioned for sump layout. Please feel free to critique my thoughts!


Sump contents, right to left - SCA-301 skimmer, 2" of live sand, some LR rubble and chaeto.

I am concerned that sump flow will be too much - as you can see in the lovely paint drawing I am going to be running a Sicce 3.0 which should move ~500gph at the given head height, maybe a little less with the plumbing restriction. Should I put a valve on it and slow it down a bit?

My goal for the tank is to have a happy, healthy LPS dominant reef tank.
Rest of plan:
Lighting will likely be a 160W Razor.
Tank will have ~ 40lbs of LR and 60lbs of substrate.
Inhabitants will be:
Pair of Darwin clowns
Copperband Butterfly(maybe, unsure on tank size being adequate)
Firefish
McCroskers Wrasse
CUC

Does anybody have any input and/or direction they can offer? I really want to make sure I'm doing this right the first time...

[Slayer311]

Setup looks good except you have no bubble trap after the fuge section. With the current setup you will likely see micro bubbles in the display tank from the return pump. Similar to what you have after the protein skimmer section leading to the fuge is what you need after the fuge, just no filter pads so the bubbles will get trapped there before they can get to the return pump. You can see what I mean in the pic below.

[Jon01]

Thanks for the response, that makes sense!
In looking at my pic of the sump it looks like it does have a bubble trap but it's between the middle and the right chamber where the skimmer is going to go.
Would it be possible to "flip" the sump, so the inlet is on what is now the left side?
That would put the skimmer in what is now the far left chamber, which is divided from the center one with a single toothed overflow. Then the fuge, followed by the bubble trap. I would then put the heater and pump in what is now the far right area.

[reefgeezer]

Here's some suggestions...

1. Flip the sump so that the water enters where the return is now. That will put the bubble trap where it should be.

2. Don't put filter pads in the bubble trap.

3. Flow through the sump should be less what goes through the skimmer & no more than about 4-5X the tank volume per hour. Put a gate or ball valve on the output of your return pump so you can control the flow.

[Jon01]

I can definitely do all of those.
The filter pads were more of a question, I wasn't sure if they should be there or not.

On the valve - should I put it on a T with the straight thru section going up to the tank and the valve on the other section?
Where should I have the valve dump back into the sump at?

[toofrigginswt]

If you flip it, will the skimmer still fit in the drain section? If not, you'd probably have to remove the refugium and place the skimmer in the middle section.

[Jon01]

I'm not sure. The skimmer is supposed to arrive tonight so I'll check it out when I get home.
Hopefully it will fit!

[Jon01]

Ok, I got the skimmer in there but it sits at a bit of an angle when all the way down in the chamber. One leg is about 1/8" off the floor.
Will this affect it's function?

[Jon01]

Nevermind the Q, I figured out a way to get it to sit level.
Now just need my pump to show up and I'll get all the plumbing wrapped up and get it wet!