Lots of sump questions...

[vimalv617]

So I am playing with the idea of a sump for my 20 gal nano, problem is I'm not to sure about anything. Just to help everyone out with my setup here is a pic of the tank and the area surrounding it.



I plan on putting the sump in the lower level of the bookshelf which is on the right. The space I have to work with is 9.25''x22.25''x11.75''(absolute maximum.) For the container, I will probably go with some kind of rubbermaid as long as I can find one that fits nice. I am also open to making an acrylic one as a second option.

For the flow to the sump, I am looking into a siphon box rated up to 600gph. HERE is the link for the one I am looking at. Now a question regarding the siphon, lets say in the case of a power outage, the return pump in the sump woudl obviosly shut off, but would the siphon keep pulling water down into the sump causing it to flood?

Speaking of return pump, do I basically just match the gph of the siphon box to the pump? The diagonal distance from where the sump will be to the top of the aquarium is around 5 feet. Would the Mag-7 pump be okay. I'm open to other pump setups, just using the Mag as an example.

Those are the bulk of my questions regarding plumbing. On the actual design of the sump, does anyone have any good links or even suggestions.
From what I understand right now it should look something like this:

For filtration, I plan on doing 2 mangroves, some LR, and mabye some live sand. Also regarding the sump, what are the baffles for...I just drew the ones in the picture based on what I've seen. Apparently they stop bubbles?

I'm finnally done!

[Geoff]

on a tank of that size a refugium would not be much use. it is also difficult to keep mangroves happy. you need to spray them daily to keep salt from building up on the leaves.

for filtration i would just use a skimmer and forget about the fuge idea.

a Mag 7 would be fine, but it may be a bit to much flow for such a small sump.

G~

[luvmylo]

what skimmer you using??? A mag7 will be wayyyyyyy to much. I'm doing a 46 bowfront and using a mag 5 and will have that dialed back a little so my skimmer can process all the water before returning it to the tank. Also no baffles is better than improperly designed baffles.