Sump Design Help

[Fat Tony]

Originally Posted by Phishnoob

Any chance of a pic on this? I almost understand and this sounds ideal to do my 20L. I am not quite understanding the baffle part and supply to the fuge. Also, if you have a return size, say 1" on my part do you use a valve to throttle the supply to the fuge or just tee it off?

Follow the link in my sig to my build thread. It shows in detail the manifold and sump build.

[nanofreak]

OK this is a big project so I am going to do it right. Jersey gets pretty cold so I am building a fish room insulate it and throw a elec heater to take the chill out during the Winter. I was thinking Skimmer Fuge Return the tank is 4 ft so what 12 skimmer 12 return and the rest for a fuge.

[jenglish]

Are the glass sheets more expensive than acrylic? I am getting ready to do the same project on a 30 long and had not even considered glass.

Also my plastic frame on the bottom is cracked... I am thinking superglue

[Fat Tony]

Actually the glass is alot cheaper than acrylic, hence why I went with glass

SG would work, but what about epoxy

[nanofreak]

Ok so I am going to do 1st section us skimmer
so baffles would go over under over then fuge then over under over then return section
keep baffles at 12 in high does that sound right
also what silicone caulk do u guys use thanks

[Fat Tony]

I like to keep my baffles around 10" for my skimmer, but you could do yours at 12 and raise the skimmer if necessary. I use GE Silicone Type 1 for my baffles, but you can buy Aquarium silicone at home depot. It will be int he section where the Gorilla glue and other wood glues are displayed.

[nanofreak]

Ok thanks for all the help one last question
glass or acrylic I know depo has acrylic and I gave the cutter for it
what would u recommend us glass hard to work with
does depo sell the glass that will work

[Doug1]

Hope this works, please forgive the stuff stored in it, waiting on next build but it gives you an idea of baffles.

Keep in mind that the height of the baffle on the left determines the dept of water in the main sump body, the baffle on right determines how deep the return section is. If the overflow stops flowing just the water from the return section gets pumped back to main tan k, not the whole sump full.

[Doug1]

That is important to remember because most in sump skimmers work better with a stable water level, and if you are going to use an auto top off it needs to go in the return section, thats where water level fluctuation from evap is going to show up, lso you might use a switch/float that shuts the return off if the water gets too low, to keep the pump from running dry and burning out.
HTH

[Fat Tony]

Here's mine in case you didn't check the thread out, The baffles (weirs) are 10" tall, glass is from Lowe's and they will cut it for you, HD will not, the weirs are 2" apart and the "under is 1.5" off of the bottom of the tank. The tank is a 33 long which is the same length and width of a 55, just not as tall.

[Phishnoob]

Originally Posted by Fat Tony

Here's mine in case you didn't check the thread out, The baffles (weirs) are 10" tall, glass is from Lowe's and they will cut it for you, HD will not, the weirs are 2" apart and the "under is 1.5" off of the bottom of the tank. The tank is a 33 long which is the same length and width of a 55, just not as tall.

Okay is this right? I am going to do a 3/4 scale version of it in the 20L and like Doug and your suggestion to do the over under part. If I am correct the returns on the right side will fill the chamber then spill over into the middle. The water split from the manifold to the fuge on the left side will fill that and it will spill over to the middle as well. That is throttled by a ball valve to cut the pump flow. The skimmer sits in the right side with the return and a constant 10" water level and water gets added to the middle to go from the min level to the max level (for folks that add water instead of having ATO).

[nanofreak]

Ok tony I have a question can I swap the baffles
first one off the bottom then next on the bottom. The fuge next one on the bottom then next one off the bottom will that work

[Fat Tony]

No, you would negating the reason for the bubble trap. But you won't need a bubble trap if you are feeding the fuge, you only need a bubble trap where your return pump section is.

[nanofreak]

Ok so I am doing skimmer Fuge then Return how would u recommed I install the baffles

[Fat Tony]

Skimmer then 1 baffle, then fuge then an over baffle then an under baffle then return pump.