sump scheme: opinions sought

[Bob Benz]

All:

I'm finally ready to set up my sump. I have a 58-gallon reef-ready Oceanic aquarium.

For the sump, I have purchased a 20-gallon glass tank. I have an AquaC EV-180 skimmer with a Mag7 to drive it. I also have a Mag 9.5 to drive the return to the tank.

I'm thinking about going real simple with this. The water would flow down from the Oceanic to the sump, where the protein skimmer and two pumps would sit in-sump. I'd also add a couple of heaters to this.

Would this suffice? Should I "compartmentalize" the sump as I've seen in some DIY plans. I am looking at one set of plans that creates a shelf for a "chemical bin." Is there a big advantage to this? Here are the plans I'm looking at:

http://www.marine-monsters.com/front/articles.html#sump

My preference would be just to toss it all in there and run with it, but if there's an advantage to putting in a few defined compartments, it would be better to do it now than later.

Also, any suggestions on how to minimize noise would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

bb


Suffering the Benz

[Minnreefer]

We have 3 compartments on our sump. 1 for the skimmer, 1 for the refugium/ calurepa and the final for the return pump. I don't think that this is necessary, nice at times. It aslo helps remove bubbles. We just cut a few pieces of acrylic and drilled some holes in them and glued them to the glass sump with silcone. HTH
Jon

[RWD]

Bob,
A chemical bin is not a necessity but it is nice to have if you plan to use carbon, etc. An alternative is to use a mesh bag for chemicals. A few baffles will go a long way towards eliminating micro-bubbles from the skimmer getting into the tank. Here's a shot of my sump:



I used 4 1/4" pieces of acrylic siliconed in place to take care of the bubbles.

[sculpin]

That's seems like an awful big return pump for that size tank. You may have to enlarge the gaps between the teeth on the overflow to handle that much flow. I drive my Oceanic 58 with a Mag5 which may be slightly too weak. I didn't think a Mag7 was a good option, however, as that is the only Mag pump known to have problems. As it is, the water level is still halfway up the teeth on the overflow at 65" of head.

[Doug1]

Did you get the standard 20 gallon tank or the 20 long? I prefer the long version myself, gives more room for equipment The baffles like RWD uses in his tank(similar to mine) help with the micro bubbles that get introduced from the drain and skimmer. I also have an eggcrate shelf for a carbon bag of filter pads when needed, most of the time it runs without, but its nice to throw one in after doing tank maint

[Bob Benz]

I have a 20 long. Based on this thread, I'll add the baffles and the eggcrate shelf. Already have the materials.

Thanks for all the feedback ...


bb

[Doug1]

Kewl Bob let us know how it turns out