Pumps on a new 180

[wanareef]

IMO- 35gal sump is a little on the small size for a 180. Are you restricted by room under the tank? Shouldn't be, the size of the 180 is a decent length and width. Just courious why such a small sump

[180Bob]

Wannareef:

I do have a reasonalble amount of room in my stand. It is broken up into two sections. One is about 18 inches, the other side is something like 5 feet. So I do have a reasonable amount of room Three things are making me look at smaller sumps.
1) I'm not sure what the advantantage of a sump bigger than necessary to get the bubbles out. My thoughts are that a filter bag and a couple of baffles should accomplish this.
2) A smaller sump would give me more room to do maintance/clean dow there.
3) I'm limited to a water level depth of about 10" due to the size of my skimmer. I have a PM bullet 3. Its too tall to put up on a stand and therefore its outlet limits the water hight in the sump.

[Geoff]

baffles work but they need to be spaced fairly far apart in order to be any good. baffles close together will actually help the bubbles make it to the return pump. the velocity of the water through the baflle area will be so great that the bubbles stay in suspension. it is a good idea to have the baffles spaced at least 2.5" apart from eachother.

smaller sumps make it more difficult to put all of the extra equipment needed for a reef. heaters can become problematic in their placement in the sump is small. also plumbing a chiller into a small sump can be a pain. the only real drawback to haveing a big sump is that it may take a little longer to siphon out accumulated detritus.

G~

[180Bob]

I'm now thinking about something like a 24H x36W x22D sump/refugium. That should give me room for a ~20 gal. sump, ~30 gal. refuge, and have 30 gal. for power down excess capacity.I'm waiting on my Sequence Dart pump to see how I'm doing for space, then I will set down with a CAD package and do my final layout.

Bob