Sump Design

[Macbeth417]

I have a 29gal acrylic Tank I am trying to use as a sump for my 110gal tank (yes, I know could be larger).

Here is a link to my design for the sump incorprating a variable flow refugium. Let me know what you all think.

I also need to know how tall the baffles should be.

My skimmer footprint is 10.5X11.5, the overflows are 1.5 standpipes and the return pump will be a Velocity T3 rated at 800GPH @ 3' of head pressure.

http://students.washington.edu/eande...sump%201.0.jpg

Thanks,
Erik

[Geoff]

your idea looks sound the problem will be keeping bubbles from getting back into the display. 1.5" for each baffle is not going to be enough to slow the water down to let the bubbles evacuate out of the water column before getting to the return pump. the closer those baffles are together the faster the water will flow through there. the faster the flow the greater the chance the bubbles will stay in the water column.

how constant is your water level? how high does the water level go up when the power goes out? i like to find this info out before deciding the baffle height. that secound baffle controle the total amount of water in the sump. if to high then the sump could overflow if the power goes out. if to low you could have pump problems is the water level is not very consistant.

G~

[Doug1]

See my reply on PSAS forum
Check out the sumps/plumbing archives here, theres a ton of stuff

[Macbeth417]

Doug1 I went through all the post ever including the word sump in the title and man are my eyes tired. I think a have a little better idea of how to go about it and will be drawing up some de plans soon.

-Erik

[Macbeth417]

Here is an updated design? This look sound to you guys?

http://students.washington.edu/eande...sump%201.1.jpg

[Doug1]

Looks good, but is there room in the skimmer chamber for the pum that drives it, as I recall you got a pretty big footprint.
looking at it again, you have you baffles set up opposite of mine.
Mine are almost 12" hi and the one in the middle is gapped at buttom, that way water always flows over the top of the first wall, then down under, and back over the last wall into the return chamber. The increased dwell time in the baffles helps the micro bubbles from the return dissapate. I have a shelf across mine on the return side that I can put on a strip of filter pad to help keep from reintroducing bubbles as the water flows off the last weir into the return section. Also going from a MAg 18 to a MAg5 return helped alot, the 18 screamed thru, was noisy and crated so much velocity

[Macbeth417]

Doug1 I mentioned in my PSAS reply that the footprint I gave includes the skimmer and its pump. The skimmer column is only 6" in diameter at the bass and the pump is a Sedar5000. Together they only take up 10.5X11.5" at the maximum post of thier dimensions.

"Looking at it again, you have you baffles set up opposite of mine."
Mine were incorrectly staggered then? Thanks for catching that.

I am basing my max baffle height off of the recommended water submersion height for the skimmer. Also if the skimmer and return chamber only reach 8" at maximum flow, then I will have 12 gallons [((12+5+7)x(18-8)X12)/231)] extra room for back siphoning water. As my siphon breaks on return will prevent anything more than two inches from draining the max back flow during a power outage would be 9.3gallons ((60X18X2)/231)).

Here’s a design modified with your suggestions:
http://students.washington.edu/eande...sump%201.2.jpg

-Erik

[Geoff]

i like the baffles the opposite of what Doug has. i have found that the bubbles are trying to go up. with the first baffle flow then the bubbles are being helped out. with the first baffle high the bubbles have a harder time getting past the first baffle.

my .02,

G~

[trodder]

The only thing I would change is on your return that goes to your refuge is turn that T adapter 90 degrees to the left and put the valve on your refuge part of the return. making the upside down T will do 2 things... first it will give both sides of the return a potential equal amnount of return flow... with you being able to restrict the refuge side at any time, for it is not recommended to EVER restrict the darin flow into a sump... EVER! The second thing you will be doing is slowing the flow a just a bit at the end to minimize bubbles in the first place... although if you have enough flow that becomes a moot point.

[reeftanktime]

I am going to build one similar to this. Should the refugium overflow into the skimmer compartment and then into the return compartment?

[Macbeth417]

reeftanktime: Most people say no and I agree.

There really isn't any sense in sending the fauna from the fuge through the skimmer. Heck some people go as far as to put the fuge about the tank so they can gravity feed the return back to the thank as to avoid sending the fauna through any pumps.

Be sure to post pics once you finish yours.

Sidenote-
I have scrapped this design and am most likely going with a seperate fuge and sump as I know have an extra 30gal I can use for the fuge.

-Erik