Dividing up a sump

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Reefscape

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
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I have a 36" long tank now for my sump..Can some-one give me some pointers on how is best to divide up in inlet, fuge and return. I dont need a great lot of room for the inlet part as my skimmer is a hang on the back type..Just not sure how big to make the 3 sections for this..

Thanks in advance for any advice

Niko
 
Reefscape

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
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I have decided to split up my 36 long sump as thus...

Area 1 - Inlet - 8"
Area 2 - Fuge - 14"
Area 3 - Return - 14"

Can anybody help me, or tell me how to work out the height needed of the baffles in the sump?

Niko
 
fsn77

fsn77

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Feb 22, 2006
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The height of the baffles depends on the depth of the water you want in each chamber. If you'll be putting a deep sand bed in the refugium chamber, you'll want to be sure to account for the sand bed depth (4 - 5") along with an appropriate water depth for good macro growth. Also, when planning on the normal operating water level in the sump, remember that a certain amount of water "back fills" the sump during a power outage or when the return pump is turned off (the plumbing empties back into the sump).

In our sump, which has just 2 chambers (inlet/skimmer area and return -- refugium is a separate tank), I have it set up so that there's never < 10" of water in the inlet area so the skimmer never has an opportunity to run dry. I spaced the baffles 2" apart (and the "under" baffle is 2" off the bottom) to allow for some LR rubble to be placed between them (to stop any stray microbubbles from the skimmer that happen to make it through / provide some extra bio-filtration) and to give me a quick and easy place to toss a media bag of carbon or what-not when I need to use it.
 
rbell219

rbell219

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Nov 12, 2005
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I have no experience with Refugiums, but why not make the fuge area as large as possible?
As long as it wouldn't cause any problems, I'd make the return and the intake area just big enough to hold my plumbing, protein skimmer, and pumps. This allows for more sand bed, more macro algae, more critters. Like I said---unless there is a guide line to the size of a refugium.
 
Reefscape

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
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Nov 8, 2006
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Staffordshire, UK
seethroughmylens.co.uk
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Blinky
The main reason i dont want a small return area is because the return is going to be the place with the most evapouration, so it needs to be big enough keeping that in mind..I am thinking 12" for the return, 14" for fuge and 8 for the inlet...Just waiting on cheech's measurements now really..

Thanks for everyone's input so far, it has made a big difference to this project for me

Niko
 
C

Cheech

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Jan 13, 2000
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atnixon, you're absolutely right on the evaporation....



That's the only thing that bugs me about my setup.

unless you eventually hook up a valve that will add water to your return chamber and always keep the water level art check, it does become a hassle.

Here's how my sump is setup (except mine is 16" high, this sketch is adjusted to 15")... I'm happy with it. Plexi is 3/16" thick . ..


Let me know if you need a little more info.

Good luck! :)

sump.jpg
 
Reefscape

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
Staff member
Nov 8, 2006
18,481
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89
Staffordshire, UK
seethroughmylens.co.uk
Real Name
Blinky
Cheech, your a star, thanks ever so much for coming back to me matey..You've been a great help..

Will hopefully start to post pictures of the project as soon as i get it underway on my christmas break...

Niko
 
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