40G Breeder Sump Design... what do you think?

[aumontmatthew]

Hey,

Just wondering what you guys think of this sump design?



8" compartment will be for overflow and skimmer (probably a bubble magus NAC6?) 10" tall  (approx. 6 gallons)

14" compartment will hold return pump and be the evaporation chamber. 10" tall (approx. 10 gallons)

10.5" compartment will be an in sump refugium... 14" tall (approx. 11 gallons)

Baffles will be 1" apart, 2x 10" tall and 1x 12" tall.

This would leave about 11 gallons of free space for when the return pump is shut down for feeding / cleaning...

Would this be enough for a 75 Gallon with a V style coast to coast overflow and dual 1.5" bulkheads?

Anyone have any comments?

[Malyon18]

The way I built my sump was I made the return section small enough so that if for some reason I had a blockage in the 2 overflow lines, which will probably never happen but you never know, that my tank could hold the extra volume of water and just have the pump burn out instead of flooding my floor. I do however use an ATO which is necessary for the small return chamber in my opinion . Overall the design looks great, your skills on paint are pretty good lol

[gvv]

Maybe I missing something, but baffle in the center, that divides overflow and pump chambers should be raised.
Also, how the water will get into refugium chamber?

[Malyon18]

Two ways to get the water to the fuge, either have a overflow line feeding it or do like I did and T off from your return pump. You might also wanna calculate if your sump has enough volume to hold the water returning from the display if you have a power failure

[aumontmatthew]

gvv... you are more than correct... that middle baffle should be raised an inch to allow water to flow under it... lol, I don't know how I missed that one.

And yes  Malyon I will need to calculate to make sure I have enough overflow space to hold the water that will drain back from overflow and return line...

And the plan is to feed the refugium with a T off the return line along with a ball valve to have it low flow through the fuge.

[aumontmatthew]

Or what about something like this??


I have 4 out of the 5 pieces of glass that I would require from an old 29G tank... just need to make a few cuts and order one piece of glass or buy a used 10G tank for cheap for the final piece that would be required.

[JetJumper]

If you have not already found this site.. check it out
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

[aumontmatthew]

Yeah I know about that website.. has some good stuff but nothing regarding a 40G breeder in particular.

Thanks for the link though.

[Hookup]

From your last photo, I suggest you take the fuge part and put your return pump in there, decrease the size to a minimum, and use the rest of the space for fuge.  The water level can fluctuate in the fuge without issue, so long as it doesnt run dry... But your return will stop before then... 

The pump just needs to be isolated so that it doesnt clog up with fuge junk...  So egg crate is an option for the separation walls.

You can have your heater, carbon and phosphate reactors in the fuge also...

[aumontmatthew]

hookup... that doesn't really make sense... why would I want a smaller return section?  then I cannot go away for a weekend without someone topping off with freshwater.

[Hookup]

hookup... that doesn't really make sense... why would I want a smaller return section?  then I cannot go away for a weekend without someone topping off with freshwater.

You are miss-understanding me.

There will be "two" sections to your sump.  Skimmer side, stable water level, and the rest.

In "the rest" you will box off a corner using egg-crate for your return pump... this keeps cheato out of your pump, etc... but maximizes the fuge area.

[JetJumper]

Take this design but instead of a fuge that is 12" tall, do it about 6" with glass then do egg crate on top to the highest water level possible.  Put the pump in here and the fuge around it.  This way the water level of the fuge can get to 6" if the water is allowed to evap.

[aumontmatthew]

Maybe something more like this?

I have increased the skimmer section to 10" wide to give me more options on skimmers down the road.

I installed the first two baffles of the bubble trap last night... everything looked good and solid this morning.


Will take some pics for people sometime.

[aumontmatthew]

Sump is complete.  I water tested it yesterday and all my siliconed joints held water perfectly.

I used Home Hardware (Aquarium Safe) clear silicone.  Cost me $3.99 + tax.

Also used scrap tanks that people donated me for free, and I used a glass cutter $6.99 + tax at Home Hardware also.

Thanks to everyone that helped me make this sump for really cheap.

Here is a photo of it underneath the stand.



I ended up going with skimmer and overflow in the left compartment... return section in the middle, and a fuge on the right.

Bubble trap baffles were 10" tall each space 1" apart with 1" below the middle baffle.

The fuge baffle is 12" tall.

Hope you like it.