Sump design

[dedfish]

What do you think of this 29gal sump design?

The skimmer and drain from tank will go on the left, the fuge in the back right and return in the front right. Baffles spaced an inch and a half apart.

Thoughts? Concerns? Questions? Random thoughts having nothing to do with what you think but at least let me know you looked?

 

[nunofs]

Looks great to me, very neat! Just one question: why did you put the overflow teeth from the fuge over the baffles, and not directly over the return area? Do you think the "waterfall" would create bubbles?

Nuno

 

[dedfish]

Mainly because I thread I read on RC where melev recomended placing them there on a sump that was setup somewhat the same. I'm sure the waterfall will create some bubbles, prbably not a ton though. Plus I plan on feeding the fuge with water from the return back to the tank. If the teeth are on that end I can run the plumbing so that it is more out of the way, on the right side of the stand versus in the middle, and the water feeding the fuge would direct the flow toward the teeth end. I'm trying to find a way to fit my dual upside down durso's and my skimmer in and have enough room left over for a decent sized fuge. I think this way I will maximize the space. I figure I'll have about six and a half gallons of overflow space. I still need to test to see if that is enough.

 

[NateHanson]

How much water will go through the baffles/hour? Since they aren't very wide, you might need more than 1.5 inches between them to get the flow slowed down enough to let the bubbles out. Volume between baffles is what allows the slow flow so bubbles can rise out of the column, so decreasing width is the same as decreasing space between them.

Very neat design work though. Is that a CAD program?

 

[dedfish]

The pump handles about 900gph. I will be splitting the return to feed the fuge, but I guess that doesn't make much difference considering all the water has to go through the baffles.

The program is a 3D Modelling program called Rhinoceros. It's what's called a nurbs modelling program. I use it a lot when trying to design things, but the evaluation version only allows for 25 saves so I don't save very often. What I like about it is that it can be extremely accurate so I can design everything to the exact size and scale.

 

[NateHanson]

I'd say with that amount of flow you should expand the baffles if possible.

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

Is the 4th baffle necessary?

Other than that, looks good to me. I had to think for a minute as to why the overflow teeth would be better at the top over the baffles, but I guess this prevents the fuge as being part of the return compartment and in turn, would fluctuate water levels with regards to evaporation. It would be neat though if your teeth were closer to the bottom on the skimmer side. This way you don't have any waterfalling water and water movement within the fuge is more top-->bottom flow.

 

[dedfish]

I'm not sure if the 4th baffle is necessary, but it will help to keep out bubbles. The downside is if I space the baffles 2 inches apart and use a 4th baffle then my return chamber only hold about 3 gallons....I'd really like it to hold at least 5 but I don't think I can make that happen. The fuge overflowing over the bubble trap and not into the skimmer section in one way or the other is to prevent the fuge water from being re-skimmed and any pods from having to go through two pumps. I'm still undecided whether or not I will have a 4th baffle.

 

[nunofs]

I would recommend leaving the 4th baffle in the design, it really helps a lot by getting rid of the few bubbles that make it past the earlier baffles... and if you end the baffle set with an "over" baffle, you're creating a new waterfall onto the return compartment that will create its own bubbles.

You may not need to have all the baffles 2 inches apart... FWIW, I have my baffles (same exact configuration as yours, 4 baffles) spaced less than 1 inch apart (the spacing was 1 inch, but I forgot to take the thickness of the glass into account ) and I think my sump has a flow of around 600gph (it's a Mag 9.5, but it's dialed back a bit). Having at least one pair of baffles with a 2 inch space would be ideal to put a bag of carbon in there, though

Nuno

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

Yep, makes good sense.

Personally, I'd space the baffles further apart and ditch the 4th one. With only ~8-900gph going through it, I wouldn't worry too much about the bubbles. You should be fine!

 

[dedfish]

I've also read that if you angle the last baffle the waterfall effect is lessened.

 

[nunofs]

Possibly, but that would take even more space (horizontally)... if the last baffle is an "under" baffle there's no waterfall at all.

Nuno

 

[dedfish]

I know. It's just Nate has got be all concerned with my baffle spacing and I'm trying to figure out how to space the baffles and have 4. It's all Nate's fault! I wish there was a baffle space calculator.

 

[SteveDola]

Ive been looking at sump designs too and Melev's webpage has alot of good designs and ideas for skimmer/fuge/return areas. Im going to convert my 40 gal to his sump design F. He seems to know how to construct a sump/fuge and this design looks fairly simple.

Melev Page
http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/g/sump_model_g.html

ps-he only puts 3 baffels 1" apart in almost every single sump hes created.

 

[NateHanson]

Is the 4th baffle necessary?

Yes. You should always end with an under baffle ending with an over baffle is useless. You might as well have 2 baffles if you get rid of the 4th.

 

[dedfish]

I understand what your saying, but why do 95% of the sumps pictures I've looked up on RC and all the sumps at melevsreef.com only use 3 baffles? Is this 4th baffle a new thing? I hadn't heard of a 4th baffle until recently in a thread here.

 

[NateHanson]

3 is fine. Just get rid of the first over baffle, not the last under baffle.

The only reason you'd need a first over baffle is if you're trying to keep a sand bed in place. First and last baffles should ideally be under baffles. over baffles don't do anything in those terminal positions.