Building my own sump

[CCUSharknFish]

I'm using my 20 gal high (24x12.5x16 inches) for a sump on my new 75 gal tank. I've been reading websites and looking at other setups and came up with this design.



I've been told that my baffels sholdn't be no higher than 4 inches from the top of the tank. The only issue I'm having is that the pump for my skimmer has to be 7 inches under the water. With the baffels being 4 inches from the top, the water level is going to be pushing it. Any ideas? Could I hang the skimmer off one of the baffels instead of the back of the tank?

Also what would be a good return pump?

[redfishsc]

Regarding the return pump, that largely depends on how much flow your overflow or bulkhead can handle. Are you using an HOB overflow, or a drilled bulkhead (and what sizes?). The most reliable return pump (for a 75g tank anyhow) would be any of the Eheim Hobby pumps, but they are pretty costly (but very, very tough). Mag-drive pumps, like a Mag 5, are a bit more affordable and fairly tough, but cause a bit more heat than the Eheims tend to (normally only an issue if you use a lot of halide lighting and already have heat issues).



As for your skimmer's pump, I've seen some skimmers that say to put the pump "X" number of inches below the surface, yet they run better with it near the top. The Coralife Super Skimmers, for example, say something similar, yet they always run better if close to the top.




The reason they say to keep the water level at least 4" under the top is so that when your return pump shuts off, your tank will usually back-siphon some water until everything is "balanced", and your sump needs to be able to handle the extra water that comes back down. This water comes from your return pump line, and the water will stop siphoning from your main tank when the water level in the main tank reaches the opening of your return line (ie keep the return line up high, or drill a 1/4" hole in it near the top so it breaks the siphon during a power-out).


Hope that makes sense.


Also, I'd recommend trying to use a bigger refugium than you have planned in the drawing. Mine is set up nearly identical to what you have, except the fuge is a tank all by itself. On a 75g I'd recommend a 10g minimum, although that is not at all an absolute. I just think huge refugiums are very useful if there is room.

[7designs]

Originally Posted by redfishsc

Regarding the return pump, that largely depends on how much flow your overflow or bulkhead can handle. Are you using an HOB overflow, or a drilled bulkhead (and what sizes?). The most reliable return pump (for a 75g tank anyhow) would be any of the Eheim Hobby pumps, but they are pretty costly (but very, very tough). Mag-drive pumps, like a Mag 5, are a bit more affordable and fairly tough, but cause a bit more heat than the Eheims tend to (normally only an issue if you use a lot of halide lighting and already have heat issues).



As for your skimmer's pump, I've seen some skimmers that say to put the pump "X" number of inches below the surface, yet they run better with it near the top. The Coralife Super Skimmers, for example, say something similar, yet they always run better if close to the top.




The reason they say to keep the water level at least 4" under the top is so that when your return pump shuts off, your tank will usually back-siphon some water until everything is "balanced", and your sump needs to be able to handle the extra water that comes back down. This water comes from your return pump line, and the water will stop siphoning from your main tank when the water level in the main tank reaches the opening of your return line (ie keep the return line up high, or drill a 1/4" hole in it near the top so it breaks the siphon during a power-out).


Hope that makes sense.


Also, I'd recommend trying to use a bigger refugium than you have planned in the drawing. Mine is set up nearly identical to what you have, except the fuge is a tank all by itself. On a 75g I'd recommend a 10g minimum, although that is not at all an absolute. I just think huge refugiums are very useful if there is room.

Wow redfishsc covered it, +1

I would maybe add if you can move your skimmer out of the refuge(or separate refuge), lower flow is better, skimmer will increase flow in refuge, Make sense?

[redfishsc]

Oh, and I also missed that your water flows basically from the refugium on the far left to the skimmer, and then to the return pump.

Try to reverse that if you can. You don't want water from the fuge going into the skimmer. It will skim out any plankton that the fuge produces (and it will produce them!).

In my case, I have my return pump diverted so half the flow goes into the fuge, half goes into the tank. I used a PVC tee to divert the flow into the fuge tank, and put a ball valve on BOTH the fuge pipe and tank pipe so I can control the flow going into both independently.

The fuge flow empties back onto the return pump.

That way, the stuff produced by the fuge would go directly into the tank (or back into the fuge).

[LKGRenegade22]

Have you broke these potential compartments into actual inches? There s no way you are going to fit all that into a 24" tank. Also do you have an auto top off?

[gatorchem]

Here is an option for a middle return design. You will have to modify the measurements of each section to work for a 24" sump.

Also, an additional option is to have the order be skimmer section-->fuge section --> return pump section

This is mine but the bubble trap is different now.

Nice looking setup!

[CCUSharknFish]

The design i put up is backwards. I plan on having my fuge next to the return. I've got some numbers figured out, and a design drawn on my tank. The only thing that is limiting me is my skimmer size. And no i don't have an auto top off. I like the center return setup and thats what i was trying to get at.

[gonpostal]

I also have a 24" sump, and was limited in skimmer choices for my 90 gallon tank. I wound up going with an Octopus Extreme 160. It has a relatively small footprint. If you haven't decided on a skimmer, you might want to check that one out. I'm very satisfied with mine.

Edit: This is assuming you don't have a skimmer. If you already have an HOB skimmer...nevermind

[LKGRenegade22]

If you do not have a auto top off you are going to want to make your return chamber a little bigger or your evaporation will cause the return pump to run dry and burn up in a day or two.