Baffles for 20L sump/fuge

[Bluespace]

I'm sure this has been covered a few times but after 12pages in the DIY section I'm done looking..:frustrat:

I have a 20L that will have 3 sections
1st- return, skimmer, heater
2nd- Refugium
3rd- Return

I read one post that had the same size tank as me. Sections the same and his baffles had these measurements.

Bubble Trap
1st- baffle 8 inches
2nd- one inch of room from bottom and reaches the top
3rd 7.5 inches
Refugium in the middle
4th 7.5 inches
Then the return

I was thinking of making my baffles the same as my skimmer requires 8 inches of water.

Sound good? Any tips?

Thank you

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Are you talking about the height of the baffles or the spacing of each section? Here is a pic of my fuge for an example. It's a 10g, but the same concept for any fuge.

 

[Bluespace]

Yes I'm talking about the height of each one. I have the spacing all sorted out with my equipment.

I'm also thinking the last baffle just before my return should be a bit shorter than the baffle before it. That would be the last bubble trap baffle.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Yes, the last baffle that separates the LR/Algae section and the return pump should be a little shorter than the bubble trap baffles. As you can see, mine is not, but that was my first time building one. I'm currently building a 29g fuge and did it right. If you can make the baffles just high enough to hold maximum water volume, but still allow room for enough water to fill up from the DT without overflowing.

 

[Bluespace]

If you can make the baffles just high enough to hold maximum water volume, but still allow room for enough water to fill up from the DT without overflowing.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you talking about the water in the overflow box?

 

[Hiker4twenty]

If you see in my picture, the baffles are about 2" below the top of the tank. That will allow me to have the maximum amount of water volume in the fuge. If the power should go out or your return pump dies out the overflow will continue to dump water into the fuge and over flow if you don't have enough room for the water. Once the DT reaches the level where it can no longer overflow in the fuge you don't want to to cause a flood.

 

[Bluespace]

That makes perfect sense thank you. So I'll assume I need a platform for my skimmer since it only requires 8 inches of water. I'm a little OCD so thank you for the detail..:mrgreen:

 

[Hiker4twenty]

You're welcome! Well, if your baffles are going to keep the water level higher than 8" then you'll need to make some sort of platform to put the skimmer on. Eggcrate works well.

 

[Bluespace]

If my first baffle is 8 inches that will leave me 3 inches to the top. Is that enough or to much?

 

[Hiker4twenty]

I think that will be good.

 

[Bluespace]

Cool thank you much. Off to the hardware store to get some pieces cut.

Just realized this post should of been in the DIY section. My bad.

There really should be a sticky with this info. Refugiums/sumps are becoming more and more popular, even with FOWLR tanks like mine. this won't be the last time this question is asked...:mrgreen:

Really helps the new folks finding info on there quest for knowledge.:helm2:

 

[wontonflip]

Just FYI, here's an old video of the fuge my husband and I made out of a 20g a year ago. It's not being used now since upgrading to a larger tank, but it worked perfectly for me.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LShjPYPvh_c[/ame]

Slightly different layout than yours will be, in that my return is in the middle. Good luck with yours! And don't forget to do a trial run before actually using it!