hows this sump design

HeavyHittah

LivingReefs is like home
what you guys think? and what glass thickness should i use(or acrylic)?
sump-idea.jpg
 
You need to swap the bubble trap section to after the skimmer section. Your also going to need a valve on your drain from the DT that that will allow you to control the flow over to the fuge.

I used acrylic baffles to build my sump but if I had to do it again I'd use glass baffles. I can't answer the thickness question so I'll leave that for somebody else.
 
ok i understand what you said about the bubble trap, but i do have a purple ball valve controlling flow to the fuge
 
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pratt you know what thickness to go with glass or acrylic?

try to do glass if you can, and then 1/4" glass should be fine, as long as this sump isn't huge....

you can use acrylic... but from what I understand the silicone won't bond to it... which means when you silicone it in it's more wedged in... that make sense? but i've seen it done many times. someone will have to back me up on that i guess...

the easiest and best way to get pro silicone jobs is to go to a craft place and buy a couple wooden dow rods (round). that'll allow you to get silicone down between the baffles where you can't reach, and all you get awesome edges.
 
ok i understand what you said about the bubble trap, but i do have a purple ball valve controlling flow to the fuge

The purpose of a bubble trap is to give the bubble created by the skimmer and drain a chance to rise to the surface and not be pumped back into your DT.

I think I've heard others say that you can get 1/4" glass from HD/Lowes and if you have your measurements they will cut the sheets for you too. I used acrylic sheets in my sump but I used a combination of weatherstripping to pressure lock them in place and and silicone. I started out using just the weather stripping but I cut some of my acrylic sheets a little off so I ended up siliconing them in. I ended up having an issue with one of the sheets bowing out after a few months. Which is why I say if I had to do it again I'd probably use glass sheets for baffles. .
 
use 1/4in glass if the sump is glass. i use silicone and acrylic and it help for awhile but they broke and i had a mess trying to fix it with all the sand and rock in my sump.
 
oh i didn't realize this in the first post... but the feed line for the fuge section should come from off your return line. Otherwise your fuge is going to just get built up with junk over time. then your fuge slowly overflows back into the return section.

does that make sense?
 
oh i didn't realize this in the first post... but the feed line for the fuge section should come from off your return line. Otherwise your fuge is going to just get built up with junk over time. then your fuge slowly overflows back into the return section.

does that make sense?

I noticed that too but I did not say anything because I know there are some that believe you should feed the fuge directly from DT drain.

I personally did not believe that my skimmer would skim the water of all nutrients before they could reach the fuge section. I agree with you ndepratt and I built my sump with with the feed for the fuge coming off of the return pump and I have no problem growing plant life in my fuge.
 
well... it just makes sense. If you feed from your DT, then you get all the detritus that would have otherwise been mechanically filtered out. plus, your fuge should help to remove nitrates and phosphates that your skimmer DIDN'T get....

here's a quick sketch I did of your sump design. If you want a scale sketch let me know the dimension of the sump you'll use... and I can make one.

sump.jpg
 
so mainly switch the baffle postions, use 1/4in glass for the baffles, and feed my fuge fromthe return line. correct?
 
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