Sump Building

[Xanthus]

I am a newbie here, and have posted a few times, but mostly ghost thru reading a bunch. I have back tracked and am going to wait a bit before going forward with starting my reef tank. I seem to be stuck on building and setup. There seems to be a million different ways to run, setup and filter a system. The sump seems to be the key upon which everything works from. Yes I know you can do this without a sump, but its use seems to make the whole process more efficient. I found a website of a gentleman that seems (to my newbie understanding) to have a wonderful grasp of the mechanics. I have spent days and days looking thru all his various designs and ideas. Here is the design I like, but you can look thru his other designs too and see what you think. I am still thinking of a 75 gal tank.

Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

 

[coolhandgoose]

His website is awesome! I use the exact same setup in my system. I wouldn't really sweat it too much though, some people just use rubbermaid containers. Decide what route you want to take, ie skimmer vs. scrubber and what equipment you think you might need and design accordingly. Sometimes in this hobby you have to experiment (actually almost all the time for me) and see what works and what doesn't and learn from other people what works and what doesn't.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 cool...i love melevsreef. In fact, my very first sump is based off that design as well -- 3 chamber, intake on the left with a triple baffle, fuge on the right, and return in the middle. It worked perfectly for the year that I ran it (I've since upgraded to a larger tank and sump using the rubbermaid tubs that cool mentioned lol).

I used a 20g long tank w/ acrylic baffles sealed w/ silicone. I say go for it!

 

[Rcpilot]

There's a hundred different ways to set up a sump. It all works, if you follow some basic design principals.

Water flow through the sump should be around 3x - 5x the display tank volume every hour. So, if you have a 75g tank, you'll want between 225gph -- 375gph. Now that you know how much water you have to move - you need to think about the actual size of the sump. For arguments sake, let's say you decided to go with 300gph flow through your sump. Will a 10g sump be a good choice for that much water flow? Probably not. 300gph moving through a 10g tank is going to look like the Colorado river at the peak of spring thaw. http://rock-salt.us/resources/arapids.jpg It ends up being about 30x turnover through the sump. You'll have water moving through there so fast, the bubbles will flow right on through your baffles and into your return pump. You'll end up with a display tank full of microbubbles.

I'd be looking at a sump around 30G - 50g for a 75g tank. With a 40g sump, you'll have plenty of room for equipment. Plus, you'll have a nice big main return section - where your return pump will sit. The larger this section - the less you will have to worry about water evaporation. Don't forget - once you put a sump on a reef - all the water levels in all the compartments and tanks always stay the same ............. EXCEPT in the return section of the sump. This is the place where all the water evaporation is going to be noticed. This is the area where you'd want to install your auto top off floats and switches. Obviously, the larger this volume of water - the less noticeable it will be.

Water evaporation is water evaporation. The size of the return section doesn't have an effect on your overall salinity. Water is going to evaporate out of the tank the same - weather you have a 3g return section - or a 20g return section. It's just that in the 3g return section - you'll have to top off the tank every single day - or install an auto top-off - or maybe even top it off twice a day. As the water evaporates, it gets lower in the return section. At some point - it gets low enough that your return pump begins to swirl the water around the intake and then it sucks in air. FAIL

Bigger sump = more room to work - more room for equipment - more room for return section.

 

[yote]

+1 Everybody on this one.:D