Will this setup work?

[daugherty]

you can get it off of ebay

 

[project5k]

on the sump drawing, i see a couple things that you might want to reconsider,

1 i see that you have 2 inlets, thats fine, but just be aware that the one going in over your cheto and the dsb, may churn up the dsb, and thats not what you want.

the other thing is that you dont have any baffels to stop the bubbles from getting into the return pumps from the dsb side.. something else that you might want to re-think.

 

[Grassman]

on the sump drawing, i see a couple things that you might want to reconsider,

1 i see that you have 2 inlets, thats fine, but just be aware that the one going in over your cheto and the dsb, may churn up the dsb, and thats not what you want.

the other thing is that you dont have any baffels to stop the bubbles from getting into the return pumps from the dsb side.. something else that you might want to re-think.

Thanks Project, I never thought of that. Are the baffles I have on the skimmer side good or should they be changed? Will they also work on the dsb side? Should I add another one? I see a lot of sumps have 3 baffles. I was thinking on putting some bioballs above the cheato but not really sure yet. I checked out the home made setup my lfs has and he doesn't have sand or cheato in it. I trust everyone's judgment here over his though. lol. He wants me to put these hung 4" pool returns for my in & outlets. Too bad I live in a small town and the closest big one is a half hour away. (Big Al's = Aquarium Services in Canada) Are they any good?

Thanks again about the cheato everyone.

 

[yote]

Yeah,just do the baffle on the return side like you did on the skimmer section and you should be good to go.

And Big Als is supposed to good.Might as well give em a try.

 

[project5k]

the one thing that i will caution you on is how wide the baffels are... i just recently built my first sump, and there are a couple things that i would definatelychange..

i'm flowing roughly 600-650 gal per hour through mine, and my baffels are 2 inches apart, its not far enough to let all the bubles work thier way out. the smaller bubbles get cought in the flow and make it all the way through, defeating the baffels...

so, you might want to think about what flow, and i mean true flow, not theoretical maximums, and then adjust the spacing on the baffels to match, cause if i had mine to do over, i'da gone 3 inches wide, for a couple reasons, one i have thick forearms, and at 2 inches, i cant reach down between the baffels if something falls in there, and 2 the flow and bubble issues...

i know it takes up more length in the sump, but it'll work better and you'll be happier, and not have to be re-working what you've already done.

oh, and i noticed that you are planning a 2 baf system rather than a 3 baf system, just my personal preference, but i think that the 3 baf is a better way to eleminate the bubbles...

the math looks a little like this(im rusty so cut me some slack)

i have 600g/h flowing through a "pipe" with dimentions of 12x2 or a cross sectional area of 24 square inches, so,
600g/h/24sq-in=25g/h/sq-in.

so, when you figure your math, i would suggest getting your flow per hour per square inch below 25, what it should be i dont know, but i know it needs to be less than 25 for all the microbubbles to be able to get out....

anyone know more about the math and physics of entrained air bubbles in a flowing water system?
its just been so long since i actually sat down and thought about all that stuff that i think i may have forgotten a bunch of it...

 

[Grassman]

I'm attaching a new drawing of the sump/refugium with everyone's comments put in. We'll see if I get a passing grade on this one. ;)

I redid the baffles. They are 14" long and 2.5" apart so that's roungly 35"sq. I changed the pump to a 750gph so it gives me a flow of 21.42.

I forgot to put the DSB info on the drawing so I'll put it here. The dimensions for it are 7" x 12" x 8" high. Sides are 14" high x 1/4" thick.

 

[dcantucson]

I'm far from an expert on sump design, but it looks good to me.

 

[Rcpilot]

You don't need double inlets on the right side -- unless you already have 2 overflow holes in the tank. If it's a single overflow hole, just bring your main pipe down and put in a Tee. Run a smaller line with a valve over to the refugium and run a full size line to the skimmer.

 

[project5k]

that does look much improved to me...

 

[Grassman]

You don't need double inlets on the right side -- unless you already have 2 overflow holes in the tank. If it's a single overflow hole, just bring your main pipe down and put in a Tee. Run a smaller line with a valve over to the refugium and run a full size line to the skimmer.

Actually there are no overflows in the tank yet. I picked up the trim today, to find out it's 1/4" smaller then what I asked for. I asked for 48" x 13" and got 48" x 12 3/4". Now I don't know if I should do a back overflow or a bottom one. Would dual be better then single or should I just have a single and dual returns?

 

[yote]

I'm a fan of double drains myself.But I think either way will work just fine,depending on tank size of course.

 

[Grassman]

I'm a fan of double drains myself.But I think either way will work just fine,depending on tank size of course.

Thanks Yote!!
It's a custom. 48 x 12/34 x 22 about 59 gallons.

 

[project5k]

the great thing about dual drains is that if one were to get clogged somehow, say a snail or something, then the other could keep you from needing a mop...

if you make them each big enough to handle the total flow that is....