Best sump design with refugium

[Bdroid]

I would do something along the lines of the below image. Place the refugium on one end, with a tall baffle. That will increase the volume of the fuge. Tee off the return pump with a valve to control the flow into the fuge.

I would also design the set up to not need check valves. When there is a power outage, you want to minimize the amount of water that will drain back into the sump from the DT (overflow box, return piping, etc). Also the sump should have enough free space to hold all the water that drains down during a power outage.

Thanks for the sump idea! Based mine off of your diagram [emoji41][emoji106]

 

[Rjramos]

Sorry just been really busy and I’m still learning so not sure what kind of helpful advice i can provide but this is my current setup...

Basically I’m going to have the refugium in the second chamber and thinking about adding a bio plate between the baffles to the third chamber to prevent any chaeto from going into the return pump area...It was simple and felt like the best for my 40g sump. Still new to this hobby, so may change it up down the line [emoji28]

How is the water coming into chamber 2 where the refugium will be? Is it spillover from incoming water chamber? It works this way, but you won’t be able to add a substrate to the refugium( mud, sand). I run mud in all my refugium.
From looking at your picture, you have very little vertical space beneath, which makes things more difficult. Are both pipes coming into the sump, chamber 1 coming from Display? The bio plate on the other end sounds good. I use course black sponge. Are you running skimmer?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Sorry just been really busy and I’m still learning so not sure what kind of helpful advice i can provide but this is my current setup...

Basically I’m going to have the refugium in the second chamber and thinking about adding a bio plate between the baffles to the third chamber to prevent any chaeto from going into the return pump area...It was simple and felt like the best for my 40g sump. Still new to this hobby, so may change it up down the line [emoji28]

That could work. Just remember, you don't want too much flow through the refugium. Are you planning on using a skimmer at all?

 

[Rjramos]

For an 80 gal Display. You have more sump than you need there in 40 gal sump. I understand working with what you got but a custom made plexiglas sump to your exact dimensions will make a nicer more workable setup.[emoji1303]

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

For an 80 gal Display. You have more sump than you need there in 40 gal sump. I understand working with what you got but a custom made plexiglas sump to your exact dimensions will make a nicer more workable setup.[emoji1303]

You can never have too much sump.....

 

[dugthefish]

You can never have too much sump.....

Truth

 

[Bdroid]

How is the water coming into chamber 2 where the refugium will be? Is it spillover from incoming water chamber? It works this way, but you won’t be able to add a substrate to the refugium( mud, sand). I run mud in all my refugium.
From looking at your picture, you have very little vertical space beneath, which makes things more difficult. Are both pipes coming into the sump, chamber 1 coming from Display? The bio plate on the other end sounds good. I use course black sponge. Are you running skimmer?

Yep it’s a spillover from the first chamber and i have a bean animal setup where the primary and secondary run into the first. Where as the emergency drain goes into the second chamber...I am running a cpr bak-pak skimmer in the same chamber as the return. Based on my understanding this is usually not ideal but have to work with the space i have.

 

[Bdroid]

That could work. Just remember, you don't want too much flow through the refugium. Are you planning on using a skimmer at all?

Yep, the cpr skimmer is located in the same chamber as the return

 

[Rjramos]

Yep it’s a spillover from the first chamber and i have a bean animal setup where the primary and secondary run into the first. Where as the emergency drain goes into the second chamber...I am running a cpr bak-pak skimmer in the same chamber as the return. Based on my understanding this is usually not ideal but have to work with the space i have.

The spillover will work fine as long as you tumble the chaeto around. There, I usually place a top and bottom baffle with a split in between them app 7/8”,at the midwater depth level of the refugium. Basically gonna make better flow through the refugium. In Chamber 1 biospheres can be placed to minimize the air bubbles coming from the pipes.
I go with a sump that I could maintain a good water level pump side and contain the skimmed volume of the display tank in a power outage. Adding fresh water should happen everyday in a reef tank preferably with an ATO. It is not good practice to dump larger volumes of water to overfill a sump so that adding water doesn’t have to be done everyday. Maybe the reason why some say, “a sump can never be too big”because they want residual volume to overfill. The fluctuation in your salinity will stress your fish and corals. The volume of the 40 gal, is good but the height makes it difficult to work in the sump.[emoji1303]

 

[KevPool]

This is what I am trying to replicate but in a cab set-up. The sump is 70 gal, Refugium 22 gal. I think I should probably just redo this all in it's own tank room, but I would really like to set this up in a cab that is 42"-48" tall.