Bubble Diffuser for DIY Sump.

[Kasey Grohowski]

In the process of making my own 75 gallon sump. I have 3 pieces of glass to make my bubble diffuser. First piece of glass will be 14" high, water will flow over this baffle, under the next which will I'm planning on keeping 2.5" inches off the bottom, and over the next one at 14". I'm not sure if 2.5" will be too high that it won't force bubbles out. I need it higher than one inch to accommodate for the high flow rate. Anyone know what a good height for the 2 baffle should be? Thank you.

 

[ndrwater]

2 1/2" should be just fine

 

[rockskimmerflow]

In the process of making my own 75 gallon sump. I have 3 pieces of glass to make my bubble diffuser. First piece of glass will be 14" high, water will flow over this baffle, under the next which will I'm planning on keeping 2.5" inches off the bottom, and over the next one at 14". I'm not sure if 2.5" will be too high that it won't force bubbles out. I need it higher than one inch to accommodate for the high flow rate. Anyone know what a good height for the 2 baffle should be? Thank you.

You'll likely be fine at 2.5" in terms of the baffle section still trapping out bubbles, but I'm not sure what you mean by it needs to be higher than 1" to accomodate a high flow rate. I can assure you a 1" high gap for water flow in an 18" wide 75 gallon sump tank will handle 3 or 4 thousand gph with absolutely no trouble. You could probably go .75" and not have any flow restriction issues honestly.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

You'll likely be fine at 2.5" in terms of the baffle section still trapping out bubbles, but I'm not sure what you mean by it needs to be higher than 1" to accomodate a high flow rate. I can assure you a 1" high gap for water flow in an 18" wide 75 gallon sump tank will handle 3 or 4 thousand gph with absolutely no trouble. You could probably go .75" and not have any flow restriction issues honestly.

Really? I didn't want to push the water level up because of the lower baffle. I will most likey do 2" because I plan on having about 3k gph through the sump.

 

[Kasey Grohowski]

You'll likely be fine at 2.5" in terms of the baffle section still trapping out bubbles, but I'm not sure what you mean by it needs to be higher than 1" to accomodate a high flow rate. I can assure you a 1" high gap for water flow in an 18" wide 75 gallon sump tank will handle 3 or 4 thousand gph with absolutely no trouble. You could probably go .75" and not have any flow restriction issues honestly.

Do you know if the protein skimmer section can be 12" high, then bubble diffuser, and refugium (which is right after the bubble diffuser) can be at 14"; and still have a constant level in the skimmer section?

 

[rockskimmerflow]

Do you know if the protein skimmer section can be 12" high, then bubble diffuser, and refugium (which is right after the bubble diffuser) can be at 14"; and still have a constant level in the skimmer section?

Water only flows downhill, your highest baffle dictates the height in all prior sump chambers. Once you start putting in baffles you can't go up in height in a later chamber if you want any of the prior chambers to have a lower level. Make sense?? If you want your skimmer at 12" your refugium is a 12" or lower if you'd like them in that order. If I'm mistaken and your refugium comes upstream of the skimmer in your sump flowpath you'll be fine.