Does my sump really need baffles?

[PhreeByrd]

In the sump in the photo Hemmdog posted, the water level is intended to be kept within the height of the slots in the baffle before the return section. Those slots set the water height for the whole sump. An ATO system will actually monitor the water height for the whole sump except for the intake section.

I should clarify this.
If, when filling the sump, you stop filling before the water level rises above the bottom of the slots in the last baffle (or the top of that baffle, in case there are no slots), then an ATO system installed in the return section will indeed be monitoring only the level of the water in the last section. The rest of the sump will remain at a level even with the bottom of those slots (or the top of the last baffle, as applicable). I hope that didn't confuse the issue.

 

[Bravo1xray]

I use zero baffles in my 40b “sump”. No issues, all the crap settles out just fine. ATO is unaffected.

Do you have any photos of this setup?

 

[DaneGer21]

Do you have any photos of this setup?

I’ll take some this evening!

 

[DavidinGA]

90g tank and 29g sump.
No baffles.
Stopped using baffles back in the early 2000s, made everything more difficult imo.

 

[rseleri]

The purpose of sump walls and baffles is to direct water through filtration stages, then to return cleaner water to your tank. If there is nothing to provide the water with a direction much of the water in the sump won’t get filtered. Baffles will allow you to create different levels in the sump. The different levels can be set for a particular skimmer water height, or section for rock.

If you don’t create flow or direction in your sump section you’ll waste allot of energy and achieve very little filtration.