Few questions on sump design

Smiz · Sep 13, 2017

I've done my fair share of scanning for this info so figured it is time to post! I have a 30g display and am setting up a 40g breeder for my sump.

Here are a few questions I still have.

1 - With my sump being in basement and water flowing from the floor above, what are people doing with the return line heading into the fuge? I've seen a picture of a horizontal bar with holes cut out, not sure if this is norm or not. Or do i just have it flow from pvc directly in (if so do i angle it up, down, towards a wall, towards the next chamber)?

2- Do I need teeth into my skimmer section? I have not seen any photos with teeth going into the skimmer section. Is there a worry that the macro will just flow over my baffle into skimmer section?

3- Do i need to use a multi baffle bubble trap method? My current plan was to have 3 baffles between fuge and skimmer (flush to bottom,.25" raised, flush). with having two separating skimmer and return(.25" raised, flush).

any quick answers would be much appreciated as this is for my fathers tank who is cutting baffles today.

THANKS

Idoc · Sep 13, 2017

I can't answer for the first question...I don't have a basement sump.

But,

2. No teeth needed on the baffles. There are alternate ways to keep the macro within your refug section...egg crate, etc...
3. A bubble trap is nice, but you don't need 3 panes of glass for it...kind of overkill in my opinion. I use 2 panes of glass for a bubble trap before the return section and I have no bubbles in my return. Also, you want more than 0.25" space below the baffles! Not sure if that was a typo or I misread what you meant. But, a minimum separation between bubble trap baffles would be 1"...preferably 1.5-2" so you can actually get in between them if you need to! Also, make sure the baffles are cut less than the length of the space you need them in...meaning 17" across the inside width of the sump, cut the baffles at around 16.75" so you have 1/8" gap between the baffle and the glass to allow silicone to fill the space. Also leave this gap for the baffle sitting on the bottom of the tank glass. Also, round the corners of the baffles you are planning on setting flush to the bottom of the tank so the sharp squared off edges of the baffles doesn't damage the bead of silicone along the bottom edges of your sump aquarium...might get a leak otherwise!

Smiz · Sep 13, 2017

Idoc said:
I can't answer for the first question...I don't have a basement sump.

But,

2. No teeth needed on the baffles. There are alternate ways to keep the macro within your refug section...egg crate, etc...
3. A bubble trap is nice, but you don't need 3 panes of glass for it...kind of overkill in my opinion. I use 2 panes of glass for a bubble trap before the return section and I have no bubbles in my return. Also, you want more than 0.25" space below the baffles! Not sure if that was a typo or I misread what you meant. But, a minimum separation between bubble trap baffles would be 1"...preferably 1.5-2" so you can actually get in between them if you need to! Also, make sure the baffles are cut less than the length of the space you need them in...meaning 17" across the inside width of the sump, cut the baffles at around 16.75" so you have 1/8" gap between the baffle and the glass to allow silicone to fill the space. Also leave this gap for the baffle sitting on the bottom of the tank glass. Also, round the corners of the baffles you are planning on setting flush to the bottom of the tank so the sharp squared off edges of the baffles doesn't damage the bead of silicone along the bottom edges of your sump aquarium...might get a leak otherwise!

2- Thanks for input! These baffles are acrylic so sounds like teeth might actually be a easy route to keep algae where it should be. Will look into this!

3- Great to know! I will bump it up to 1". My only reasoning behind three was to basically have each chamber pulling from opposite direction. Water flows into bottom of fuge and pulls from top of first baffle. Then goes under 2nd baffle and over 3rd. Enters skimmer sections and goes under 4th baffle and over 5th baffle then pulled down to return. Basically creating the most amount of travel for the water to go by creating a labyrinth. Maybe im over thinking so please chime in!

Idoc · Sep 13, 2017

Smiz said:
2- Thanks for input! These baffles are acrylic so sounds like teeth might actually be a easy route to keep algae where it should be. Will look into this!

3- Great to know! I will bump it up to 1". My only reasoning behind three was to basically have each chamber pulling from opposite direction. Water flows into bottom of fuge and pulls from top of first baffle. Then goes under 2nd baffle and over 3rd. Enters skimmer sections and goes under 4th baffle and over 5th baffle then pulled down to return. Basically creating the most amount of travel for the water to go by creating a labyrinth. Maybe im over thinking so please chime in!

Do you have a drawing of your sump layout? That would be easier to visualize, lol.

KevinRosso · Sep 13, 2017

Smiz said:
2- Thanks for input! These baffles are acrylic so sounds like teeth might actually be a easy route to keep algae where it should be. Will look into this!

3- Great to know! I will bump it up to 1". My only reasoning behind three was to basically have each chamber pulling from opposite direction. Water flows into bottom of fuge and pulls from top of first baffle. Then goes under 2nd baffle and over 3rd. Enters skimmer sections and goes under 4th baffle and over 5th baffle then pulled down to return. Basically creating the most amount of travel for the water to go by creating a labyrinth. Maybe im over thinking so please chime in!

Seems like you are creating 2 sets of bubble traps. That is probably a little over kill. I would suggest water into fuge then 1st baffle with teeth into protein skimmer then over 2nd baffle under 3rd baffle and over 4th baffle. Leave 2 inches between 2nd and third baffle so you can put in some egg crate and use that for media. That's my 0.2$