Help me design my sump

[esb]

I am new to reefing and having a custom 48" x 24" x 24" acrylic aquarium and custom (enclosed) wood stand built. I am also looking to have the same fabricator make a sump as well. My thoughts for the sump are to have 4 main areas: Rollermat filter / skimmer / refugium / return+pump. For the equipment, I'm considering the following:

Filter

• RedSea ReefMat 500

Skimmer

• Reef Octopus Regal 150INT (6")

Refugium

• Still researching lights, but that shouldn't affect the sump design

Return

• 2 x Neptune COR-15 (or possibly 2 Reef Octopus VarioS)

How large should the whole sump be and how much width for each section? The specific ReefMat looks to need ~13". The skimmer is 11.4” x 7.5”, but it's not clear how wide that section really needs to be. I want to make sure I have enough room to work, but space is at a premium so I don't want it larger than necessary. I also need space for a couple of heaters and inflow/outflow pipes (2 overflow / in to filter, 1 for overflow/backup to skimmer, 2 outflow from sump). I'm going to have the freshwater / ATO tank in another room (lines run down into the crawlspace and over into the laundry room/utility sink cabinet), so I don't need space for that. I also want to preserve as much cabinet space as possible for the various Apex modules and things I don't know about or haven't accounted for yet (reactors, dosing containers, etc...). I am planning for a UV filter on one of the return lines and that pump will be run slower for optimal UV performance. I'm hoping to mount it to the ceiling of the sump area.

What else do I need to spec out? Height? Adjustable water level? Slot for bio filter / stone? Integrated mounting/bulkhead for pipes? Integrated sensor/dosing mounting?

Is a custom sump really the way to go here? I assume yes since I can get it sized for the exact cabinet / space. And it likely will actually be cheaper than the stock / pre-made options.

Are there other equipment options I should consider? I know everybody has their favorites. My priorities are: quality/reliability, ease of maintenance, compatibility with Apex.

Thanks for reading this far.

 

[FSP]

Refugium - I would lean towards no refugium (in the sump) for a couple reasons. Your sump won't be very large to begin with given the 48"x24" footprint, less if you throw in a ~15 gal fuge. I think this point is very important, regardless of an ATO. Lighting an undercabinet fuge (assuming it's for macro) makes for more maintenance, especially if you don't contain the light. I also don't like seeing light bleed from the stand, but that's three reasons and I said a couple If it's a must, I would look at designs like Melev's where the fuge operates independently instead of inline.

Height - I like a 9" baffle to separate incoming water and the return section. It works for basically every skimmer, and I dislike adjustable baffles. You can go higher for more volume in the sump and use a skimmer stand, but make sure you can get actually get the skimmer out from under the stand with everything set up. Also make sure you give yourself enough room for back flow when the return pump is turned off.

Biomedia can go wherever, it doesn't need special provisions, but some put a short (4"-5" or so) baffle before the return pump to prevent rubble from chewing the rotor. Maybe a good idea if you put rock there, I don't.

I've never seen bulkheads to "secure" (still need clamps imo) plumbing as being necessary. At best it looks good, at worst it restricts or limits the size plumbing you want to use. If you're using your CORs externally, then yes of course.

I would vote "no" on custom being the best option, but I'm cynical when it comes to sumps I think too often folks try to jam way too much into them, and they end up doing too little of too much. I also think the price tag of most custom acrylic sumps weighs very heavy into cosmetics, which is fine and very important to some but not me. It's in a cabinet, and unless you're posting to social media or obsessive about cleanliness, it's going to look like a wastewater treatment center in no time at all. Especially if you light it. Fitting the exact space isn't so important imo, bigger is better to a point, but for a 120 gal on a reasonable stand, a 40 breeder with a 9" baffle will do everything you need a sump to do. It's an easy project many folks here or at a lfs could walk you through.

 

[dwest]

I’m gonna go against the grain here.

I’ve had baffled sumps before. But I like the simplicity of an open sump. My sump is a 40 gallon tank that I make sure to run the water level low enough to fit all the drain water (from my 189 gallon display) in case of a power failure. My sump contains my return pumps, skimmer, kalk stirrer, heaters, and lines to and from ATO, AWC, and 2 part. I put in a passive GAC carbon bag and a couple bags of siporax most of the time. I have a 10 ish gallon trash can that I can put in there if I want to sent up a refugium, algae scrubber, or remote deep sand bed as desired. But mostly I don’t use the trash can.

The open design allows me flexibility that I didn’t have with baffles, etc.

 

[esb]

I do kind of like the idea of using a 40 gal breeder tank for the sump. It gives me more flexibility as my needs evolve and it does seem like the size works for the tank. Very good point about the light bleed from the refugium light. I had already considered doing something like a weatherstrip / gasket around the doors. I could also paint the outside of the fuge area and have a drape over the light/tank. A separate fuge/tank using something like a 10 gal trash can is also an interesting idea, though it would require a separate pump for circulation (something I could end up with anyway if I add any reactors). I still like the idea of having it in the sump getting a majority of the water flowing through it.

The question is whether I can fit any kind of refugium in the 40 gal breeder tank along with the roller mat and skimmer. I'm thinking I could combine those two in a single region perhaps even with the roller mat accessible from the end of the stand since I'll have doors on both ends of the stand. If I could make the equipment fit into a 12-16" wide space, I'd then have ~12-14" for the refugium and then 6-8" for the return.

 

[RocketEngineer]

It doesn’t have a roller mat but this 40B has a big refugium because the return is in the center. Therefore the refugium could be almost the the full tank height.

 

[esb]

It doesn’t have a roller mat but this 40B has a big refugium because the return is in the center. Therefore the refugium could be almost the the full tank height.

Very nice! It looks like you are diverting some of the return water into the refugium, is that right? Do you just have a valve to control that flow? Any concerns about not having all of the water cycled through the refugium?

 

[RocketEngineer]

That’s correct, the return outlet was at the far corner of the refugium with a valve to control flows. Folks forget: our tanks aren’t single pass systems. Except for filter socks, most of our filters get multiple tries to remove something as water constantly circulates. The idea is to ensure enough mixing occurs to keep the levels consistent between what’s in the tank and what the filters see in the sump. Since the return pump received water from both the refugium and the display, the levels in both were the same.

 

[dwest]

That’s correct, the return outlet was at the far corner of the refugium with a valve to control flows. Folks forget: our tanks aren’t single pass systems. Except for filter socks, most of our filters get multiple tries to remove something as water constantly circulates. The idea is to ensure enough mixing occurs to keep the levels consistent between what’s in the tank and what the filters see in the sump. Since the return pump received water from both the refugium and the display, the levels in both were the same.

Nice kalk stirrer stand

 

[RocketEngineer]

Nice kalk stirrer stand

Reef safe, though.

 

[jeffpd]

It doesn’t have a roller mat but this 40B has a big refugium because the return is in the center. Therefore the refugium could be almost the the full tank height.

Rocket, looks great! Can you share the name of the power strips? Building my own cabinet, those would work great. Thnx!

 

[jeffpd]

It doesn’t have a roller mat but this 40B has a big refugium because the return is in the center. Therefore the refugium could be almost the the full tank height.

Rocket, looks great! Can you share the btand/model of the power strips? Building own cabinet and those look great! Thnx!

 

[esb]

Rocket, looks great! Can you share the btand/model of the power strips? Building own cabinet and those look great! Thnx!

Looks like this one:

 

[RocketEngineer]

Rocket, looks great! Can you share the btand/model of the power strips? Building own cabinet and those look great! Thnx!

Looks like this one:

Those are them. They worked well. Little hard to plug things in but great for stuff that was always there.