Sump baffle height HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duane Fagan]

Ok so I'm new to sumps and am trying to understand the placement of the baffles mainly the height of them. My display tank will be 96x24x24 the sump is 72x18x24 I want maximum water volume in the sump but I see people use maybe less than half of the room they have like the sump will be 24" tall and their baffles are about 10" max why is that? Then I saw a diy video of Making a sump and dude said leave about 2" from the top of the sump. My question is with my set up what's the highest I should place a baffle? It's a freshwater so no need for skimmer. Please help

 

[jaws789832]

10 inches is usually about skimmer height. If you dont have a skimmer the only other thing you should worry about is how much water will flow from the main tank to the sump in a power outage. You should baffle it allowing enough room in the sump to hold all the water that will flow into the sump so your sump doesn't overflow when the return pump gets shut off

 

[Duane Fagan]

10 inches is usually about skimmer height. If you dont have a skimmer the only other thing you should worry about is how much water will flow from the main tank to the sump in a power outage. You should baffle it allowing enough room in the sump to hold all the water that will flow into the sump so your sump doesn't overflow when the return pump gets shut off

OK that part I get but that also throws confusion into my head because..... Correct me if I'm wrong but when I fill for the first time I'm supposed to fill the display tank until it starts to overflow then fill the sump almost to the top then run it till it's leveled out mark where the level is and never fill above that. Shouldn't that be how to never have a flood? Also my return line is above my overflow teeths so back siphon won't be a problem please correct me if I'm wrong

 

[jaws789832]

That is absolutely correct. So when your pump on from that point your sump water level will drop quite a bit, and your baffles set to that height to keep the water flowing in the direction through the sump and your filtration the way you want it to. In my case since I have a skimmer they are set at 10 inches, but in your case you could go higher, but I would build in a little safety space for just in case. I never get up to my maximum fill line, because if I did my skimmer would go berserk, so I have 3 lines on my sump. 1 for max, 1 for normal running and 1 for low (where I set my emergency float valve to shut return off)

 

[Duane Fagan]

That is absolutely correct. So when your pump on from that point your sump water level will drop quite a bit, and your baffles set to that height to keep the water flowing in the direction through the sump and your filtration the way you want it to. In my case since I have a skimmer they are set at 10 inches, but in your case you could go higher, but I would build in a little safety space for just in case. I never get up to my maximum fill line, because if I did my skimmer would go berserk, so I have 3 lines on my sump. 1 for max, 1 for normal running and 1 for low (where I set my emergency float valve to shut return off)

Hurray cool so with my situation I'm good im going to upload my design tell me if I can go higher or do better thanks. Also I'll have a wye check valve installed and I'll be using the loc line with 2 nozzles on one unit one under water and the other end is right at the water line to break siphon anyways you helped me understand this greatly thanks

 

[Kershaw]

i wouldn't set my baffles higher then 3/4 the way up. say 16 to 18 inches. Then you can build a stand lifting skimmer up. So it is in 10 inch of water. I have a large filter complement that is 2 inches from top then flows under that baffle into skimmer compartment from skimmer area on is only 9 inch baffles but my first chamber is 15 1/2 on a 17 inch deep tank

 

[Duane Fagan]

This is a freshwater sump and I just want the maximum water volume I can get the return line will be above the overflow box so the back siphon will be very low here's my design can I do better or I'm good?

 

[Kershaw]

Here is first chamber. I should have had filter sock holder made of glass also. But water flows in back chamber up over into sock then under glass on left.

 

[Kershaw]

Here is the what I copied when I did mine. But I changed it a bit


http://gmacreef.com/reef-tank-sump-diy-glass-baffles/

 

[Duane Fagan]

Thanks im going to check it out

 

[Kershaw]

One last thing. Use acrylic on a acrylic and glass on glass

 

[Duane Fagan]

Yeah I know that much lolololololol did you get the sump design

 

[jaws789832]

I am by far no expert but first off in this drawing you are only allowing about 6 inches of empty space for overflow purposes ( pls whatever space is left in the return chamber when the pump is on. If thats enough room then great but dont cut it so close that it fills to the brim when pump is off. I would drop that first baffle down a few inches (to the heighth of the third). You want the water to flow down between the first and second baffles not find the easy way and just flow over the first and second if that makes sense. Then I would eliminate the fifth baffle. You want the water flowing into the return chamber from the bottom to eliminate any bubbles. Basically between the third and fourth baffle is a bubble trap so the water doest fall into the return chamber creating bubbles that get sucked into the return pump causing cavitation and micro bubbles in the display

 

[Duane Fagan]

I am by far no expert but first off in this drawing you are only allowing about 6 inches of empty space for overflow purposes ( pls whatever space is left in the return chamber when the pump is on. If thats enough room then great but dont cut it so close that it fills to the brim when pump is off. I would drop that first baffle down a few inches (to the heighth of the third). You want the water to flow down between the first and second baffles not find the easy way and just flow over the first and second if that makes sense. Then I would eliminate the fifth baffle. You want the water flowing into the return chamber from the bottom to eliminate any bubbles. Basically between the third and fourth baffle is a bubble trap so the water doest fall into the return chamber creating bubbles that get sucked into the return pump causing cavitation and micro bubbles in the display

I had a guy on a fish group make it for me but now I gotta think about all that you said.