Sump

[Charlie brown]

Ok so I'm trying corals now and have been some what successfully keeping zoas I say that cause they are pretty easy for the most part to keep but want to beef up my filtration system to keep water pristine for other touchy corals I want to build a sump I am currently working on one but after watching a lot of videos I'm a little torn I want a refugium/sump any one build their own that I could take a look at to get a better idea some vids say you need this or that others say you don't need this you need that my main goal is crystal clear water with out robbing tank of lots of nutrients for corals but have water clear and pristine for finicky corals and fish if possible to have that combo I have a 250g fwlr and 2 types of zoas and chalice frags

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I would first figure out what equipment you want and what sort of system you want to use. Triton is all the rage right now and the main components of that system is nutrient export via refugium and a skimmer all together in a sump. It involves other stuff, especially different additives and extensive water testing if you want to do the full Triton system, but that's the basic setup for the sump.

My approach would be to figure out how much space I have under the tank, what size skimmer I need, and then choose or build a sump based on those two factors. Or pick the sump first and then the skimmer. You have a lot of flexibility at this point.

 

[Charlie brown]

Thanks for your input I appreciate it.Well I have plenty of room and was gifted a protein skimmer by sky interprise after my wife completed a survey for some pet store she loves surveys it's rated for 300 gallons I have 2 hob seaclone protein skimmers on right now got them for free the tank was a gift from brother in law that lost interest in the hobby but that's why I'm asking for pics to kinda get a idea of how to build mine without buying unnecessary things or lacking things

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Here's an awesome CAD drawing for a 250 gallon sump I found on google images to give you an idea of what's going on in the sump area:

The left is the skimmer chamber, middle is the return and other stuff chamber (you could put a media reactor in there or some more liverock for added biological filtration), the right is probably the refugium chamber where chaeto or other macro-algae would be kept with a fuge light hanging above it. Hope this helps, hopefully some other folks will come by and show you their's

 

[Charlie brown]

Thanks a lot

 

[BreakingWave]

I've found the Triton style sump to be very effective! It's very simple yet purposeful. The refugium comes first to process solid wastes. No need for filter socks! The water then flows over a baffle to the skimmer, where the skimmer can remove wastes that the algae produced. The water has to pass UNDER a baffle to leave the skimmer compartment. This traps all the scummy surface water with the skimmer for processing. The final baffle sets the water level for the skimmer.

 

[Roy 9121]

Here's an awesome CAD drawing for a 250 gallon sump I found on google images to give you an idea of what's going on in the sump area:

The left is the skimmer chamber, middle is the return and other stuff chamber (you could put a media reactor in there or some more liverock for added biological filtration), the right is probably the refugium chamber where chaeto or other macro-algae would be kept with a fuge light hanging above it. Hope this helps, hopefully some other folks will come by and show you their's

I have a similar sump, only a 30 gallon though. I used the small section on the left for the return pump, the center section for my refugium, and the section at the far right for my protien skimmer. Did I do it wrong?

 

[BreakingWave]

I have a similar sump, only a 30 gallon though. I used the small section on the left for the return pump, the center section for my refugium, and the section at the far right for my protien skimmer. Did I do it wrong?

That's how most sumps are set up, and it works perfectly well. The thinking was that you didn't want to skim out your pods. But like, pods are fiesty.

The hardest part of refugium first is keeping cheato out of the skimmer pump :-/

 

[Roy 9121]

That's how most sumps are set up, and it works perfectly well. The thinking was that you didn't want to skim out your pods. But like, pods are fiesty.

The hardest part of refugium first is keeping cheato out of the skimmer pump :-/

My refugium is in the middle. Skimmer section is first, then refugium, then the return section.

 

[Charlie brown]

Well thanks for all the input I wanna make my own from a broken tank I recycled the good pieces from and build a solid sump/refugium I already built my overflow without drilling my tank I'm wanting to test it but I want to build my tank but really appreciate everyone's input especially being a first timer with sump