Unusual Sump Help

[wam13]

Hello everyone! I'm working on setting up my first tank. I did a ton of research before getting into this and feel fairly comfortable.

However, I didn't do enough research before buying a reef tank off of craigslist.

As a result, I'm saddled with what is a bit of a strange sump setup that they had before. I think there setup "will work", but I'd like to find a way to make it work a bit "better" if possible.

Unfortunately I don't have great before pictures, so I'll have to try to explain this as best I can.

BEFORE

The Display Tank is a 75 gallon, 4' wide tank on a stand. The tank has a corner overflow design, so the tank is drilled on the bottom in the back left corner for both the in and out flow.

Underneath is the sump. Here is how the sump was setup:

Phase 1:

- PVC comes down with a ball valve to regulate the flow.
- After the ball valve there is a T-Split.



- T-Split down goes to a 20 gallon aquarium. This 20 gallon aquarium is used as a refugium. It has about 1 1/2" of live sand.
- The tank has a whole cut towards the top of the tank. There is a bulkhead with a piece of PVC pipe connected.

Phase 2:

- Next to the 20 gallon aquarium is a wet/dry filter that looks essentially like this (this is a pic from the web):

- This whole thing is about 20 gallon capacity.
- The Bio balls section is to the far right.
- The other half of the T coming out of the flow out of the tank goes to the flexible tubing on top of the bio balls.




Phase 3:

- The Wet/Dry filter has a baffle for water to flow out of the bio ball section to the non-bio ball section with a sponge in the middle.
- The PVC coming out of the Refugium goes over and flows into the non-bio ball side of the wet/dry filter.


- In this section was, well, a lot of stuff:
+ Protein Skimmer (I cannot find any brand or model info, but it looks like a similar style to your standard Octopus, but I don't think it's Octopus brand). This of course has a pump with it
+ Pump to go back to the tank
+ UV Sterilizer connected to the Pump
+ Water goes from Sterilizer to PVC inlet back to the tank via flexible vinyl tubing



WHAT I WANT TO DO:

Big Picture:

- I want to ditch the bio balls. I know there is some disagreement here, but based on my research that seems like the right choice.
- I want to cut back on unnecessary PVC Piping.
- I want to make sure things are in a "smart" order.
- I definitely want a refugium with Live Sand and Macro-Algae

Specific Concerns:

- What Phase should each thing be in?
- How flow rate can/should things be at?
- How do I keep the above in order and get things from the aquarium to the wet/dry filter tank?
- In the back of my mind is doing what I can to reduce salt creep.
- How do I provide light for macro-algae depending on where it is?


POSSIBLE SOLUTION:

Phase 1:
- The Wet/Dry Filter (with bio-balls removed) goes on the left instead of the right.
- T-Split goes down to one side of Wet/Dry Filter and over to the 20 gal tank.
- This part of the Wet/Dry Filter has the Protein Skimmer

Phase 2:
- Water flows to the other half of the Wet/Dry Filter through the opening in the divider at the bottom
- This section has the pump. Pump goes to UV then back up to the tank

Phase 3:
- T goes over to the 20 gal tank as a refugium.
- The Overflow from the Refugium goes out the bulkhead via a PVC that overflows over into the area with the Protein Skimmer

Unknowns:

- Will the flow be right?



FINAL THOUGHTS:
- I'm totally open to input on how to make this work. I'm not married to my suggested idea, it's just the one I came up with.
- I'm not completely against scrapping the 20 gallon and the wet/dry filter, getting a 30-40 gallon aquarium (yay one dollar/gallon Petco sale) and have my LFS build out a Sump. However, obviously, I'd rather avoid this cost.

 

[tyler1503]

Sounds logical to me. Although I've never run a sump before and I don't have the knowledge to say go with it or change this or that.
I would advise to add a filter sock on the drain/s though

 

[seamus2050]

I repurposed my bio-ball filter unit. I would take a direct pipe from overflow to sump with inline ball valve. Take bio-ball filter unit and empty it, make into another tank. put submersible return pump in sump. Run the return line back to tank and t-off to old bio filter tank.

 

[Mike J.]

A refugium with 1 1/2" of sand is a nitrate factory waiting to happen; make it at least 4".
The UV probably doesn't work since it's used, bulbs only last 4-6 months, ditch it.
You'll want a slow flow through refugium so the ball valves T'd off is good.
You'll want the proper level of water in your skimmer section according to your skimmer.
You'll want enough room in your sump to hold all the run off water from your DT when the power is off.
You'll want your return pump in a section that will run dry if your overflow is clogged and your return pump is still pumping.
Also, ditch that foam filter.

 

[TrialandError]

The skimmer might be a coralife skimmer

 

[wam13]

I repurposed my bio-ball filter unit. I would take a direct pipe from overflow to sump with inline ball valve. Take bio-ball filter unit and empty it, make into another tank. put submersible return pump in sump. Run the return line back to tank and t-off to old bio filter tank.

I think this is basically what I'm saying? Except are you saying to have the pump pull water from the sump into the old bio-ball filter?

 

[Reefing Madness]

The skimmer might be a coralife skimmer

Yes, its a CoraLife Super SKimmer.

 

[wam13]

A refugium with 1 1/2" of sand is a nitrate factory waiting to happen; make it at least 4".
The UV probably doesn't work since it's used, bulbs only last 4-6 months, ditch it.
You'll want a slow flow through refugium so the ball valves T'd off is good.
You'll want the proper level of water in your skimmer section according to your skimmer.
You'll want enough room in your sump to hold all the run off water from your DT when the power is off.
You'll want your return pump in a section that will run dry if your overflow is clogged and your return pump is still pumping.
Also, ditch that foam filter.

I didn't know that about UV? Will it be obvious if it's not working? i.e. no light turns on if I plug it in?

I already planned to remove the sponge.

With the tank being a corner tank, fortunately, there's less runoff in a power outage - but I'm definitely keeping that in mind.

 

[wam13]

The skimmer might be a coralife skimmer

Yes, its a CoraLife Super SKimmer.

Oh - sweet. Perfect! I'll have to look up the manual to see what depth I should do.

 

[tyler1503]

I didn't know that about UV? Will it be obvious if it's not working? i.e. no light turns on if I plug it in?

I already planned to remove the sponge.

With the tank being a corner tank, fortunately, there's less runoff in a power outage - but I'm definitely keeping that in mind.

Your UV will still produce light when you plug it in, it just won't produce the right spectrum. Like how you have to change t5s every year or so. You can replace the UV tube if you want to run it, they're relatively cheap.
Just remember to NEVER turn it on unless it's fully sealed up according to the manufacturers instructions. A UV steriliser produces UVC radiation which can damage your skin and potentially blind you. It's the type of radiation that gives humans melanoma.