With a little wood work I plan to put a 30 Gal AGA aquarium under my 55 for a sump / refuegium. I plan to use 5 baffles two on the overflow side under/over into the refuegium and 3 on the return side under / over/ under. I just siliconed the first baffle in to the 30. I plan to put my bakpack skimmer in to the first compartment with the tank over flow. the refuege will be 20 " long with a depth of 12" I plan to post pictures of this project as it progresses. Any suggestions as to what substrate to use? how deep? or thoughts on my baffle arrangment would be appreciated. I plan to test the unit with a RIO 2100 pump the RIO claims 350 GPH at 4' head and a container set to tank heigth I plan to use an Aquacrylics over flow box, I like the simple design of the overflow. If over flowbox handles the RIO should I try a bigger pump??? Thank you all for the information on the site and your replys.
In the drawing the left side contains the skimmer and tank overflow the right with the return pump. The fuge will be in the middle 19" long and water level of 12 " will test tomorrow and post pictures.
Your design seems well though out and should be effective.My one suggestion would be to use an over/under/over configuration for your return pumps baffles.
I also use a 30gal tank for my sump,they provide ample room for a dedicated skimmer chamber,refuge,and return area.Another thing i would do,is to have a hole drilled in your return pump section for a float-valve.This valve can be gravity fed from a top-off-water container.With such a small return area,you will be so glad you did otherwise,plan on topping off 2-4 times a day.
For your refuge,you don't have to have a sandbed.If your display has a DSB,then its not necessary IMO for your refuge to have one.An advantage to this,is that detritus/crud will settle on the bottom making it easy to export/siphon out.A good alternative to sand would be LR rubble.
FYI,the RIO2100@4'vertical head useing 3/4" tubing and a 3/4" return nozzle does 311gph.For your 55,I'd go with a pump in the 550 range after head loss/plumbing restriction.Most all your overflows should easily be able to handle 550ish.A QuietOne3000@4' vertical head does 550 useing 1" tubeing
Hey Jones, can i get a pic of the overflow side of your sump ?? After changing to a 1" bulkhead i have way to much flow and it is causing a massive micro bubble problem.
Sure thing Bobby,I don't subscribe to the refuge method though so this sump is a bit different than most.The sump is actually not the best design but i tweaked the baffles configuration to help with the skimmer.The drain from the overflow goes into a bubble trap section.This uses a different baffle configuration.It goes under/over/under.The middle section is the skimmer section where as most sumps use this place fora fuge.The reasoning for the under/over/under from the bubble chamber is because a skimmers pump is well below the surface of the water level.By having the water flowing from under the baffle to the skimmer,this gives the intake of the skimmer pump a greater concentration of the organics in the water(organics migrate to the surface of water and often never make it to the skimmer pump).
This is not the best design though,I would advise having all overflow/tank water being plumbed directly to a skimmer chamber first instead of doing the bubble trap chamber.
30 Gal sump 36X12X17 under 55 gal
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