My DIY Sump and Refugium

[JustDavidP]

Okay... since I have no access to a public storage site for my pics, they are all going to have to be uploaded via the manager below. They will be in order...if I do it right!

The little 20 gallon wet/dry wasn't ideal, but kept my tank running for a year. I looked around at MACNA but was NOT going to spend hundreds on a sump. Enter...the Boston Reefers Society (BRS)!

My buddies (TStone and Neo) Marvin and Gustavo offered to help me build a new sump from scratch. All it took was an order to JFreeman in Boston for the acrylic (cut to order), a case of beer, and some misc. tools and viola! I now have a sump that holds 50 gallons +/- and configured to work! All for less than 150 bucks.

Okay...

The first thing you need is a plan and a sketch. If your acrylic cuts are not true, you will have major problems. I didn't even take the chances cutting it myself. Gustavo and I designed and then ordered the exact cuts from J Freeman in Boston (for 125.00). They had my acrylic done in a day and the cuts were crystal clear!! It is still cheaper than any pre-fabbed sump I found and was built for MY needs.

With that said, you need some tools. Do it right! Get the tools. It makes a world of difference. What you see below is the corner braces/clamps, acrylic cement (Weld On). Number 4 is watery and is used with the syringe or capillary applicator. The number 16 is thicker and is used for the "box" or outside corners. It's much like you would see with silicone caulking on a fish tank.

Using the corner clamps, you build three sides of the box. Leave the 4th side open so you can properly glue in the dividers, baffles etc.

The cement applicator needle is dragged slowly along the corners of the acrylic. You can see the weld on 4 seep into the gap between the sheets of acrylic. This stuff doesn't glue as much as it melts and welds the plexi together. Make sure you do both sides of the seam and that you leave no air gaps in between. Again, the glue really fills in nice. If you get gaps, it is because you went too fast. Do it again until all the void space is filled. Let this sit for a few minutes before moving the sump. (Note the all important tool "Gustavo". He and I became friends through BRS and thank God. He's great people!)

Once the panels are glued and you install the baffles and other walls, you will want to go over the major seams with Weld On 16. This will ensure a good corner bond. I also did the main walls of the fuge and other areas for more center support.

Finally, use a blow torch to "flame polish" the edges of the sump. Nothing worse than having to work in there and come out with scratched up forearms!! The heat from the torch melts the burrs and creates a smooth finish. It looks nicer than a smoked panel too!

Here is an image of the final product, minus the modification to my plumbing. I'll post pictures of that when I cut up the 1 inch PVC and start assembling. In the mean time, I used photoshop to draw in the pipe work.

The overflow will split via a t-valve and ball joint. The majority of the water will fall straight into chamber 1 and will be baffled. Some water will flow through the T along the sump and fall into the refugium (5) by way of a spray bar. The walls of the refugium have many 1/2 inch holes drilled at the top. This will be the water level of the refugium.

Water from chamber 1 flows into chamber 2, which will house my Euroreef ES 5-3 skimmer. The output from the skimmer then travels through the baffles (3) where small bubbles are extruded. The water then falls into chamber 4 where a Mag 7 returns it to the display tank above. At the same time, the refugium overflow trickles into the same chamber 4 and with it, planktonic life which then gets sent to the display via the Mag 7.

[JustDavidP]

More images:

[JustDavidP]

Finally..I removed the PC lighting and used a cheap Lights of America floodlight. Last two images show this new lighting and some maturation of the fuge. I originally drilled large holes in the diffuser for the light, but have since taken it off all together.

I hope this helps out some folks who want to try this acrylic job themselves.

Dave

[dakar]

Nice job! Definately agree, would never pay for some prefab deal when it could be built to suit ME cheaper.

Q: Were the baffles designed short? Or just a result of rasing the level for your skimmer? Doesn't look like they'd be as effective as they could be if they were taller with the pictured water level.

[JustDavidP]

Actually...the picture is kind of misleading. You don't see the bottom most 5 or so inches of the sump. The sand, for instance, in the fuge is 7+ inches deep. The baffles look short, but are effective with the current water level. I've lowered the skimmer shelf too. At the time this picture was taken, I had shut off the Mag 7 to see how much overflow I'd take without flooding. The black hash mark, nearest the thermometer is the "high" line when/if I lose power. The level actually runs about 2 inches lower than is pictured.

Note in the back of the same chamber, my float for the auto top off is mounted in a routed channel rather than a simple drilled hole. This allows me to adjust the water volume by moving the float up or down to fit my needs.

[tileman]

First off let me tell you that sump looks great, I have been looking for ideas and that looks exactly what I want. Do you know the percentage of water that goes to your fuge ? Do you just adjust the ball valve untill it forces the amount of water you want over to the spraybar? & your return pump is in the middle? Do you ever use a sock on the end that is by your skimmer?

[dakar]

Do you ever use a sock on the end that is by your skimmer?

If you do or 'media bags' whatever, be sure to clean it very regularly (almost daily)... great place for nitrates to foster.

[JustDavidP]

Tileman...

First off...nice to meet ya! I love Utah...really do. I was just there again two years ago. I never get enough of hiking the hills there... Me thinks the prarie dogs know me by name now!

I do regulate the flow into the fuge by way of the ball valve. Again, for about an 8 week period, I had bangai cardinal fry in there and kept the water to a trickle. Now that they've moved out, I've increased the flow. By "guestimating" with my untrained eye, I would guess that 1/4 of the overflow was rushing into the fuge. Now, I have it at about 1/3. There are a series of 6 1/2 inch holes in the wall between the fuge and the return pump chamber. The water cascades over that wall. The water flow is not so heavy that it actually projects from the holes.

My Mag7 return pump is in the second chamber from the right. It's hidden by the center brace of the stand in the pictures above. There is also more live rock in the rest of the sump now.

I've gone without a media bag/filter sock on the overflow. I tried it with my old sump, but found that it was far too labor intensive to keep clean. If you fail to do so, your nitrates will spike. I don't use any sponges, or anything else on powerheads, pumps etc. for that same reason. PLUS, my goal with the sumpfugium was to INCREASE my pod and mysid populations. The sock/bag traps TONS of these micro crusties where they will eventually die.

Instead, I let the detritius settle and when I do water changes, I use a pump and hose and vaccume those chambers clean. I simply shut off the Mag7, scrape walls, suck out nusiance alga (I sometimes get this red, puffy hair algae down there), vaccume while siphoning, move the skimmer shelf and clean there, put the Euroreef Skimmer back in place, replace the 10-15 gallons I've siphoned, let it all settle for another hour or so, and turn the pump back on.

I don't do much with the fuge except thin the macro out, pull out more of that red hair/tuft algae and blow off the LR with a turkey baster from time to time.

It's all working for me!

Dave

[tileman]

That sounds like a great way of doing things, I use a sock but I'm changing it every other day ,it seems like. When you come back to Utah you'll have to let me know so we can get together. Share some reef stories.
Brad

[JustDavidP]

Brad... that's great. Whereabouts is Murray? I typically get to the Salt Lake basin area....

Dave