1st Attempt on 20H Sump Build

So I will be attempting my first sump build . I had a canister filter (I know, I know...), but am going to a sump because I want to be like everyone else (JK)....and my nitrates were pretty crazy and keeping that canister clean was a pain. So some background, I have a XP1000SSS skimmer and an Eheim hobby return pump. I will be using a 20H (approx 24L x 12D x 17H) and will not be doing a refugium, basically just need room for the skimmer and return pump. Here's my questions:

1) I was thinking to make three chambers, one for incoming water, one for the skimmer and the other for the return pump. But I was thinking, do I really need that first chamber? Can I just do the first chamber with incoming water and skimmer in the same chamber?

2) Assuming I go with three chambers, how high should the baffles be? My skimmer requires an optimum depth of 5.5". I was thinking like around 10" for the 1st baffle and 7" for the 2nd baffle (I'll need to raise the skimmer slightly). I'm not sure how much the water usually is above the baffle, like 1/2" or something? Then I'll do a bubble trap leaving about 1" from the bottom for the 3rd baffle and the 4th return baffle will be 6". I'm really not sure if those heights are too short since I'm kinda just shooting in the dark on the heights. My thoughts were that I'd want to leave some room in the sump for excess water in emergencies and trying not to make the water height in the middle chamber too high which would require the skimmer to be raised too high where I can't remove the collection cup because of the inside cabinet height.

3) When water evaporates from the tank, is it only the return chamber that loses water? As long as I maintain water height in that return chamber, my tank water level will be constant?

Thanks for any input!

 

Without a fuge, two chambers will work just fine. You're already aware of the water depth required for the skimmer and the head height restrictions, so it should be easy enough to design your bubble trap.

The overflow will maintain the water level in the DT and the bubble trap/baffles will keep it constant in the inlet/skimmer chamber(s), so yes, the return chamber is where the level will fluctuate from evaporation.

 

congrats on your move to the sump! I'm too gutless to do one I know everyone talks about how they never knew how they did it without one! It will be nice to have all of your things down below too. I'm a former canister runner too, so congrats on getting rid of that PITA thing to clean

 

Ok cool, thanks.

Yup, I'll eventually do a build thread, just trying to understand all this first. I had a major failure in the canister which dumped a nice 20gal of seawater on my carpet.....which I discovered on Easter morning. So, right now I have some eheim substrat pro in 2 reactors and that's my bio filtration for now. It's pretty ghetto right now but I had been planning a sump build even before my canister decided to crap out. I was lucky, I only lost a skimpy LED power supply ($10), everything else survived the flood of water. I'm excited cause I have a lot of toys waiting to be used, but probably won't actually start the bulk of the work till Oct :-/, have had some more important life stuff I have to attend to first, but I'm psych'd to start my project soon.

 

ouch! 20 gallons of spillage! That's a lot! I'm glad that everything was ok except the carpet of course

 

Do you guys think it's a good idea to run two reactors (Phosban 150 models) off the return line? Or do I need to buy another pump solely for the reactors? Reactors will be holding Phosguard and carbon. My return pump is a Eheim 1262 model, max 910GPH (I think that's at 0' head, my return line will be about 4' high). The internal overflow box will be a BRS 1200GPH (tank is a 65gal btw). I'm also going with a Herbie setup.

 

I wouldn't. The return may be too fast for proper tumble of media. It may blow it into the display. Plus, the phosban has awful inlet and outlet connections. Not only would I fear the rubber elbow popping off, but you would also have to turn off your return every time you cleaned the media with thecwsy it's designed.

Edit, I guess you could T- off of your return with a ball valve attached.

 

If you would like to do this you should check out the dual reactor setup sold by spectrapure.It comes with ball valves to adjust the flow into each reactor and would probably cost less than buying two reactors and valves ect..I think your eheim should be strong enough to do it.

 

Sorry guys, should have clarified. I would be teeing off the return with a ball valve to each reactor to control flow since each reactor would need different flow rates. The output of the reactors would dump back into the sump, not to the DT. Dual reactor would be good, but since I have the 2 reactors already, would want to use those.

 

That sounds good to me.