40gal long sump build

so i picked up a 40gal tank a few days ago and began cleaning it (pics to follow). i just threw together the first draft of my sump build. please provide opinions. this will be for a 75gal display tank.

i figure with a 15x12 skimmer section i can put in any type of skimmer. im currently looking at either a aquac ev-120/180 or a vertex in-100. i havent quite decided yet if i want to go spray injection. it does have a much smaller footprint yet hefty pump requirement.

i will have a 200-micron filter sock on the drain from the display tank into the skimmer section.

opinions?

EDIT: If you're looking at the picture "PO-OVERFLOW AVAIL" means power-outage overflow volume availability....

 

Nice pic.

But how is the refugium getting water?

 

debating if i should have it fed from the return pump or from the display tank

 

also curious what people think of running both DSB and ocean mud side by side like that. i figure its easier to maintain both independent versus ontop of one another.

 

I would do the drain personally. Working off of gravity.

I would be afraid that by running both in the fuge it would become a mess, but hey, I'm one of those play it safe and simple type of rascals. ;D

 

yeah, i might just say screw it and put the 2" mud and then 4" of sand atop

 

so i thought this out further and decided on the external pump. ill be using an Iwaki WMD40RLT Water Pump (750GPH@4') with a one-to-four PVC distributor (1" to 4x 1/2"). the distributor will have a flex-pvc pipe that goes up to the loc-line 2-way distributor with 2 nozzles in the DT for the return, a 3/4" barb fitting off of one for a carbon reactor, a 3/4" barb off another for a phos reactor, and the fourth i will cap off for now.

ill have a herbie overflow converging to pvc piped drain with two gate-valves that will supply the input chamber and fuge chamber.

now that im going to use a external pump i will be modifying the drawing to reduce the size of the return chamber to allow for more space for the fuge compartment. working the math to confirm ill still have space available for power-outage overflow... id like to use as much space as i can for the fuge.

 

im going to have the tank drilled for a 1" bulkhead to feed the return pump and my ATO-Float-Valve (ATOFV? new acronym? ) when i figure out exactly where.

ill also have them cut the 12" x 48" piece of glass i have down to the sizing i need for the baffles.

 

OK, as usual I am a tad confused. Are you delivering water to two places? One being the refugium and the other being the skimmer? Per your drawings the refugium is the highest point and will drain into the return section. The skimmer section also appears to gravity feed the return section – so I am confused? It seems to me that the Refugium should gravity drain to the skimmer section which then gravity feeds to the return section.

Edit: Oh wait, the tank will drain to the skimmer section and you are currently debating how to direct flow to the refugium (I just read your next post). Feed the refugium off the DT drain so that your skimmer does not starve it out.

Depending on the size of the return section and pump to be used you may want one more baffle after the refugium gravity drain to eliminate any micro bubbles. Should work well for you – what lighting source for the fuge? Flow rate? (10% of DT/hour ?)

 

On the Herbie, you need the gate valve to fine tune the water level. So you are getting the gate valve, but not so sure you need one for the fuge. I oversized my drain ( no real advantage) So it is a 1.5" line with gate valve. I tee'ed off to the fuge. with a 1.5" to 3/4 just so I knew I would have enough. Well I took that down to a 1/2" ball valve. So my point is 1/2" line is plenty for my fuge. Really only open about 2/3s. The 3/4 would be more than enough.

But I just ball park what goes to the fuge. Isn't that critical. And at times like the 1/4 turn valve for isolation. So it doesn't really need the regulation odf a gate valve. The main system is still regulated by the main gate valve just fine. And incase you have not read my write up... you have to put your main gate valve DOWNSTREAM of the fuge tee.

My fuge is 15" deep. 5" of DSB and 10 of water. Honestly... it does not really need to be that deep. Just more water for the light to cut through. I'm down for added volume... but you would be fine with probably 6-8. Pods don't care, you just need water for the algae to sit in.