Sump Design (Looking for input)

Hey guys im new here and am looking for your input on this.

I am creating a sump/refugium out of a 20 Gallon Tall tank, im using a 30 gallon main display tank. I was talking with a guy that owns one of the LFS i goto (he makes custom sumps) about a design that would benefit my main tank. and he was explaining some stuff to me about it and said to have the Water coming from my main tank dump into the refugium then over a baffle and under another (with sponge) to the return chamber. And in the return chamber he said to place the pump pumping into the Protein skimmer then from the skimmer to the main tank.

So i went ahead with a quick sketch on paint then drew a more detailed drawing with AutoCAD.

Here is the JPEG of the Paint Drawing. Please Let me know what your guys thoughts are on this design.



Thanks

 

Maybe add another baffle and remove the sponge? You'll have to clean that sponge weekly and it will reduce flow going to the return pump causing your fuge areas water to get pretty high.

 

hmm. what height bafklle do you think i should use for the thrid? the 1st one in the refugium area is 12" tall.. then the second leaves 1.5" at the bottom of tank

 

The water going into your fuge should be relatively slow. With that setup you would be at the mercy of whatever GPH your return pump is pumping into your display tank also going through your fuge.

You may want to think about having a ball valve on the bottom of the pipe from your display tank, with a T directly before it with a line going directly to your return chamber. That way you can limit the flow of water into your fuge and still turn over a decent GPH from the sump.

also about your previous post, 3rd baffle height would be good at .5 inches below whatever your first wall is at. 1-1.5 inches is a good gap to have at the bottom as well for the second baffle.

 

Maybe 8" or so. Most bubble traps i've seen have had 3 baffles. You want as much flow getting in there as possible and the water level as high as acceptable. Remember that whenever you shut the pump off the DT will drain until its below the overflow. Your sump will have to be able to hold this amount of water. Also the pump area will be the first place you notice evaporation so you'll want to be able to have enough water in there to compensate for evap so you don't expose the pump.

 

That won't work. You can't return to your tank from the skimmer. You can feed the skimmer with a return pump, but you can't return to the display. You don't really need a bubble trap after your fuge, but since you are flowing all you water through it, you may need on form all the drain bubbles. What you need a bubble trap for is to keep micro bubbles from the skimmer from getting to the display tank from the return pump. You need 3 section and a bubble trap going to the return section.

 

Good advise. The ball valve will need to be below the T to force water through the T and into the return section.

 

Why can't I return from the skimmer to the tank?

And thanks to everyones response sofar.

 

The third baffle height has to be a little less than the maximum height for your skimmer(if your skimmer is in-sump). the skimmer should in the first compartment, you don't want to skim off any of the micro-organisms you'll be creating in the refugium.

 

I do have a 4x6x13 compartment in rear corner of fuge where the. Overflow water drains to first then that flows to the fuge... I don't really have room in that size tank for 3 compartments.. should I install the skimmer in the fuge?