Help with my sump design plz!

Hello everyone at 3reef,;D

I have gained valuable knowledge creeping throughout these forums for the past couple weeks. However, it is time for me to make my first post and beg for some advice.

Ok, so this is going to be my first attempt at a salt water aquarium AND my first attempt at a sump. I just received a 90g tank and a 15g tank that my parents no longer want. I have a general idea of how everything is going to work, but I'm struggling with the specifics.

The tank measures 24Lx12HX12W. My basic design of how I want it is in the picture that is attached.



I'm struggling with:
A: Picking my Return pump and my Skimmer. If anyone could give suggestions it would be very helpful. The return pump seems kind of easy to pick the brand (Mag Drive) but the size I'm not too sure of.


Picking the skimmer is giving me the most trouble. There are so many different brands out there. Some come with their own pumps and some don't. I'm looking for something less then $300 and compact enough to fit in my sump and will do a decent enough job.

B: The lengths to make the red lines in the picture. Generally how much extra space does the skimmer and pump need off the walls?


If anyone can give any advice it would be much appreciated!


**EDIT**

I probably should have put my Overflow box specs on here. There are no holes in the aquarium and I'm not comfortable drilling any in. I did some searching and found that the standard life reef overflow was highly recommended. It does 600GPH.
prefilter box, siphon box, overflow box, siphon overflow, Eurobrace, Euro-brace, Euro-tank

 

Does the tank have a built in overflow or are you buying a hang on the back? You can usually find flow rates from the manufactures on what you can expect. You can then match that with an appropriate pump. It is difficult to be exact so you will likely need some kind of restriction (valve) on the return pump so you can balance the two. I do not think you will need more then 10" for the skimmer, and on some you would require less. I know there are mixed reviews on these but they work well for my tanks and well within your price range:

Coralife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel

Good luck!

 

I will give some thoughts but I am not a pro here. I would start with picking the skimmer. the size chamber the skimmer needs will determine everything else in your sump. The size of the chamber or the "footprint" of the skimmer is one factor and also the depth of the water in the sump is another consideration. most in sump skimmers have a water level that is required to work best. as for the overall setup I like the return in the middle with the T for overflows. Again water depth and skimmer chamber are the two things I would work on. I dont have advise on a good skimmer since I am using a no name currently, and havent had any of the "best" ones yet. hope this helps, just my thoughts

 

Thanks for the advise guys, that was quick.

I edited my first post and added my siphon box specs and linked the page. Thanks for the advice!

Pecco22: Yea I figured it would probably be best to pick the equipment first. I plan and seeing the dimensions for the pump/skimmer area and then trying to leave most the space for the refugium.

At first I was going to put the refugium in the middle, but after reading the post of a lot of people here it seemed best to put in on one of the sides.

 

That is the same flow rate as my CPR CS90 overflow box. I use a RIO 2100 pump with very little restriction and it works great. Remember it is important to take into consideration the distance from the pump to the tank. The higher it has to push water the stronger the pump (mine only has 4 feet of tubing). I would also highly recommend using a overflow box that can utilize a Tom pump to remove air bubbles and assist if a power loss occurs.

Good luck

 

honestly it is best, but I have mine in the middle and has worked excellent for me. I wasnt able to spend the extra money on the plumbing etc. so I put mine in the middle with the return on the far right and skimmer to the left. Took my nitrates down to zero with this set-up

 

Mine is only going to be a little over 4 feet as well.

 

You should look for a pump capable of pushing about 1 1/8 the flow of your overflow. This way you can dial it back some with a ball valve to get your flow just right. As for skimmers, if you go with a Coralife, I would get a 125 model. You always want the skimmer to be rated for at least 1 1/2 of your tank volume. Another good option would be a:

Xtreme 160 Cone Protein Skimmer

Here is a review for it:

Elite Reef -- Denver Colorado

 

Ty very much for the advise.;D

Quick newbie question tho. On the link you gave me it says the footprint of the device is 9"x"7. is that the amount of space it needs in the sump or the dimensions? The one Coralife skimmer linked earlier listed the dimensions of the skimmer and then listed recommended footprint:

Dimensions (L x W x H): 5.00"x7.25"x24.50"
Footprint Required for Sump(L x W): 8.00"x7.25"

 

I just made my sump and I have a 160 cone skimmer.. I had to make that section of the sump 10"... And it's a tight fit, but it fits.