Sumps, Pumps, and Skimmers

Hi Guys,

I have several questions that touch on protein skimmers, sumps, and pumps, so I decided to put this in the general reef topic section.

As you may know I am wanting to change sumps and protein skimmers on my current set-up. I have pretty much decided on the Octopus brand, and have narrowed it down to the extreme 160 or extreme 200. I have a 55 gallon and will be making the sump out of a 20 gallon long tank. The reason I am leaning toward the 160 is because or real estate. The 160 has a footprint of 8" X 10" and the 200 has a footprint of 11.5" X 13.5". That is a pretty big difference when I only have 30" X12" to deal with. So, do you think that the 160 would suit my tank and work better than the current marineland 300 I have now?

My next question is in regard to baffling the sump. I drew a rough estimate of what I am looking at possibly doing. I want the skimmer on one end, the return in the middle, and the refugium on the other end. I think that the skimmer is supposed to operate in about 8 inches of water (could be wrong on that). How high should my first baffle be, and what do you think the other dimensions should be?

The last question I have is about the return pump. I am currently using a mag 7 but had heard that it was good to plumb it by diverting some of the return water to your refugium to create a little flow. If I do this, do you think I should increase the return pump?

I apologize all of the questions and would appreciate any help or insight. Thanks!!!!!!



Sorry for the bad drawing


Regards,
Ivy

 

I would go with the bigger one for two reasons, it cant hurt and allows room for an upgrade, also i would not divert any flow from the return pump, if you want extra flow just add like a mj 600 or 900 with a hydor reflector to the fuge area.

 

from left to right. The first baffle needs to be equal to or higher than the 3rd baffle. The 3rd and 4th baffle need to be the same hieight, and you can leave out the 5th baffle. Especially since the way you have it the sand might be blocking the 5th baffle. Here's a pic of mine from a 20 long.





Also, I had a problem with diverting the flow on the return pump like your talking about. It should only be used in the case of maintenance and not full time operation. It caused to much turbulence in the return section and made it about impossible to have an accurate auto top of float switch. Here's the link to the thread. http://www.3reef.com/forums/filters-pumps-etc/return-pump-too-powerful-help-me-please-73654.html I ended up just running a strait return pipe up the the DT with one ball valve to create back-pressure/head-pressure to reduce the flow.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I knew someone was going to say get the big one (jk). If the skimmer is on one end and the return pump is in the middle, then how will it get flow? I wanted the refugium on the end so that I could control the flow through there. What would be the best way of doing that?

Should the first baffle be 8 inches if I need the skimmer to sit in 8 inches of water? And I totally drew the baffles for the refugium incorrectly. They should be switched (which would make more sense).

Blue Falcon: If you split your drain line between the skimmer area and the refugium, did you install a valve to control how much went to the refugium? Thanks!!!

 

To answer your last question yes. For what you are wanting to acomplish here I would split the lines from your overflow, one to the fuge and one to the skimmer, and just put a ball valve on the fuge line to restrict flow. I don't think you want a whole lot of flow in you fuge. Me and my bro-in-law set up a 38g under his 90g DT, we used this setup and it works great.

Question? Where are you putting your sump? I also have a 55g and there is not a lot of room under the stand.

 

i would highly reccomend NOT splitting the line, it can cause to much problems and can interfer in the flow amount in your tank. Make it simple and just add a small power head to the fuge. A small maxi jet or aqua clear would work just as well if not better!

 

Thanks 4phish. I had someone build me a stand before I started. It looks awesome and blends in with the furniture in the room. It will be a little tight side to side with the ATO but I think it will work. Thanks!!!

 

How would this create problems? I'm not disagreeing with you here. I'm actually serous. Maybe you can help me settle my air bubbles from the drain problem. Does splitting the drain restrict flow and cause turbulence?
If it would help I might do what you suggest and add another pump. Problem is, not sure if it will fit in the skimmer section once the skimmer is in.

 

Yes, the drain has a T split with a ball valve under it forcing a small amount of water into the slit into the fuge. But I'm curius as to what OP1 is suggesting with another pump from the skimmer to the fuge. This might help solve my bubble problem from the drain line.

 

yes it will, and why cause that problem when it can be solved by jus easly adding a nother pump, plus with the extra pump in the fuge you have more control over where pump is placed. THe less 45 and 90 degree elbows you havein your plumbing the better