DIY Sump design

[lightningfront]

Just thought I'd post up my desgn for a sump/fuge using a sandard 29 gallon aquarium. This will be the sump for a 46 gallon bowfront.
The tall cylinder is the protien skimmer and the small cube in the middle is the return pump. All the clumps on the bottom show where live rock will be and the area on the right side willl be the fuge with a 2" sand bed some rock and will be filled with cheato. I will have 2 1" overflow lines coming into the sump with one split off to send a slower flow to the fuge side which will overflow into the return pump chamber

What do you think?

[jake]

nice , what are you a graphic designer or something.lol

[rayk]

I don't have much experience with sump design.  I was using a rubbermaid bin before, and now I'm using a 100 gallon rubbermaid tub.  That being said, I've not seen a 'double entry' sump like this before.  You have the bubble trap from the refuge, but wouldn't you have to potential of micro-bubbles coming from the chaeto section as well?  Again, I don't know, I'm just asking. 

I've not used a bubble trap in any of my sumps and not had a problem.  The only micro-bubble problem I've had was from an above-tank refugium with very slow water flow.  Somehow I'd get micro bubbles coming out of this trickle feed.  Never did figure it out, but I am about to re-plumb it after moving my tank, so I'll let you know.

One last question, does the plumbing fixtures come with google sketchup, or did download a library for those? 

- Rayk

[UD Flyer]

I think Ray has brought up a pretty good point. If you have an inlet coming from the main tank to the fuge I think there will be bubbles from the fall.  Maybe with the ball valve you can minimize this, with some bubbles still getting through.

What I have seen most when people use this type of fuge/sump is they have both inlets from the tank pouring to one side (for you it would be the side the skimmer is on), then going to the return pump. The return pump will then have a T fitting with a ball valve. The main returns line runs to the tank while the second one is to the fuge. This will result in water flowing into the fuge then over-flowing into the return pump section of the sump/fuge. Using this method you eliminate micro bubbles from the fuge section.

I think there are a few people on here who use this type of fuge/sump and can be seen in their tank profile.

[MSUJenn]

Your sump looks very similar to what I'm doing for my 180, so I hope it works ok. I stole my design from Melev's reef, so I'm assuming it works pretty well. I also wondered about the bubbles on the 'fuge side when I was deciding what sump to go with. I figured if it was a huge problem, I would stick a filter sock on there. It got rid of all the bubbles in my other tank. Let me know how it goes when everything is up and running.

[lightningfront]

I figured with the flow slowed down so much that if there were micro bubbles to enter into the fuge chamber filled with the cheato then they would have time to rise and pop or get caught up in the jungle of cheato and would not trickle over into the return section. The idea of running both drains into one side and then running a T off the return line into the fuge section sounds interesting. Do they make T sections for 3/4 inch flex hose? I normally just the clear 3/4 tubing for my return lines, I have never used a hard line for the return.

The plumbing fixtues I used were downloaded from the sketchup 3d model library. I just searched for PVC and it came up with a bunch of fittings. Go to file and 3D wharehouse and get models.

No, Jake not a graphic designer, I am Skebulski the great.

[Secondgen]

I have this same sump built for my 50 breeder, except mine is made from a 20L. It works pretty good, and yes most of the bubbles pop in the sump before they reach the tank.

[jake]

I like a nice pile of rubble on my pump anyway stops bubbles and most debris anyway

[kattz]

Maybe I should just look at the drawing before i open my mouth...   Looks great!

Kev

[rmstevensiii]

Looks good... I like the idea of tee'ing the return before it enters the sump, so that you are feeding your fuge with water directly from the main tank vs. skimmed water.  Also... I agree... you should not have a prob with micro bubbles from your fuge section.  I do not have a bubble trap between my fuge and return pump and I do not have a any probs with micro bubbles.