sump ideas

[dbowman]

Hi,
 I am planning a 75 gallon DT with a 55 gal glass sump. i want to incorporate some sump ideas i have seen online. 48" wide; from left to right: 24" fuge with single baffle overflowing through a eggcrate/plastic mesh filter into a 14" wide return section.
on the right side of the return section a 10" skimmer chamber into which most of the flow drains. this goes over/under to the return section.
the fuge section: glass baffle 12 inches tall with the eggcrate another 6 inches with the crossstitch mesh from the 12 inch mark to the 21 inch top. a portion of the overflow would be diverted to the 'fuge to have some flow (20%?).
the skimmer baffle: 11.5" with 1" gap and under baffle 1" from bottom 12" high to 13" from bottom.
(this is a 29 gal sump with the eggcrate/mesh  assembled).
'fuge 15 gallons; skimmer 6 gallons; return operating 6-8 gallons; 25 gallons of safety volume
so, does anyone see any issues with this? the skimmer section baffle is set for the BM Curve 5 

[CoralBeauties]

I personally like the skimmer to be the first thing that gets the water from my display tank so my skimmer section is the first thing I have in my sump.  I then have one solid baffle over into my center section which is completely filled with live rock.  I then do a under over under baffle into my small pump pickup area.  I prefer the under over under orientation because it allow me to clean out anything that might be caught in the baffle section.  Over under over leaves a section in the middle that  virtually cant be serviced if need be.  I dont quite understand the use of eggcrate and mesh.  I would think the mesh might end up plugging up with algae and all sort of stuff.  Check a sump that has been running for several years and you will know what I am talking about:)  I have things growing in my sump that I dont even know what they are.  LOL  Just my 2 cents worth and by far from being gospel on the subject
Jeff

[dbowman]

Thanks Jeff,
   I also like the skimmer to get first crack at the water coming from the display.  The flow you suggest is how the sump in the picture is set up.  The problem I see is that all of the flow flushes through the 'fuge. I agree with the under-over-under concept for ease of cleaning. My thought is to eliminate one baffle. The drain hose enters the skimmer section on the far right and goes past the skimmer; the bubbles would come to the top going over the first baffle. Any that are pushed down with the water flowing under the second baffle would either come back up to pop between the baffles or immediately rise as the flow escapes toward the return pump.
 The mesh between the 'fuge section and the return pump section does get build-up but keeps the critters from the pump. The mesh is between two pieces of egg-crate that extend above the glass baffle. It is just inserted and can be pulled out for cleaning. Since Labor Day i have cleaned it three times. I have Live Rock, Live Sand, snails, an emerald crab, Chaeto, pods, and Molly babies in the practice sump. i am working out the kinks in the 55 sump plans and appreciate your comments. i am going to order the baffle glass once i get a better idea of what baffles i will use.
thanks for your $0.02,
Dave

[dbowman]

better picture

[dbowman]

ready for leak test tomorrow

[dbowman]

minor leaks, dealt with. the Hydor Seltz D 2400 has 6 settings. The lowest holds the water in the pipe, the second setting allows flow. I will experiment with the flow to see how much the Bean Animal will handle with the full siphon valve fully open. i bought a 1 1/4" slip thread adapter for the return threaded bulkhead. putting two street elbows gives me a siphon break coming into the tank with only 1 inch loss with the pump off. i can improve that with a drilled hole. Once i get it the way i want it, i can paint the fittings black and i will be happy. even with open pipe drains in the overflow, both the DT and Sump are pretty quiet.

[lazylivin]

Almost there!

[dbowman]

so cycle has begun, Ammonia was 0.5 today. probably from the transferred sand and live rock. I added Fritzyme this afternoon. I bought it at Gerber's along with a couple of Mollies and some 'Fiji' live rock. that's the stuff that people trade in. i put the rock into my quarantine tank. i removed some of the cured rock from the Q tank and added it to the 75 and the sump. i moved most of the Chaeto from the QT sump to the new sump. I left the Springeri Damsel, snails, and emerald crabs in the QT set up. I am rolling the dice on the mollies from Gerber's, i put them into the DT and the molly from the QT into the Sump.
 i wrapped the back of the return section and three sides of the skimmer section with the background that came off of the 55 when i took it down, to block light.

[Tobe1971]

Lookin great!
  Really nice chatting today. Looking forward to more pics and updates.
  I’m too lazy to do my own tank thread! Ha! And it’s really fun to follow along and see how people are doing things.
Go man go!

[dbowman]

my tank has been up for 4 weeks i started with sand and rock that had been in another tank for 4 months.i had a small ammonia spike the first week but then the ammonia went to zero the  nitrates and nitrites have stayed at zero. i have 3 mollies and some crabs in the tank. my plan is to move a damsel out of my qt. at that point the QT is available to house new fish. a couple of questions. would i remove the inverts,crabs and snails, or leave them?
if during the quarantine period nothing was observed and the fish moved into the DT, would it be safe to rotate more fish into the QT or would it need to stay fallow for a period?

[CoralBeauties]

How are you running your qt?  copper, hypo or just watching them?  If hypo or copper you should be able to run more fish through.  From my experience with ich it can be in a tank and you not even know it.  My powder blue just surfaced with ich after being in my tank for several years.  This tells me I have ich in my system and I need to remove all the fish, qt them and let the display go fallow. I guess what I am saying is if you didnt qt with hypo or copper there is no guarantee that your fish might not be carrying ich.
Jeff

[dbowman]

Thanks JJ, since ich isnt the only issue my thought would be to observe for a month and go from there. i think i would be inclined to do a freshwater dip on all stock and do hypo if i see an issue. of course at this point i am completely open to suggestions. i have an ATO on my main system but not on the QT. it evaporates a gallon a day. no cover on bowfront or sump two power heads and a lot of return flow. my plan was to shut down the QT sump and use a HOB filter if i need to treat something.