DIY Sump/Fuge Ideas please.

[rdnelson]

I am going to be building a DIY sump/fuge in the very near future. I am very new to this hobby so I don't know much about sumps and fuges and would like to learn from the mistakes of others. My tank is a 45 so I don't need massive at the moment however, I do plan on upgrading at a later date. For that reason, I want to build something that will allow for growth.

Room is a bit limited from a standpoint of foot print however height is not an issue so I was thinking of doing an over under. Any ideas and/or drawings would be a big help to me.

Thanks in advance,
Rich

 

[haninja]

Everything you want to know about sumps

 

[rdnelson]

Thanks haninja. I have seen that before but had forgotten about it.

 

[rdnelson]

I can get sheets of Milk White 1/2" Acrylic that at 31" x 31" for $10.00 a sheet. I have a limited foot print to work with but height is not an issue. Here are my plans. Poke all holes you can in it please. I would rather find out now then later.
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend>

>

class="gc-images" title="Sump-Refugeum 01-Plan View.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="Sump-Refugeum 01-Section 1.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="Sump-Refugeum 01-Section 2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a> </fieldset>

 

[eric b]

I would only do 1 bubble trap before water goes into return section as it is not needed going into fuge section.

 

[haninja]

The flow through the fuge is usually slower then the return. Your design doesn't account for that. Your fuge flow will be determined by your tank return pump...

 

[cbj25]

alt="" />

This is the diagram I made before I did mine. The return is in the very middle and I run a T with ball valve to with low spray bar to keep the cheato tumbling and low flow. It simple overflows back into the return chamber. Also, I did not put any drain boxes in the corner and have both drains running to the back right corner of the sump section into a filter sock. So far so good...

 

[hnguyen]

I got an idea that may work for you. I'm drawing it up right now. give me a few minutes

 

[seth the wine guy]

You're welcome to swing by and see how Eric B designed mine. It may give you some ideas.

 

[hnguyen]

I got this idea from a friend of mines. It seems to work great. I used the dimensions that you used on your sample. If you can go bigger then you'll just have more room. Sorry if the drawing isn't too detailed.. I just kinda throw something together on autoCAD.
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend>

 

[hnguyen]

Also with this design. You will add a ball sleep to the feed pipe into the fuge. That way you can adjust how much flow you want going into it. Then it will flow back out into the skimmer area again. While the rest of the flow from your return pump will go straight up into your display tank. You can also add another t to it to run media rectors and whatever else you want. Nice sample but effective design.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rdnelson]

Wow! Great input guys. I had no idea I would need to reduce the flow in the fuge. Just the kind of stuff I was looking for. Seth, I am going to take you up on that offer. I have been wanting to come see your tank.

Hngyen, what version of CAD are you using? I have a full blown version of 2010 but since I am self taught and only use it occasionally for construction drawings I am not the most proficient.

 

[hnguyen]

I run 2006 at work and 2011 at home. I hate the newer version (2011) though. Takes up too much memory and it's super slow on my super fast laptop which makes it super useless...lol. The key to being proficient with CAD is using the keyboard rather then the mouse to input commands. You can change the command input on the keyboard by taking a few steps to alter the command inputs. So I have all the commands I use 90% of the time all on one side of the keyboard, which allows me to input commands with just my left hand while my right hand stays on the mouse to point without having to leave either my keyboard or mouse. You save a lot of time with it.

 

[rdnelson]

Yeah, I have watched people who use it every day. Much faster with better results than me. LOL But since only a job or two a year is design/build and on some of them I farm out all the engineering, I don't get to use it enough to spend the time to learn it the right way. What do you do for a living?

 

[hnguyen]

rdnelson99;701664 wrote: Yeah, I have watched people who use it every day. Much faster with better results than me. LOL But since only a job or two a year is design/build and on some of them I farm out all the engineering, I don't get to use it enough to spend the time to learn it the right way. What do you do for a living?

Engineer....lol I design hurricane resistant barriers for different facilities around the gulf.

 

[rdnelson]

Hnguyen;701671 wrote: Engineer....lol I design hurricane resistant barriers for different facilities around the gulf.

Cool, that is kind of like designing "Child Proof" because we all know there is no such thing as "Child Proof". LOL

 

[hnguyen]

rdnelson99;701675 wrote: Cool, that is kind of like designing "Child Proof" because we all know there is no such thing as "Child Proof". LOL

Ah!! but I never said "PROOF", I said resistant. Everything has a breaking point. The product my company makes just has a higher breaking point then everyone else in the industry.

 

[rdnelson]

See, there you go hedging your bet already. LOL

 

[hnguyen]

lol I'm serious! There's only one other company out there that has anything remotely close to what we have, but even so their stuff sucks.

Edit: ANYWAYS!! Where you able to look at the drawing? What do you think of the design?

 

[rdnelson]

I did look at it. The only I don't see is a bubble trap but that is easy enough to fix. When I get a minute I am going to go through it in more detail and make sure it fits my requirements.