rehab sump/fuge

[wmboots]

Finally getting started on setting up the 150 tank I've had in my shop for right at a year now.

First thing I'm doing is re-working a 48"Lx13"Wx16"H acrylic sump I purchased from another member a few months back.
I'm torn between setting up the system to bring water from over flow at one end running thru a skimmer chamber then a media chamber (filter pads) into the fuge with the last chamber being the submerged return pump. Versus setting up a system with overflow dumping into both ends of tank with fuge at one end and flowing from the fuge into the return pump section. At the other end would be the first chamber for overflow, 2nd chamber would be skimmer flowing into the media chamber then into the return chamber.
I would be using 1" overflow pipe tee'ing off with 3/4" pipe going to refugium end if I use the center return pump idea.

The question I have with running the return from center is will I need to build a bubble reducing chamber on both sides of return pump also which one will I get the best results from.

I'm open to comments, suggestions and any help or info.
I really want to get this tank up and running before I have to say I've had a beautifull custom 150 gallon display sitting in my shop for a full year.

On another note who has the best deals on sand as I'm going to need several bags to supplement the half inch deep bed I currently have in my 90 and I deffinetly want to replace the mud/sand base I've had in my sump for nearly 10 years now

 

[rdnelson]

Option 1 will cause all flow to go through the fuge which I have been told is not desirable. You want lower flow through the fuge. If you split the return and run some through the fuge you will get more nutrients to it. A bible trap may be needed. However if you split the return line all water will first run through the skimmer compartment. Doing that allows mechanical filtration to do the bulk of the work before it goes to the fuge. Putting a ball valve on the line feeding the fuge allows you to regulate the flow in the fuge with the remainder returning to the display.

Not sure that is the best method but when it was explained to me it made sense so that is how I did mine. Let me know if you need help.

 

[wmboots]

my current sump/fuge setup that has been running for nearly 10 years is a 20 long with overflow dumping into an 8" wide chamber which flows into the refugium with skimmer then into return chamber. My refugium works as a natural filtration with mud, sand and rock so in all actuality it is more of a filtration sump than refugium which is most likely what the new sump will function as

 

[wmboots]

do you have bubble reducing baffles going into return chamber from both directions?

 

[the-bubonic-one]

I pretty much run similar to option 2. A 1 inch running into the skimmer chamber and a 3/4 throttled down for the other side(fuge) then return in the center. I don't have baffles coming off the fuge side. but do have them coming off the skimmer side. I don't think baffles are needed coming off a fuge because of lack of heavy flow. I still get a very small amount of micro bubbles. I only see them if my face is right up on the glass but none the less it bothers me. Next sump cleaning I will be adding a bubble tower that I seen on Melev's website(tons of good sump designs) to eliminate any remaining bubbles.

 

[eagle9252]

I have seen sumps made all different ways. Best I can tell is the bubble trap is mostly on the side of the skimmer. I was trying to decide how to make my next sump and decided to just make it the same way as the last one. I have had no problem and even though all water is flowing through the sump not all is flowing through the fuge. It is flowing across the top and in the return chamber. Some of the water does go down at the wall in the fuge side and this makes sort of a circle rotation. The one thing I did on the next return chamber is angle it about 1/8” out of level or not parallel to the outside wall back towards the fuge. The reason for this was to allow the water to slide down instead of falling. The falling of the water makes bubbles.
If you setup the pump in the middle I would slope both walls. I would make the drain into a spray bar about mid ways down so when the water comes out it would create the circler motion and spill over to the return

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[rdnelson]

wmboots;740287 wrote: do you have bubble reducing baffles going into return chamber from both directions?

Not from the refugium side. It flows over the baffle in a nice even sheet. If the flow were higher it might get some bubble action but right now I have no trouble with it. If I were to do it again and if space permitted, I would do a bubble trap on both just to be safe. But right now, mine works fine the way I have it set up.

Edit:

eagle9252;740304 wrote: I have seen sumps made all different ways. Best I can tell is the bubble trap is mostly on the side of the skimmer. I was trying to decide how to make my next sump and decided to just make it the same way as the last one. I have had no problem and even though all water is flowing through the sump not all is flowing through the fuge. It is flowing across the top and in the return chamber. Some of the water does go down at the wall in the fuge side and this makes sort of a circle rotation. The one thing I did on the next return chamber is angle it about 1/8” out of level or not parallel to the outside wall back towards the fuge. The reason for this was to allow the water to slide down instead of falling. The falling of the water makes bubbles.
If you setup the pump in the middle I would slope both walls. I would make the drain into a spray bar about mid ways down so when the water comes out it would create the circler motion and spill over to the return

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I built mine just like this but plumbed it a little different. On mine the left hand baffle is closer to the center. The left compartment is the fuge and the center is where my return pump is.

 

[sgt_slaughter]

I'm about to build one with pretty much the same design as the pic above.

 

[wmboots]

My current sump is like the one pictured but the one I'm building I need to incorporate an octopus Skimmer in a chamber somewhere and I'm torn between putting the return at the end or tee'ing the overflow pipe and putting the return in a center chamber being fed from both sides

 

[eagle9252]

the picture is a 36 gal. i made the first chamber too small. my next sump is a 55gal same design but about 16" in the first chamber and it will have 3 pipes coming in to it as well

 

[rdnelson]

My vote would be the center return. But then maybe I am biased. LOL If I did mine again I would do it the same but leave more room in the skimmer compartment and less in the return.

 

[eagle9252]

the 55 is 12" longer so I made both ends larger. just added 1" on the return but like 8" on the drain side. to make room for the PS and extra pipes

 

[sgt_slaughter]

Ok since you went to the 55 what are the internal deminsions of your three chambers? I'm curious to see what percentages most of us follow. Three equally sized chambers or...

 

[rdnelson]

In my opinion, about 12" of room for a fuge, about the same for the return and the rest for the skimmer. I would want as much room in the skimmer compartment as possible. However, you have to make sure you are going to have enough room in the return compartment to accept the water that drains back in a power outage.