There have been a few questions thrown around recently about sumps and whats the best way to make one, or simply, how to make one? I'll start off by saying there is no wrong way to make a sump, unless it doesnt hold water. You have many different types of sumps that come in all sorts of sizes....obviously the larger the better because we all know "dillution is the solution to pollution." So if youre about to ask someone what size should you make it, how about as large as you can/want to. Some people go with a sump thats just for extra water volume and some will add a seperate chamber for a refugium which houses marco algeas, LR and whatever else you want to throw down there. I set mine up to be your typical sump with refugium, water comes down into first section which houses the skimmer. Goes thu a baffel setup then into the refuge then to the return section. There are many different ways to section off your sump and honestly that all depends on you plans for the sump. The sump is not totally finished yet, I plan on extending the fuge into the return section more once I get a top off hooked up. Basically if you dont plan on having a top off installed you want a larger return section, this is the only area that you will see evaporation. The larger the area, the more water there is and the less you have to fill up that area...granted tho keep in mind your salinity will change depending on size of tank and sump and amount of evap....please keep that in mind! So if you plan on having a top off installed, then you would have a larger refuge and smaller return area. The other addition I'll add is a section where the overflow drain and outport of the skimmer go, as you can see there is splashing and saltcreep will begin to form a lot, this way there will be a lid and everything will be contained and hopes there will be no mess. Other than that the sump is a basic 30g long with precut pieces of glass from homedepot. Yes they are slanted, I didnt want to pay to get glass cut or to risk breaking glass so I just went this route, still works tho 
In the baffel area, the middle glass sheet is roughly 1-1.5" off the bottom of the tank...The purpose for this over-under-over baffel is to diffuse many of the bubbles that come from the overflow and skimmer. Well that concludes your not too indepth talk about sumps, if you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. And by all means please post your sump and a lil description if you would like, I know there are tons of sumps out there and there are many that are set up differently than mine. Oh also the skimmer is an Octopus NW150 and I think the footprint on that is 9X11 or something like that like.
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In the baffel area, the middle glass sheet is roughly 1-1.5" off the bottom of the tank...The purpose for this over-under-over baffel is to diffuse many of the bubbles that come from the overflow and skimmer. Well that concludes your not too indepth talk about sumps, if you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. And by all means please post your sump and a lil description if you would like, I know there are tons of sumps out there and there are many that are set up differently than mine. Oh also the skimmer is an Octopus NW150 and I think the footprint on that is 9X11 or something like that like.<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
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