My sump plans

[cableguy69846]

So, on Tuesday, I am getting a 15 gallon tank that is drilled with an overflow, stand, and 10 gallon sump. The 10 gallon is not modified in any way at all. So, I wanted to modify it. I really want a fuge for my tank, and figure the 10 gallon would be amazing as one. Here is the plan so far. My design is based on this one. The only difference is that it will be in a 10 gallon tank and use PVC pipe for the rock rubble stack.

Side view.

Top view.

The inner dimensions of the tank are 19 3/4"W x 10"L x 11 15/16"T. (If these are wrong, let me know) The plan is this. I am going to use a 4" diameter PVC pipe for the sump inlet. That is red in the pictures. The PVC will have small holes drilled around the whole thing about an inch from the bottom. That will be where the water can enter the fuge area. The baffles will be about 15" from the intake end. They will be about 9" high and 1/2" apart. What do you guys think? I am not sure what the return pump is or the size plumbing on the tank yet. I will add that when I get it though.

I was also toying around with another idea. The same sump design, but having a separate fuge in another tank. Maybe a 2.5 or 5.5. I will not know if I can do that until I have the tanks and stand though.

Edit: Got the info back on the pump and plumbing. The drain is 1" and the return is 3/4". The pump is this one.

 

[RedDevil.258]

Man Melev can work that acrylic huh! The design is sound if you can mimic it then you should be good!

 

[cableguy69846]

Man Melev can work that acrylic huh! The design is sound if you can mimic it then you should be good!

I am hoping I can. That is the plan any way. I wish I could do acrylic like that guy. It would be so much better.

 

[cableguy69846]

Had an extra 10 gallon tank sitting around, so I took it apart and am going to use the glass to make the baffles. Planning a mockup tomorrow. Hopefully will get everything to finish the sump early next week.

 

[cableguy69846]

Ok. So, a bit of a redesign. My other sump idea would not work due to not having enough room for the return pump. I totally didn't look up the dimensions for it yesterday. Thanks scumbucket for helping me avoid building my sump twice. Lol. I would have probably broken it trying to do it over.

Sorry to say but it doesn't look good to me, if your tank is 19 3/4" long with 15" for the fuge, 1" for the two 1/2" space between baffle and 3/4" for the 3-1/4" peices of glass being used for baffles that is 16 3/4" leaving 3" for your return area!! The footprint for the return pump you have picked out is 4.9x4.7x4.7" and you only have 3" of space left, so that won't work. Even if let's say you did have a pump that fit in that area most of the evaporation you will have will be seen in the return area and your return area will be only 3"x9". You would probly have to top it off constantly. This design just won't work.

So. I am going to do 12 1/2" for the first area. I may downsize the PVC to a 3" pipe as well. That will make the return 5 1/2" instead of 3". Plenty of room for the return pump. I am also looking into some ATO devices. Not sure what kind I am going to do yet though.

Also, where do you plan to put your skimmer, heater ect... At? Normaly they are put in you sump so you don't have to have them in your display, cause who wants to have that stuff in your display taking away from your reef if you don't have to right?

Probably not going to run a skimmer on this tank for now. If I decide to, I can always get a HOB and hang it off the sump. As for the heater, I can put that in the first chamber of the sump. I may not even need one for the summer months as it gets warm in my house.

So, one option is like you suggested, you could use another tank like a 5gal as a fuge and have it drain into the 10gal, I think a 2.5 is to small. Say you did do that you could split the 10gal in half and put a skimmer on the side with the drain (I wouldn't use a 4" pipe to drain into just cause it would take up too much space) then flow into the return section and the 5gal above it with a second drain split off then draning into the return in the 10gal. Or depending on how much room you have you could just use a larger sump and have everything in one.

I designed a system with a 2.5gallon, but I think I like the 5.5gallon idea better. I will go with that one if it will fit in the stand. If I do that, I probably won't need the PVC bubble tower at all and can use a filter sock instead. That way also allows me to add some more live rock in the first chamber of the sump.

Here is my new design.

Not too sure on the plumbing sizes. Doing it this way would allow me to have a bit slower flow through the fuge while not slowing the whole system down. If I can fit the 5.5gallon, then I will use that, if not, I will have to stick with the 2.5gallon for the fuge. Let me know what you think so far.