Critique my tank-sump design…

Looks nice...is the bigger section going to be a fuge and the small section in the back corner where the teeth are going to be a skimmer chamber?

I like the idea. The only thing that I could think of that might be a small concern is how effective your skimmer section is going to be. From what I can tell, when the water flows over the overflow it's only going to have about a 3/4" fall before it runs over into the bubble trap. I'm just wondering if alot of the water is going to end up bypassing the skimmer and going strait to the trap. Your skimmer may end up just recirculating alot of the same water over and over. May not be as efficient as you'd like. I could be wrong though, I guess it may just depend on how you plan on setting up your skimmer.

Your first idea looks fine... Interested to see what the regulars say once they're back on in the morning.

Honestly I like both designs....I'm actually a bit tired, but the only real difference I see between the 2 designs is an extra baffle? Might be missing something else, but the important thing is the spacing between the baffles, to eliminate the bubbles making it to the return pump section. What is the actually foot print of the skimmer? I would opt to leave yourself a little room to run some type of reactor, since your trying to compact everything around the tank instead of underneath. There are other ways around it though.

I'm just wondering if alot of the water is going to end up bypassing the skimmer and going strait to the trap.
The skimmer isn't suppose to process all the water at 1 time anyways, so that is no big deal. If you look at any tank setup there is NO WAY the skimmer is processing all the water entering the skimmer compartment.....So shouldn't affect efficiency IMO.

From what I can tell, when the water flows over the overflow it's only going to have about a 3/4" fall before it runs over into the bubble trap.
Shouldn't be an issue.....The greater you increase the water fall or drop IMO, you'll increase noise, water splashing; which will lead to salt creep, and it also increases changes of bubbles being more prevalent, and possibly affecting skimmer performance, and possibly leading to the bubbles being transferred to the return section....Again JMHO.....

I was also thinking of using a Mag5 pump to recalculate.
Honestly I think that would be way overkill.....you might want to look at something 3-5 tank volume turnover???? You have to remember you won't have alot of head loss due to everything being mounted right there in the tank, per say. So you will be pushing the overflow and such pretty good, increasing for micro bubbles to be returned to the tank.....You want your turnover done inside the tank; either from PH's or a CL. What type of lighting are you planning? Heat transfer from the Mag is an area I'm not found of as well.......

That makes sense with the saltcreep and what not. I know a skimmer could never process ALL of the water...just wasn't sure if that design would process enough to be effective or not. Good point with the noise issue too...but I wonder if that's going to even be noticed with the fact of running a skimmer and return pump uncovered on the back of the tank anyway...seems like you may get a good amount of noise from that stuff too.

See, this is why it's good to hear from the experts lol.

I use that exact same skimmer.
As its my first I dont really have anything to compare it to.
But I never really get much past beer colored water in the collection cup.

I get a fair share of scrapage/green to wipe clean every other day.
But I never see the dark black/green water that other people get at the top of thier collection cups.

This might be due to my light feeding habits, and few number of fish.
But just the same, im already shopping for a different model of skimmer.
This one just isn't violent enough with its foam making to impress me.

Its more like light bubbling that gently creeps up to the collection cup.
What im saying is...I don't think you're gonna hate it. But I don't think you're gonna rave about it either.


And final thoughts on the return....you will probbly want to consider an auto top off to complement it. My 55g sump has about a 15g return chamber. I add 5g 2x a week. It looked like yours was evern smaller, so you might be doing daily topoffs if you dont have an ATO planned. This is just a caution zone. Otherwise I like the design, it works well. Especially considering the nice compact skimmer you picked out.

Are you referring to thickness of material to construct the tank and components? I wouldn't use either thickness for the build. Alot depends on how it's braced. 1/2" woul be a better choice.

GeoJ were you looking for the top of the tank to be totally open or were you planning some type of bracing?

With your current or first plan it could work, but some of the logistics just need to be worked out or fine tuned IMO.........

My first question is what are your space constraints or limits for a setup? Just with what you had proposed earlier, I feel you are wasting space by trying to stuff all that stuff into the back of the tank, that would really be limited use IMO.....inadequate to a degree.

With an open top tank, your material thickness is really going to have to increase....with something like your proposing I wouldn't do the tank unless you use a minimum of 3/4" acrylic....With thinner material, which people will do you will see deflection, and it just isn't appealing to the eye....Plus I feel a beefy looking tank done in acrylic is rather appealing. Have you thought seriously about doing a cube....Something in the line of 24"x24" or 36"x36". You could do a sump under the stand, and could add all the add ons your wanting.....

Looking at the above listing(last post) where are you located??? Curious, because I see chiller listed. Why would you need a chiller? An ATO doesn't have to be big or intrusive to be affective IMO.....Putting a skimmer actually in a sump setting expands your options as to skimmer choices vs trying to find something decent to stuff in the back of the tank....Honestly you could still run your overflow and such back there, but would suggest doing it externally to free up room inside the tank, and depending on size your looking at chiller options, and keep everything tidy in the stand......