DIY sump/refugium

I also have a 75 gallon tank, and was just planning on building a sump for it. I was going to buy a 29 gallon acrylic tank and then add baffles and such to it, heres my design

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Is your spare tank acrylic or glass? Do you run a skimmer or plan to have a skimmer and what kind of overflow do you have on your tank?

For an overflow you might take a look at:

http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/370270/the-beaslbob-trap-s

To substitute for baffels in the 20l you can use a container to put the pump in.  Let the water run into the tank, then rise up to the top of the container, overflow into the cotainter where the pump is and then return to the tank.

my .02

20g long sump would be a perfect fit. I like andrews design, but maybe with one more baffle between the return pump chamber and the refugium. That would eliminate a lot of microbubbles. Also, I recommend an auto top off.

If you do use the container idea as stated by Bob, I highly suggest finding out if it's food grade plastic (which will be labled what plastic it is in the triangle somewhere on the plastic.)

Other then that, do some searches on this forum for sump design and you will come up with a plethora of information.

I revised my design thanks to snakes advice yesterday ;), I don't have the drawing on hand right now, I just added another baffle from the refuge area. For the overflow issue, you can either have your tank drilled, which is the best option in the long run, but is rather difficult to do. The other option is a having a hob overflow, I heard some bad things about them, but I also heard some good, just do a search on them on the forum, you will find lots of info on it. With your 20L being glass, your best bet is making your baffles out of glass, and siliconing them in place, silicon doesn't adhere to acrylic, so your not doing anything more than wedging a piece in there between silicon, it will eventually come loose. My design is based on my protein skimmer foot print, and my tank size, so with your tank being smaller, I would suggest shortening up the refuge area, make the skimmer big enough to house your skimmer your planning on getting, and make the return area hold as much volume of water as possible. Like snake said, you should use an ATO(automatic top off), it makes life so much easier, you no longer have to worry about your tank water getting low, or your pump sucking area and pushing bubbles into your tank! If you have any questions just ask me, or anyone on this forum, they are all very knowledgeable!

automatic top off units are systems that have a float you set in your tank. they usually come with a unit that you can plug a pump right into. So when your water level gets to low in your sump, the float will send a signal to the unit which will then send power to your pump that you will have in a water storage tank. This will pump fresh water into your sump until the level is correct again then will shut off. If you just google automatic top off units you will find all kinds. This keeps you from having to manually top off your tank everyday.

You can Pm me and i can send you some links to some ATO units.

I found one for $55, its called SpectraPure power liquid level controller, its a very simple design, but it has good reviews, and its a lot cheaper then the others.

I know your asking about "AUTO" top offs, but did you know its super easy to just tap into the closest water line, like you would for a freezer, plumb that line to the RO unit and then plum the RO unit into the tank and put a manual valve on the 1/4" line somewhere under the tank... Very simple open door, turn valve, watch it fill, close valve. 

or better yet. U can get a 1/4 electric air valve, and put it on a timer. Open for this amount of time per day and close.... 

Very simple and cost about 10.00 at your hardware store.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha 

 

 

or better yet. U can get a 1/4 electric air valve, and put it on a timer. Open for this amount of time per day and close.... 

 

Very simple and cost about 10.00 at your hardware store.

 

I would not recommend this, the amount of water that evaporates varies from day to day, so if you have a set amount that gets put in, and its to much, over a course of a week of putting to much in, you could really screw your tank up, or even overflow it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoJ 

I like the idea if you where just using a needle valve and set the drip rate to the evaporation rate. The reason I use a small Peristaltic pump is, a) to have a max rate that can be pumped in to the tank for a safety control, b) to be able to dose kalk in the top off. If your solenoid sticks open and your rate of flow is high bad things can happen.

This is not a bad idea, but like he said only if its a very slow rate, if you don't control the rate of flow, and something happened, you could overflow your tank, kill all your livestock, and ruin your floor/walls. Its a much better alternative to spend a little more money and buy something with fail safes, or just manually top off everyday.