20 gallon sump.

[stevewieters]

have a 37 gallon reef tank and I want to make a sump from a 20 gallon . I have been reading so much about DYI sumps that I am more confused than before. What I am going to do is place the 20 gal to the side under the top tank. I have the HOB overflow and all the hoses. I have a sock, Berlin skimmer , heater, two HOB aquamasters 70's, and a good return pump. I am going to forget about any baffles and just set it up like another tank. I will have all the equipment on the 20 and just pump all that nice water back up to the 37. It will give me more space and volume. We will see what happens. I will post a pic or two when done.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Lowes cuts glass,... and silicone is cheap. It's better to have at least three baffles in a sump right before the return pump to keep microbubbles from being sucked up into your return pump and pushed into your display tank...
Is it a 20g long or a 20g high? A 20g long would have a much longer run time for bubbles to dissipate... but then again, it would be better if you used at least three baffles. The baffles that you install could also be used as filters if you put some filter floss between them, so you wouldn't have to run your other filters.
Make sure you have enough room for extra water when your return pump is shut off... Baffling your last chamber could give you enough room to install a float valve or an auto top off valve and a separate resevoir. It might be worth looking in to.

 

[geoj]

Lowes cuts glass,... and silicone is cheap. It's better to have at least three baffles in a sump right before the return pump to keep microbubbles from being sucked up into your return pump and pushed into your display tank...

Is it a 20g long or a 20g high? A 20g long would have a much longer run time for bubbles to dissipate... but then again, it would be better if you used at least three baffles. The baffles that you install could also be used as filters if you put some filter floss between them, so you wouldn't have to run your other filters.

Make sure you have enough room for extra water when your return pump is shut off... Baffling your last chamber could give you enough room to install a float valve or an auto top off valve and a separate resevoir. It might be worth looking in to.
I am not a fan of float valves as they can stick open. I like to use Peristaltic Pumps for auto top off.

 

[stevewieters]

OK, Now I'm baffled about the baffling. How should they be placed in the tank? It's a 20 high and I have some plexiglass in my garage left over from another project. Please..., draw me a picture.

 

[acrylic51]

Ok....There is no set rule anywhere; where a sump has to have baffles.....A properly designed sump/setup can be done without any baffles at all. That being said if the return pump is matched correctly with the rest of the system you'd have very little micro bubbles to contend with therefore eliminating the need for baffles. Being such a small sump I would attempt to use at least 2 baffles. You could put 100 baffles into a sump. If they aren't setup correctly they are worthless. With a longer/bigger sump you could negate baffles provided the water has a long enough run for the bubbles to pop before entering the return area......
As far as float valves.....I don't see an issue if it's hooked to an ATO provided the ATO isn't huge that could totally swing your salinity out of whack in the event of sticking valve. I would never recommend a float valve connect to an RO/DI unit plumbed directly to the sump. I also prefer an optical sensor vs a float valve....