Gonna Convert to A Sump - Any Advice

[singlemalt]

Ok so I'm finally gonna get rid all the ugly stuff hanging in and on my tank.
The plan so far is to buy a 20 gal to use as the sump - a Lifereef Prefilter/ Overflow - a Nautilus t3 skimmer with a Magdrive 7 - a Magdrive 9 as a return pump. I'll follow one of the many DIY plans I have found on the web. I'm not going to do anything complicated, just trickle the tank water through some filter media and carbon then have it flow to the Mag 7 to power the Nautilus to finally be pumped back into the tank
Just a couple of questions:
1) Will this kind of setup work in my 55gal?
2) What is the best way to protect against a flood in case of a power outage or clog in the overflow?
3) Any plumbing recommendations - Size and kind of pipe - Valves?
4) Anything else you think I might need to know?
Don't know what I would do without the good people on this board!! Reading all you can find about a topic is great but there's nothing like getting the scoop from people with real experience!!

 

[fishtanker]

i have a 55gal with a 20gal sump also with a nautilus skimmer, i howeer use as rio 2100 for the skimmer as recommended by kent and this has worked very well. veverything else sounds good to me, and i used 1" pipe for the plumbing because my overflow was 1" not sure what the lifereef size is. IMO

 

[singlemalt]

Thank you - good to know the Nautilus works well. I think the Rio and the Magdrive are both recommended but now I'm gonna check to be sure.

 

[maryc137]

Drill a little hole in your return line just below the high water mark. That way, if the power goes off, the hole will break the syphon so that it doesn't flow back down into your sump. Test it and make sure you have room in your sump to hold the water that does back flow when the power is shut off.

 

[coral bandit]

check out ocean jumpers sump/ refugium at his site ........ he is also a member here. He has alot of good info!!