CFI Custom Sump for 55g

[TWallace]

I just got my sump from Jason yesterday and installed it last night. It's 30" long, 15" wide and 18" tall, making it roughly 35 gallons. I designed the sump with a little help from Jason. Water enters into the skimmer section where Jason built me a removable stand for the skimmer. The idea was to raise the skimmer up so that the output would be slightly above the water level, as recommended by Euro-Reef. However, when I set it up that way, it was incredibly loud. So I added the optional pipe on the bottom of the output so that it's underwater and it was about 90% quieter this way. I also put some tissue in the top of the return pipe to muffle it which helped a lot as well.

The return pump section is in the middle of the sump. It holds the Mag 7.5 return pump as well as a tiny Mini-Jet 606 which pumps water into the refugium section at roughly 100gph (adjustable down to 18gph I think). The refugium baffle is about 10" above the water level in the return pump section, so it does create some bubbles in that area. However, the return section is big enough that I can move the pump against the opposite baffle (away from the bubbles) and as a result I'm not getting many bubbles sucked into the display. I can also adjust the refugium pump's flow down to reduce the bubbles, which I've now done.

I removed the contents of my old CPR HoB refugium and placed them into this sump's refugium. When I moved the sand/mud in, it obviously created a massive debris cloud. Since I didn't want that in the display, I turned off the refugium pump and added an airstone to the refugium to keep it oxygented while I waited for it to settle down. I really like being able to easily isolate the refugium from the rest of the tank.

The sump is currently being used with my 55g, but I designed it so that it would be big enough for a tank 2-3 times this size down the road. The skimmer is similarly sized, as it's a Euro-Reef RS100, designed for 100g tanks. Anyway, on to the pics:

Front of sump

Top of sump

Here you can see the skimmer stand, which I don't really need now due to the skimmer noise mentioned above, but it's removable if I ever want to take it out.

Here you can see the return section with the Mini-Jet in front pumping water into the refugium, and the Mag 7.5 in back.

Here the backside of the sump is visible, showing the bulkhead drilled into the back and spa flex tubing connecting the overflow to the sump. I was a little nervous about these joints leaking as I'm no plumber, but I primed and cemented them and they're holding strong so far, haven't seen so much as a drip yet.

The skimmer is a blemished item from Euro-Reef. They drilled the pump hole a little too low, and had to add an extra black disc on the bottom to make the skimmer/pump on the same level. So instead of paying $290 for it at Marine Depot, I got it for $200. So far it's working great, already pulling out a thick foam. I was skimmerless for the past 6 months and never really had a problem with nitrates (never above 2ppm). I'll see if this skimmer keeps them at 0.

 

[Krish]

Very nice setup! Looks great!

 

[TWallace]

Obviously the sump is much too big to fit under the 55g, and I was tired of being constrained by this, so I opted to place the sump outside the stand, and that way I could it as big as I want, and not be limited on skimmer height either. Inside the stand only left me with a max height of about 19" for a skimmer.

Also, my current refugium light is too long for this sump, so I'm switching to the one Melev recommends on his site.

 

[mfinn]

Nice looking sump
Jason does nice work.

 

[csdoyle]

Twallace,

It was good to meet you though briefly at Jason's shop this weekend. I was a bit preoccupied with drilling closed loop returns to get to chatty.

My only question would be.. wouldn't you want your raw water from your skimmer compartment to be entering your refugeium rather than your tank return area? I know the 'fuge pump is a slow one, but it would seem that it would recycle some of the same scrubbed water back into the 'fuge and the algae might benefit from the raw water that is coming into your sump at the skimmer compartment.

A small factor granted.. but I am interested in your perspective as I am planning my 'fuge pump to be in the dirtier skimmer area.

The sump looks awesome and I am sure your main tank is ecstatic with it in line now.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[jezzeaepi]

Nice looking sump!

I actually did the same thing. I had Jason make me an oversized sump for my system at the time, knowing Id upgrade and still be able to use it in the future. I couldn't fit it under my stand, so I put it above my old tank. The quality and craftsmanship on it put to shame my seaclear tank which was next to it =P

 

[TWallace]

Twallace,
My only question would be.. wouldn't you want your raw water from your skimmer compartment to be entering your refugeium rather than your tank return area? I know the 'fuge pump is a slow one, but it would seem that it would recycle some of the same scrubbed water back into the 'fuge and the algae might benefit from the raw water that is coming into your sump at the skimmer compartment.

A small factor granted.. but I am interested in your perspective as I am planning my 'fuge pump to be in the dirtier skimmer area.

Good point Chris. I'm not sure how much difference it would make, but that elbow joint that connect the fuge pump hose to the bulkhead is not cemented, so I can easily remove it if I want. Then I could use a straight barb fitting adapter and place the fuge pump in the skimmer compartment. Since it's so low flow though, I think most of the fuge overflow water gets sucked up by the return pump now. So I'm not sure how much of the fuge overflow water is being shot right back into the fuge.

 

[Jobiwan]

Good point, but I wouldn't worry about it, 100% of the raw tank water doesn't go through the skimmer at any time, so a certain percentage of the raw water is is returned to the tank, there will be enough goodies that get by to feed the critters in the fuge, good thing for pod culture, seems like running the raw water directly to the fuge first would allow more nitrate production since in theory more proteins (uneaten food, fish waste, etc) would hang up in the macro and decompose. The nitrate reducing function won't be effected either, nitrates aren't removed by skimmers, skimmers take out some of the crud before it is broken down into nitrates, the nitrates that are present are somewhat soaked up by the macro in your fuge, I think fuges and skimmers complement each other, rather than competing for the raw water.