First sump design

[JJMoneyman]

I like your design on your fuge, it's basically how I design mine as well. Just make sure you have enough space left over for power outages which it looks like you should. Double drains on your DT will cover you as well to prevent something clogging on one line but with a small return section in your sump it's also a secondary backup to overfilling your DT. Looks great!

 

[Thrawn]

take that extra inch of space to make the bubble plate spacing 1" on each side.

Looks good, but yea, you might want to space the baffles out a bit more. A tough balance though, as you don't want the baffles to eat too much space.

You mean in between the baffles? I did allow for an inch between each one, or do I need to make it bigger? Sorry the picture came out so blurry, I don't know why it scanned that way.

And is 1" on each side of the skimmer enough or should I space that out more?

 

[jrgilles]

1" should be good, sorry. Misread.

As for the skimmer room. If you can have your skimmer in the sump in the stand and are still able to remove it, you are good. Mine is a pretty tight fit. I have to take the collection cup off and also remove the body from the motor housing to get it out. Kind of a pain, but it works. You don't want it to be completely unremovable (or uninstallable as it may be...)

 

[Thrawn]

Are there any reactors that would be recommended for my set up? Originally I wasn't planning on worrying about them until later, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it would be easier to worry about them now rather than later.

 

[jrgilles]

What do you mean by reactors? Media reactors? I use these for phosban and carbon, they will fit pretty much anywhere though

Two Little Fishies Phosban Reactor

Protein skimmer will be in sump, but you have already thought about it.

Calcium reactors are usually (at least from what I have seen) outside the tank to the side or something.

Two things you may want to add in though are:
1) probe holder. Can make out of some scrap plexiglass to hold pH, temp or ORP probes, if you ever plan on using them.
2)something to protect your heaters. I made a 'cage' out of egg create and have the heaters against the side glass surrounded on 3 sides by the cage. That will protect them from any accidental hits with live rock, etc. Sucks if you break a heater and don't know about it, as it can be detrimental to the tank

 

[jrgilles]

maybe you aren't having live rock in your sump though, so it isn't a big deal. Mine is kind of full of rock in my (giant) return chamber