Please critique my sump/refugium

[ErikJL]

This is a quick paint drawing of what I've been scribbling on paper the last few days. Side view is on top and the top view is on the bottom (yeah I know it sounds backwards :shock: ).

*** UPDATED PICTURE LOCATION ***
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7436142@N02/429995440/

All I have so far is my 90 gallon tank and the stand skeleton. There's so much involved that I wanted to tackle this project piece by piece. My main goals are to create an efficient, robust system that requires minimal maintenance.

Water from my 90g tank will flow into both the refugium and the skimmer chamber, those both empty into the pump chamber, and then pumped back into the tank. I guess I'll have valves on each inlet for flow control. The refugium will hold ~11 gallons.

1) Any comments/suggestions on this design? Please feel free to expose my ignorance, that's why I'm here. :lol:

2) I remember seeing where someone put LR rubble in the bubble trap. Seems like a good idea to me, any thoughts? If I were to do this, I would likely increase the spacing of those crossmembers (2" instead of 1" perhaps) to improve the flowrate.

3) The skimmer will be a DIY counter-current airstone design. 30" for the reaction chamber seems to be a minimum, would anyone suggest moving the skimmer to a seperate chamber/closet so I can make it taller? I have 6' of 6"DIA PVC available to use for the reaction chamber. If it's a significant improvement, I'll certainly do it.

 

[btuck]

I don't see anything wrong with it but some people might have a hard time viewing your pic as it's on myspace and you have to log into myspace to view it. Not everybody has a profile i'm sure. I'm just a loser and do .

 

[returnofsid]

Looser with a myspace acct as well here. Although I never log into it...until now...lol. Ummm your pic doesn't explain where your water comes into the system at. The only suggestions I'd have is that you may want a bubble trap between refugium and pump as well.

 

[ErikJL]

Oh, I didn't realize you had to have an account to see it. I'll fix it when I get home later tonight.

Sid - The water comes into both the refugium and the skimmer section from the overflow in the tank. I plan to use valves for full flow control. The second bubble trap idea makes sense, so I'll add that too.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! Yeah, I can't view them either...

2) I remember seeing where someone put LR rubble in the bubble trap. Seems like a good idea to me, any thoughts? If I were to do this, I would likely increase the spacing of those crossmembers (2" instead of 1" perhaps) to improve the flowrate

As for the live rock in the bubble trap, I don't really see any benefit of doing it. If people do it to break up bubbles, then I think their bubble traps are actually bubble traps Personal preference I guess though, but for me, I'd leave it out to keep away from an excess detritus that may accumilate from it in being in there. Just a thought...

 

[ErikJL]

I didn't think about it trapping more detrius, good call. Anyway, I've updated the picture and it's now at Flickr where hopefully you all can see it. I also have two more questions:

4) Any advice on the height of the water in the skimmer section?

5) I was thinking of either feeding the skimmer straight off the tank overflow (instead of releasing in the skimmer section) or diverting part of the flow back to the tank into the skimmer. Thoughts?

BTW - thanks for responding. I've seen how nice and helpful people on this site are, which is why I'm here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7436142@N02/429995440/

 

[dragoneggs]

Water height should be governed by your particular skimmer. My Euroreef calls for 6in to 8in for best results.

 

[dragoneggs]

Looking at your diagram, I would try to add some type of mechanical filteration such as a sock or some floss to catch the bigger pieces of waste before it goes into the skimmer. Make something that is easy to remove and rinse out.

 

[ErikJL]

Looking at your diagram, I would try to add some type of mechanical filteration such as a sock or some floss to catch the bigger pieces of waste before it goes into the skimmer. Make something that is easy to remove and rinse out.

Will do. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ErikJL]

Water height should be governed by your particular skimmer. My Euroreef calls for 6in to 8in for best results.

This will be a DIY skimmer, so I suppose I'll have to tinker with it.

 

[dragoneggs]

This will be a DIY skimmer, so I suppose I'll have to tinker with it.

You don't want the water to be too high or your skimmer will want to float and bob around. The water in the skimmer base will need to be higher than you in you sump.

 

[koyoteturtle]

awesome, i diy d the same sump, from melevs reef, it works great. I can send you a picture if you want, but what you have looks almost identical to mine.
About the skimmer and heighth, its all about the manufacturers specs. the only thing diffrent is i have a live rock pile that the overflow dumps into first, no chemical filtration, not even activated charcoal, (probably a future project) 30 gallonsump on a 75 gallon reef tank. Year and a half, so far so good.

 

[ErikJL]

Well I just picked up a 55g aquarium off of craigslist for only $30, so it looks like I'll once again be modifying this basic design (which seems to be a winner) around this tank. My poor stand will need an overhaul as well, since this tank is also 48" long and 13" deep. 2x4's are relatively cheap though.

 

[shavo]

question

OK i like the design but not sure if it will work properly.
why don't you have things just go down the line instead you have the pump in the middle of the fuge being valved off for "total control" will you have total control? I actually tried to valve off a wet dry and a fuge instead of tying them together when i first started. it was a diasaster thank god all i did was get a shower and not go out! Now i don't think that is the issue here but I am just curious why is the pump in the middle? and why make it more difficult to pipe it? and ad valves when it isn't necessary? i would put the skimmer in the inlet from the tank then some macros a DSB and some rubble rock in the middle and the pump on the far end returning to the tank
no need to do all that plumbing and putting in valves.
sorry not trying to bust your groove just curious why the extra effort?

 

[ErikJL]

I put the return section in the middle to isolate the refugium from the skimmer section, as they require different flow rates. If I were to just run the tank overflow to the skimmer section, then have that drain into the refugium, then finally to the pump I would not have total flow control of each section. Say I want the skimmer to have 100gph, the fuge to have about 500gph, and the excess dumped into the skimmer section. This way I can tinker with and fine tune the flowrates. It's the engineer in me I guess.

 

[shavo]

lol

well i don't want to stop you I would like to see if you can do it. but flow rates? why do they require different flow rates? I have a working fuge that is doing it's job very very efficiently. when the water comes in to the fuge have the skimmer there, then baffle it to the refuge part, baffle that and then the return pump. the flow rate isn't as drastic as you are thinkning. I think you are over thinking the whole thing. do you or have you had a fuge before? with the baffles in place there isn't alot of flow. infact i actually have a power head in my fuge because of that reason. I forget at this point how big is your fuge going to be? I have a 35 on a 125 and I have no flow whatsoever. I have a mag seven pump bringing water back to the tank. If you want i can send a link to my buddy Mr. X's fuge he has a 75 gallon fuge on a 125 not really alot of flow and another powerhead.

what is your return pump again? with baffles it isn't as drastic of a flow as you are thinkning. let me know if you want the link to his build project. it is a crazy diy science project thing but it has personality. i really should take pics of my fuge also so i can post if needed.

 

[ErikJL]

I have zero experience so far, let me just say that may be why I'm overthinking the situation. So I don't have a feel for what 100pgh or 700gph would actually look like, so right now they're just numbers to me. Better to overthink than underthink and have everything die on me. From all that I've been reading, the skimmer I want to build (tall DIY airstone driven skimmer which I will be starting soon hopefully) has a recommended flow rate of 100 gph for the most efficient skimming for my total system water volume. My tank overflow can handle 700gph. With a Mag9 pump I can deliver 800gph at 4' of head. (I don't have any pump yet. All I have is my 90g tank and a 55g tank for the sump/refugium.)

As a side question about the Mag pumps, can their flows be adjusted? I ask because the Mag7 will only deliver 475gph at 4' of head, well under the ~700gph capability of the tank. However, 800gph will dry out my sump faster than the overflow can work. I suppose I could just use both bulkheads for drainage if I had to.

I'd appreciate the link, as I'm looking at everything and anything during my planning/educating phase. :lol:

 

[shavo]

I don't think they are adjustable

I do not think the flow rates are adjustable but you could put a valve in the line just don't valve it off too much the pump with eat into itself. My friend has a new 95 gallon wave the one with the link i sent you. he purchased a mag 9 and had to return it because of the flow rate. he settled with a mag 7 and it is operating very well. I also have a mag seven on my 125.