Baffle design?

[bgi]

I have a very small stand for which I'm making a sump. It's the AGA 54 bow/corner. If you have seen these, you might have noticed that the stand's internal dimensions are much smaller than the tank and the door size is limiting. I have considered making a two-piece sump or making a separate refugium. I would like to squeeze in:

1) Refugium with DSB as large as possible. (don't want a dsb in the main tank).

2) Calcium reactor. The reactor I have is the MRC Nano dual (got it used and it has a large 12x12 footprint with flanges overhanging this footprint)

3) Smallish skimmer can go in the drain area where the bubbles will be made.

4) Baffles to reduce/eliminate bubbles from the return.

5) I want the Mag 9 return pump to be external to keep it's heat out of the water (may not be a requirement).

I may have to forego the calcium reactor and hook up a kalkwasser drip from the litermeter. I can do this from a large container downstairs, so it would be low maintenance.

The problems I need to solve before I can settle in on a design are:

1) Baffle size. I need to find out how large the baffle spacing must be to allow the bubbles to escape. If I space them too closely, the water moves to fast and bubbles are carried to the return pump. If I space them too far apart, I waste precious space in the sump. Is there any rule of thumb for baffle area per water flow gph?

2) Will I be better off squeezing in the calcium reactor? Or will the kalkwasser drip / topoff work just as well?

Hmmm.... Ideas?

thanks much!

[gregt]

On number one, it's really difficult to specify even a rule of thumb. It all depends on the dimensions of the sump, the volume of water flow, and the amount of bubbles you need to disperse. Just to throw you a curve ball, I prefer horizontal baffles to vertical ones for bubble dispersal (aka a raceway).

2) Personally, I use a two-part because I like a finer control than either of the other two provide. JMO.