Sump Design ~ Help!

[fishyfan2]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/100079Sump_Design_.jpg

Hey Everyone! Here is the first draft of the sump I'd like to build for the 125.

~It will measure 45x16x16 and will hold approx. 50 gals.

~The baffles will be presure-locked so I can move them around in the future if I want to change the design.

~The chamber on the right will house the skimmer.

~The center will hold a DSB and live rock. I will also have micro-algae behind a drilled petition so it won't cover up anything I want to see in the front portion of the reugium.

~The left chamber will house bio balls which water will flow through using two horizontal baffles with holes drilled through them.

~The water will be collected at the bottom of the left chamber which is where the MD 1800 will be housed.

~ I plan to drill the tank (Acrylic) and include 3-4 bulkheads to lead to future tanks including a quarentine/hospital tank, but I'm not sure where the best place to drill would be.

I'd appreciate any comments or advise you'd like to offer. I'm making this up as I go along and I'm tired of staring at the empty 125! Thanks~Janie

[loyalty]

looks good, but i'd personally ditch the bioballs

[ol'salty]

Ditch the bioballs. If you want anything in that chamber at all, move the micro algae there or use live rock ruble. Do a search here on RC and you'll understand why we say "ditch the bioballs". Looks great though!

Dave

[Angela Short]

Also don't plumb the hospital/qt in with the main. It defeats the purpose of having it because a disease can spread via the water column and you couldn't dose meds if they use the same water :)
Good luck with the design, I am looking at sump/fuge designs also and wish they came pre-fabbed perfect for "your" tank with no thinking!

[ol'salty]

I'll agree with Angela on the "no thinking" part. It hurts sometimes!

Dave

[fishyfan2]

Thanks for the advise. I don't plan to plum the Hospital/quarantine tank back into the main system. It will only be plumed to recieve water, thus hopefully decreasing the stress to whatever I'm treating or watching at the time.

I also want to try the bio-balls because everything I've read says that they only cause a problem when they are submerged in the water. The water will only spill through them if the design works. If they become a problem, I can always remove them later and use the chamber for something else.

I appreciate all the imput~keep it coming!

[j_a_wickstrom]

The return pump will be housed under the bioballs? Which means when you do your maintainence on it you'll have to remove all the balls and the screens holding them. Sounds like a lot of extra work just to clean the pump.

[fishyfan2]

That's a good point~I'll think on that one. Thanks!

[Angela Short]

Sorry you lost me on the reciving water only in QT.... Where is the water gonna go after its recived? Sorry if I am slow :) If you are gonna use the tank water to fill the Qt I would just do this with a bucket and not drill the extra holes in the sump/Qt, just more places to leak. Just keep some sponge filters in the sump for instant bio and you do not need to keep the QT up 24/7. I set my QT up as needed and just keep my filter sponges in my sump I use on my QT to keep them seeded. Hopefully you only will need this tank when a new fish is purchased to properly QT and address any health issues before the addition to the main tank.

I am also not a bio ball fan as long as you have plenty of live rock and substraight to grow bacteria on in the tank.