New Sump for my 180 Reef
 

So i am getting close to setting up my 180 (6' x 2' x 2' with doors on 3 sides of the stand) and have been debating how to build my sump for some time. I think i have finally come up with a design to accomplish all of my goals and fit in the space allowed. Please comment and help me make sure i do not miss anything.

The sump will be 44" long by 22" deep by 22" tall. It will have 4 sections, refugium, frag, skimmer, and return. The refugium and frag section will be 33" long by 11" deep by 18" tall (q1). There will be two 3" sections on opposite ends of these two sections for the 2 drains coming from my 180 tank (q2). Connecting the refugium to the frag section will be a 2" by 6" gap opposite the drain section and connecting the frag section to the skimmer section will be an 2" by 8" gap (q3). The skimmer and return sections will take up the remaing 11" by 22" and will be 16" tall and seperating them will be a 3 baffle bubble trap 1" apart (q4). The skimmer section will have two holes drilled for my external EX2 skimmer and my calcium reactor as well as an in water Q1 12k pump for 2 phosban reactors that will just hang on the side. The return section will have 1 hole drilled for my external return pump (q5) and i plan on feeding my auto top off drip into this section from a seperate 20 gallon tank. The attached pictures help explain a little better. Also, a little unrelated, but i plan on putting dual 30" 2 bulb T5's over the frag section, since it should fit perfectly over the area and i will have a pvc platform to hold frag plugs at 2 different levels, 4" below the water and 8" below the water (q6).

My initial questions are :

q1) Do these seem sufficient size for the tank and is it ok to have them the same height? My only concern is drain from one section to the other, but my thinking is it wont matter, because the water will flow over regardless.

q2) Two questions regarding the drain sections, and that is a: should the outlet be at the top of the section or the bottom, and b) is 3" enough or too much or an unneeded space to help disapate the power of the 600 gph drain? My original thought was to have the drains at the bottom, as is shown in the pics, but now i am thinking bubbles may be broken up more if it drained at the top.

q3) These gaps will be the tooth sections that allow water to pass and keep things contained, do they seem to be the appropriate sizes? I really just kind of guessed on them.

q4) Does the section with the bubble trap seem large enough to disapate all the bubbles when there is almost 1200 gph flow going through the section? I am really concerned with this as it seems to be alot to me. The return pump is a Q1 6k.

q5) This almost seems like alot of wasted space, but i think it will be ok as i am feeding my top off into the section and the room will help mix it. No specific question here, but i am just questioning my design a bit.

q6) Do you all think this lighting should be sufficient to hold frags of all sorts? Best thing i could find to cover the space effectively with minimul heat transfer while still providing significant lighting. I was thinking of using these : [url=http://tinyurl.com/2urmmz]Current USA[/url]

Please comment and question all you like to help me make this decision, i really want it to work out well the first go without having to redo it several times to get it just right.

Thanks

Here is the top view with all the dimensions listed. Gives a good idea of where everything will be. Please comment and question.

[IMG]http://webereefin.com/images/3d_still_top.JPG[/IMG]

The following pictures show different 3d views of the sump. All the walls are the same size so you can see the sections, but there will be a 2" difference in the outer walls height around the fuge and frag section continued all the way around.

[IMG]http://webereefin.com/images/3d_still_1.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://webereefin.com/images/3d_still_2.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://webereefin.com/images/3d_still_3.JPG[/IMG]

Don't go from 'Fuge to Skimmer, it defeats the purpose by skimming any phyto's, pods, etc. that your fuge is designed to add to the water.

Go Drain, Skimmer, Fuge, Return.

ttt

anyone else? i am going to go forward with building this in the coming weeks. i guess i will update with how well it works then. i have since added a secondary tripple baffle and made the drains a little different, but the overall design is still the same. anything? thanks

The biggest problem I've found from running drain to 'fuge is the large amount of detritus that builds up there from the overflow. A refugium will not have the ability to deal to deal with it and it will build up in piles. Give the raw to the skimmer first.

Wouldnt the fuge be a better place for the detritus to go though? Especially if you have a DSB and critters in there that can eat the detrious?

I would think it would build up in piles in the sump alot quicker with no critters and no DSB to break the detrious down.

Sounds like a good idea, but it wont happen. The small critters in a 'fuge wont keep up with a properly functioning overflow. If it were perfect its the only filtration we'd use.

The nice thing about it landing in the sump, is that you can siphon it out without sucking out all your pods or macro. Better yet, direct feed the overflows to a good skimmer and it will pull most of that junk out before it builds up.

since my skimmer will be external, just feed it from the first drain, then take its output to where the first drain originally was going? I have a DAS Ex2 skimmer and i believe it only needs 300 gph, right? so do i give it all, or dial back my return so that i only get that much coming down? Also, will the second drain location be ok? You mention alot of buildup, but where else do i go with it since i do not want it all in the fuge, and the skimmer cant handle it all.

would it still be ok to use the now empty skimmer section for my 2 phosban reactors, of which 1 or both will have carbon and depending on the need ferrick oxide

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11580261#post11580261 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WeMa [/i]
[B]since my skimmer will be external, just feed it from the first drain, then take its output to where the first drain originally was going? I have a DAS Ex2 skimmer and i believe it only needs 300 gph, right? so do i give it all, or dial back my return so that i only get that much coming down? Also, will the second drain location be ok? You mention alot of buildup, but where else do i go with it since i do not want it all in the fuge, and the skimmer cant handle it all.

would it still be ok to use the now empty skimmer section for my 2 phosban reactors, of which 1 or both will have carbon and depending on the need ferrick oxide [/B][/QUOTE]

You're half right, yes. You should set it up so that PART of your drain will feed your skimmer, but not all of it. Take a Tee and put it in your drain line and have that Tee feeding your skimmer with a ball valve so you can control how much goes to the skimmer. I think most people go for 4-5x turnover through their skimmer.

As far as buildup goes, I only vacuum mine once a month or so, and I feed decently heavy amounts of food in an overstocked SPS tank. Having a little detritus buildup in the fuge isn't too big a deal, the pods like to eat it. You'll want the majority of it to land in the drain section of your sump if you can, its there so you can vacuum it all out. I put eggcrate on the bottom of my drain section so it purposefully catches it rather than blows it into my fuge. This way, I just shut the return pump down, close the drain ball valve, take out the eggcrate (I have 3 layers of it) and vacuum out the detritus thats in there when I do the water change. It works great and I have a very minimal amount of detritus in my fuge.

The "now empty skimmer section" will work perfect for housing extra equipment. You can put your heaters there, dose chemicals in it, Calcium, Kalk and Nitrate reactors return there, etc. Having Phosban reactors there will definitely be an added benefit to your tank. If I were you, get an MJ1200, two Phosban reactors, and tee the MJ1200 off. The reactors come with ball valves, so have the Ferric Oxide barely going with just enough flow to move the top of the surface of the Ferric Oxide around, and keep the carbon one at wide open.


Hope this helps, keep us updated.