need help with sump design with new skimmer

[blazemore]

I have a 58 gallon tank that I've had for about four years now, and I've been using a BakPak II skimmer the entire time... up until now. The BakPak just doesn't produce any skimmate at all for me anymore, no matter how many different pumps, cup levels, and airstone mods that I try. So, I decided to bite the bullet and get a really heavy duty skimmer that will also work well if I ever upgrade the tank down the road.

I ended up with a brand new MR-2 from MyReefCreations. I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into. Anyhow, here's a picture of my 58 gallon tank with the MR-2 I've plumbed into the small sump. The tank and stand are 36" long.



Here is a close up of the sump. You can see the Gen-X PCX55 pump to the right.



And finally, the skimmer.



The problem I'm having now is, due to the small size of my crappy Sealife Systems sump, it seems like no matter where I put the return/drain from the skimmer, there will always be tons of microbubbles in the water, and because so much water is being returned right next to where the pump is pulling water out, the skimmer's pump is pulling in a lot of extra bubbles/air, which is cause the water level in the skimmer to fluctuate a lot, especially when it's set to pull air in through the becket intake.

Seeing as how I've only got about 34" to 36" of space to work with, is there any way I can design a sump that will fit in my tank, along with the PCX55 pump, that will allow for little to no bubbles to be pumped back into the main tank and to allow for the skimmer to only pull in water? The pump is currently screwed into the stand, but I can move that over a few more inches if I need to. Also, I was thinking about maybe moving the drain further over to the left of the sump where the main overflow goes to, and then placing a sponge under the single acrylic baffle to try to filter out some of the bubbles/air. I use a Mag7 for the main tank return, and it was still pulling in a lot of tiny bubbles with the foam filter attached to it, so I don't know if placing foam/sponges is worthwhile or not.

Tomorrow I will probably go around and see what kind of small tanks I can find locally. I drilled my acrylic sump, and that's the first time I've done anything like that with acrylic. If I went with glass, I'd probably just get someone else to drill it for me. I'm dying to use this skimmer, but I really need some help with the sump design, and even some alternate plumbing suggestions would be great. The water level drops about 4" when both the Mag7 and the PCX55 are turned on. I imagine if there were less bubbles int he water when the PCX55 is on, the water level would be a little lower. I could possibly go with something a little taller and wider to accomodate for more water and a bit more room for the water level to fluctuate when the pumps are turned off and on, but I still don't know how I would need to install baffles or section off the inside of the sump.

Thanks.

[emperora]

due to the limited space you may also want to consider using a rubbermaid storage container for a sump ,or locating the sump next to the tank so you could use a bigger size.

[blazemore]

I might just go with the rubbermaid route, but if I do, I will still probalby need to setup some sort of baffles to reduce the bubbles.

Would something like this possibly work? I've never setup any sort of baffle system so I don't know exactly how much they help in reducing bubbles.

[Hop]

I'm betting that the baffle design you show will rid you of your problem! By looking at your sump, you could probably look into Melev's collection of sumps and build one yourself pretty cheap to suit your needs here and make a clean, bubble free environment

[blazemore]

I moved the skimmer drain over to the left sid eof the sump and that helped a lot. Now the skimmer isn't pulling in lots of air due to the water being so violent. The water on the left of the baffle is violent, on the right side it's pretty calm.

I also ended up putting some rock in front of my first and only baffle, and and that seemed to help a ton with blocking/slowing down the bubbles. The skimmer seems to be running great now.





Sorry about the really large initial images. I keep forgetting I'm using a widescreen resolution.