sump questions

szgppl · #1 02/10/2007, 08:47 PM

Hi everyone, I’m new at the salt water side of things and setting up my tank. I have been lurking on this sight for over a year now, and used advise in other posts to kick things off. Now that I’m getting ready/closer to setting up my 90 gallon. I have a couple of questions right off the bat and more to follow.
1. related to the sump, when installing the 3 baffels how tall is the 1st and 3rd ones? I know they should be 1 inch apart and the center one should be 1 inch from the bottom of the sump. The sump is a 20 gallon long.
2. Is it better to have the drain straight down to the sump or the return straight up with no 90 degree turns or flex. The drain size is 1 inch, the return is ¾ inch. For a return pump I’m going to use a blueline 40x.
Thanks Mike

bertoni · #2 02/10/2007, 09:43 PM

[welcome]

I don't think either really needs to be perfectly straight. The return line is more critical than the overflow line, since the pump has to overcome the head loss.

I'm not good at sizing sumps, so I can't help much with the baffle question.

jer77 · #3 02/10/2007, 09:48 PM

Usually the first chamber of the sump has the skimmer in it. The height of the first baffle depends on the recommended water height for your skimmer, unless you raise the skimmer. Were you going to run a skimmer and what skimmer?

szgppl · #4 02/10/2007, 10:03 PM

The skimmer in the frist part, it is a ASM G2, than the baffles, at the end of the sump the hole for the return is drilled

jer77 · #5 02/10/2007, 10:14 PM

The water level for my ASM G-2 is kept at 8'' high.

szgppl · #6 02/10/2007, 10:59 PM

J, thanks

andrewr · #7 02/10/2007, 11:24 PM

the height of the 2ND baffle is what will determine the depth in the first chamber. The first baffle should be open on the bottom, the second should be on the bottom and the third should be open on the top, this will allow the microbubbles to escape. I have a 90 in my drain line going into the sump b/c if it is coming straight down you will have some big burps in the line and you will have salt creep build up faster, but it is all about preference I suppose.

jer77 · #8 02/10/2007, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by andrewr
the height of the 2ND baffle is what will determine the depth in the first chamber. The first baffle should be open on the bottom, the second should be on the bottom and the third should be open on the top, this will allow the microbubbles to escape. I have a 90 in my drain line going into the sump b/c if it is coming straight down you will have some big burps in the line and you will have salt creep build up faster, but it is all about preference I suppose.

First of all the first baffle should be on the bottom, followed by the second which is open on the bottom, and then the third which is the same as the first. The third baffle is what determines the height of the water.

Also the purpose is to trap the microbubbles and not let them escape.