sump refugium suggestions

[bckey]

I am in the process of having a sump/refugium built. The specs are 36L x 14W x 17H using 1/4" acrylic and that part will be finished today. Tomorrow morning (Wednesday)I have to go by his shop and tell him the specs for the baffles and placement. This is where I need help. My tank is a 75 gallon Oceanic reef ready. My skimmer is an ASM G-3 with a footprint of 11" x 12" and a height of 25". My stand has 27 1/4" height room. My return pump can be a mag 7 or silent one 3000 I have both.

Questions

How would you divide it up? sump/refugium/return or sump/return/refugium.

How big for each compartment. 12 x 14 each or what?

How tall for the baffles? I was thinking of 10" and putting a 1" stand for the skimmer. If I put the refugium at the opposite end of the skimmer I could make a wall with overflow teeth and it could be higher that the baffles dividing the sump/return.

Any help is appreciated.

[bckey]

bump for some help

[bckey]

1 more bump for help before morning

[bckey]

Oh well.

[ratherbediving]

Probably too late... but... IMO you could go either way just fine. I would go with a sump/refugium/return, because I wouldn't be too worried about having too much flow in the refugium with a 14" wide tank and a Mag 7 for a return....

The alternative, sump/return/refugium is very often recommended; you have more control over the water flow and you can have a higher compartment, as you mention. However, if you tee off the return to get flow into the refugium, I would personally worry about the head loss/ water volume loss by teeing off the return for the Mag 7. You might not have optimal water volume going through the sump for your tank in that case.

I would recommend some kind of bubble trap, if possible.

If you have the sump/refugium/return, you could make do with one bubble trap between the refugium compartment and the return area.

The bubble trap will probably add 3 inches-- you if you took that out of your pump return area, that would be 9x14.... actual water volume would be 9x14x10 when it was full; I would think that would be enough. The other two compartments could be 12x14.

--if it's not too late, someone with more knowledge could probably chime in. Let us know if you picked it up already and how it turned out!

--Mike

[bckey]

Thanks for the reply. I went with sump/return/refugium. I told the guy to make sure that the sump and refugium areas were the full 12" with the baffles taking up the return area. I went with a 15" wall for the refugium which equates to 13 1/2" after the teeth are cut. This gives me 7.3 gal sump/ 7.3 gal return/ and 9.8 gallon refugium minus baffles , sand, rock, pump, and skimmer. As far as plumbing I was going to tee off the inflow instead of the return unless that is a nono. I am a newbe so input is welcome.

[ratherbediving]

I think you can tee off the inflow, but it would be great if you can test it out first. The reason I think people tee off the return is to avoid collecting too many microbubbles in the return area. Of course, as you 'break in' your plumbing with SW, the amount of microbubbles will decrease; however, if you have a lot of them right now I would be concerned.

[bckey]

I was going to tee off the inflow and install a ball valve to control the inflow to the refugium. Hopefully the slower flow to the refugium will cut down the bubbles. I won't know for a week or 2 because I am still waiting on a stand from Dayton Inc.

[thrlride]

I have a 30 long sump setup like yours. Mine is sump/return/refugium. My dimensions are different and I used a bubble trap with mine. I split the drain from the display and have a ball valve on the fuge so I can slow it way down. I used 1 1/4" PVC for the drain to help alleviate any backups.

[bckey]

I had the guy put a bubble trap on this one too. It is between the sump/return. It is over/under/over at 10" high.

[BrentN]

I've been wanting to diy a fuge also, but I've heard many people tee of the return with a valve. this way, you can divert flow back to your fuge if you find it is too much flow into the display, and is easier on the return pump as you are not restricting flow through it (like just putting a valve on the output side of the pump with no tee). Not sure if this is better, but it sounded good to me. Any reason you'd prefer to tee of the drain instead?

[bckey]

The water from the return has been through the skimmer section. I know that there is still water that gets through there without being skimmed. I just was thinking water staight from the tank would be more beneficial to a refugium.

[bckey]

I picked up my sump/refugium for the 2nd time. The first time the water flowed underneath the baffles so I took it back and made the guy seal it right. I never even filled it with water because I saw the flow under the baffles immediately after putting about a cup of water in it. Now I pick it up and do a full leak check on it and it leaks at the corners on the refugium end. This is being done at a local acrylic shop and the guy claims to have built some really big aquariums before. Over 30 years in the business he says. When I took it back the first time he whipped out an silicone gun and was going to seal the baffles with that. I told him to use weldon and that I didn't want silicone.
Needless to say I am not happy. I worry about setting this up and it leaking down the road some time. What can I personally do to this refugium myself when I pick it up again to help prevent leaks later on?
Even the way he constructed it was different than the norm. He bent the acrylic front/bottom/back so thet they are one piece. He then cut the ends and used weld on to attach them. He way overcut them and then attached them and then grinded them down to size. I printed pictures of Marc's refugiums for him to look at and I drew out plans for him with dimensions. Here is a picture of it and you can see it leaking on the newspaper on the left side. I will say that it does look nice but I worry about leaks on the ends. Any help would be appreciated. I am running out of time because next week this has to be up and running.


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/78338P1100002.JPG

The lid you see adds support and doubles as my light holder. It can be moved around or taken off.

[webpolk]

Return it. I would not accept it until it is just as you paid. Next time, have him fill it before you pick it up. I would think this to be standard practice for someone building these.

Whatever you do, don't rush it in, then you are asking for trouble.

Steve

[bckey]

Webpolk,
No question. I returned it. I am looking for what I can do to this personally once I do get it from him again. I think the whole problem with this sump is that he bent the front/bottom/back out of one piece. It made the corners not fit flush on the bottom. I don't know yet what he is going to do to fix it but he says he will have it full with water when I pick it up. I told him I do not want any silicone stopping leaks because that is only a temporary solution. Silicone will not permanently seal acrylic. I mentioned weldon 16 and they don't use anything but 4.
How did I ever find this place.

[webpolk]

First off, sorry for your bad luck.

If I were you, I would not accept it unless you are happy. If you don't think he can fix it, ask him to rebuild it for you.

If for some reason he refuses to help you and make this right, goto his local Better Business Bureau. You can find them all online through bbb.org. Once you go through this process, about 10-15 minutes, you will have to wait 30 days for him to respond.

I find that most, 100% that I have tried, are more than willing to make it right once they get a bad mark from the BBB.

Good Luck,
Steve