Sump Design And Measurements

[l337dave]

okey here's what I've been doing this afternoon

comments on layout etc please and how I could do it better.

I need it to be able to hold about 6 gallons of overflow from the tank I'll post more details when I'm back at home cause I'd like some help with the height of the baffles etc.




dave.

 

[mantis147]

Hi Dave, ive just designed my sump the same size as yours and here is my design.

 

[SkiFletch]

Looks good Dave, Its a little complicated but I wouldnt change much from that top-down perspective.

Mantis, a couple things. Dont put your skimmer discharge straight into your bubble walls, you're just asking for froth in your display tank. Discharge the skimmer into the same chamber it draws water off of. And make your bubble walls taller

 

[l337dave]

Looks good Dave, Its a little complicated but I wouldnt change much from that top-down perspective.

Mantis, a couple things. Dont put your skimmer discharge straight into your bubble walls, you're just asking for froth in your display tank. Discharge the skimmer into the same chamber it draws water off of. And make your bubble walls taller

okey I had to keep moving stuff round to fit the size cause there isn't much room in the cabinet! The only thing that I could think of today was to make sure that there is a comb on the over where the water comes out of the refugium to keep junk out of the return.

The thing I need help with now is figuring out how high I need to make the baffles. I know I need the sump to be able to hold 5.5 gallons from the tank (assumed drain at 2inch below water level) and I know that the tank will just hold an extra 5.5 from the sump, there is just a fraction over 2inch between the water level and the top of the tank. This is the absolute limit tho. I'd assume in reality it would never need to hold this much only the size of the return compartment?

I just don't know how to convert this info into the height of the baffles I need.

What do you think to the idea of the tiers for the refugium the area is only going to be about 22cm square so I want to be able to maximise the area.

@mantis - what program did you use to do your drawing (and is it easy to learn.. )

dave.

 

[mantis147]

Looks good Dave, Its a little complicated but I wouldnt change much from that top-down perspective.

Mantis, a couple things. Dont put your skimmer discharge straight into your bubble walls, you're just asking for froth in your display tank. Discharge the skimmer into the same chamber it draws water off of. And make your bubble walls taller

okey I had to keep moving stuff round to fit the size cause there isn't much room in the cabinet! The only thing that I could think of today was to make sure that there is a comb on the over where the water comes out of the refugium to keep junk out of the return.

The thing I need help with now is figuring out how high I need to make the baffles. I know I need the sump to be able to hold 5.5 gallons from the tank (assumed drain at 2inch below water level) and I know that the tank will just hold an extra 5.5 from the sump, there is just a fraction over 2inch between the water level and the top of the tank. This is the absolute limit tho. I'd assume in reality it would never need to hold this much only the size of the return compartment?

I just don't know how to convert this info into the height of the baffles I need.

What do you think to the idea of the tiers for the refugium the area is only going to be about 22cm square so I want to be able to maximise the area.

@mantis - what program did you use to do your drawing (and is it easy to learn.. )

dave.

Hi Dave,

The programme is called google sketchup its a free download & its easy to use. Im designing a cabinet to house the tank & sump at the moment.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sketchup is a great program .

Dave, how many cubic inches of water are going to drain from the tank? (just LxWxH)

 

[l337dave]

Sketchup is a great program .

Dave, how many cubic inches of water are going to drain from the tank? (just LxWxH)

it's about 40x16x2 so 1280 if that sounds right..?



dave.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah thats right, so now you need say 1500 cubic inches (to be safe) of dead space in your sump. Remember, any walls that seal to the bottom of the sump and go upwards limit the height of water in that compartment.

 

[l337dave]

SUMP STUFF

Tank Length = 40 inches
Tank Width = 16 inches
There is an extra 2inches above the fill line to the top of the tank so 5.5gallons spare in case of blocked overflow.

Height of Water above Overflow = 2 inches
Sump Volume need to handle tank overflow in case of pump failure = 5.5 Gallons

Drain pipe diameter = 0.64 inches
Gallons per Hour this should flow = 240 (will I need a valve so I can match it to the pump..?)
Pump = ehiem 1250 with a (4 foot head loss) = 225 GPH (get a bigger pump?)

Assuming water height of 9.5 inches in the sump, so baffles at 8.5 inches.

Dimension of return 12x9x8.5 = 4gallons
Plus the extra an inch above the baffles = 1.2 gallons

= 5.2 gallons in total so I'd just scrape it if the overflow got blocked

dead space in sump 24x12x5 = 6.2 gallons so fine there.

So I got this far now I have two problems (other than the pump) -

1)ag! There are going to be pumps and a skimmer and things in there what do I do about displacement?

2)My heater is in my return, I know that the pump wont drain it totally so it shouldn't burn out, but would I be better leaving it in the tank so it will still be heated if the overflow fails..?

thank ya,

dave.

 

[SkiFletch]

If your overflow is only 0.62" in diameter, dont get a bigger pump, you could exceed the overflow's capacity to drain, not good . My guess is that with an eheim 1250 you shouldnt need to control the flow, full open should be fine.

1) dont worry about pumps heater and skimmer displacement, by in large they are all under the operating level of the sump and wont play a factor in designing water levels. If you were going to use a massive skimmer like an asm G5 then it might be of concern, but not something thats gonna fit in your small space

2) put your heater in your refugium

 

[l337dave]

If your overflow is only 0.62" in diameter, dont get a bigger pump, you could exceed the overflow's capacity to drain, not good . My guess is that with an eheim 1250 you shouldnt need to control the flow, full open should be fine.

1) dont worry about pumps heater and skimmer displacement, by in large they are all under the operating level of the sump and wont play a factor in designing water levels. If you were going to use a massive skimmer like an asm G5 then it might be of concern, but not something thats gonna fit in your small space

2) put your heater in your refugium

@1 okey

@2 I would but it wont fit!

I'm going to make the baffles out of acrylic and silicon them to the glass tank, I saw this on melves, he said that it is water tight but they will be easy to remove if you want to try an new layout.

anyone done it this way before?

@mantis - I've just downloaded sketchup now so I'm going to have a go with it, I'll post it in 3d if I get the hang of it!


dave.

 

[SkiFletch]

well then just put the heater wherever it fits

you can adhere acrylic to glass with silicone just be ginger with the acrylic since silicone does not stick well to it . Melev is right, you can remove the acrylic very easily cause it doesnt truly bond to the silicone. Make sure you use a healthy bead of silicone too