Sump Design

[Richer]

I'm putting together a sump for my 30 gallon tank. Here is what I'm thinking of doing:

First one:
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/metroopt/Aquarium/sump.jpg

Second one:
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/metroopt/Aquarium/sumpv2.jpg

I was going to use a 30 gallon tank... but I couldn't get it to fit in the tank stand, so I'm using a 15 gallon tank that I had laying around.

My ultimate goal here is to eliminate micro bubbles while having the largest possible refugium. I'm probably going to put about 600gph through this sump. Which one would you choose? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
-Richer

[Quinn]

I'm not sure if you want that much flow going through your fuge. I would tee off your return pump and put maybe 100 gph through the fuge. You can see how I did this:

http://quinn.rdcpsych.org/fish/sump-design.gif

[titus]

Hello,

My personal opinion is to have water flow from one end of the sump to the other end. In other words, all overflow lines are drained into the same side of the sump. This usually maximizes the useable refugium space without the need of pumping water into a separate refugium section; and also minimizes the water flow per square inch of space, which helps to reduce bubbles from flowing into the draw chamber.

There are many fancy designs out there but the KISS rule is the best in my opinion.

Titus

[Richer]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll probably do a combination of Quinn's design idea with my second design choice. I also subscribe to the KISS rule... (thus the first design choice). However, I had simliar concerns that Quinn had... I wasn't sure if putting 600gph through a 'fuge would be a good idea.

On that note... do you think one 1" line will be enough to handle 600gph? or would it be a better idea to drill two 1" lines?

-Richer

[sleeman]

Richer,
Not sure if you remember what my sump looked like. I put a Tee on my drain line. 1 1/2" for main drain, and teed down to 1" with a ball valve into fuge. This has all the water coming into one side of the sump, and allows me to control the amount of water going into the refugium.

Cheers,

Al