Alright, I've had it! My sump has gotta go! Well, to call it a sump is being generous. Back when I built my tank a few years back I simply used a 15 gallon tall as a sump... it was basically an after though and I've been suffering since.
1) It's a total nightmare working in the sump because the sides are so high. Just removing the skimmer cup without dumping skimmate all over the place is a chore.
2) It's impossible to clean the sump because the sides are too high.
3) It's cramped and I can barely fit my skimmer, let alone all the auxiliary equipment.
4) No baffles for a bubble trap, so too many microbubbles in the display.
5) The sides are too high (noticing a theme?).
The challenge with the new sump is that I have a square tank footprint (24"x24"), so I need a be a bit creative in the layout. My thinking is that I will max out the area under the stand with the sump and mount the remaining electronic components that are on the sump floor onto the wall.
I added a rough layout of my new design below and I'm curious as to what people's thoughts were.
-You will notice that I have 2 pumps in the sump. One is a dedicated return, while the other runs my chiller, phosban reactor and whatever experimental equipment I happen to be playing with at the time - I know, it's weird but it works for me.
-I've created a small refugium/frag area in the from of the sump. I may add a small LED set up down there to grow out frags, or I might make a small refugium or species specific area.
-May tank lets out ~2 gal to the sump once the drain is return is turned off. The new design gives ~ 7 gallon of volume for excess water (I am on the top floor of an old house - flooding is a no-no).
-Baffles are wide enough to fit a siphon for cleaning
(Sorry for the jumbo images, I gave up trying to resize them)
