My first SW sump... Input needed

[TRENT]

Hey guys, I made a 20L into a sump (this is for a 40b). Can you give me some input as to if it's going to work efficiently? First chamber is skimmer and sock, second LR, Third Return. Thanks

[grassi]

What is the box on the skimmer/sock section supposed to hold?

Some people like to have the return in the middle section.

This way you can divide the flow form the overflow. A fast flow line would go to the skimmer section, while a low flow line would go to the live rock/macro section. Macro algae does like low flow

[andy]

I hope you are going to run an ATO, your return section is going to drop pretty fast.

[TRENT]

What is the box on the skimmer/sock section supposed to hold?

 

 

The sales person at the LFS told me to separate the skimmer from the sock to prevent the sock from interfering with the Skimmer pump? So one or the other will go in the "box". The box is 1" from the bottom for water drain. I plan on running a Mag 9. The one in their is a mag 18.

 

"I hope you are going to run an ATO, your return section is going to drop pretty fast."

 

Won't their be a constant flow of water controlled by the overflow box? Or do you mean because of evaporation?

[grassi]

I didn't see the 1'' gap. Looks good that way.

Yes Andy was thinking about evaporation

[TRENT]

I didn't see the 1'' gap. Looks good that way.

Yes Andy was thinking about evaporation

 

I'll give it a test run tomorrow after silicone is all dry. Thanks

[Algae]

I assume the first chamber is for a hang on skimmer. It is too high for a lot of in-sump skimmers. You could put an in-sump on a riser.

I would eliminate that next to last pane and put a screen at the bottom (aka fish divider). This way your evaporation level would not drop so quickly in the last chamber. It is tiny, and if you ran some powerful lights or fan or ran into warm interior temp you may be suprised by the amount of evaporation. You would not need an ATO as long as you added water every day or two and it would give you the advantage of adding more dosing if you decide to use Kalk, etc.

[ReeFit]

Looks fine to me. thats only a 6" wall so your skimmer should work fine. make sure you put in some kind of a prefilter on that last gate to the main pump to keep any fuge debris from running through it.

[TRENT]

Looks fine to me. thats only a 6" wall so your skimmer should work fine. make sure you put in some kind of a prefilter on that last gate to the main pump to keep any fuge debris from running through it.

 

Cool

 

Thank you guys for all the input.

[h2odvl]

I would say to start with a mag 9 would be way to much pump for that size tank/setup.

A turn over of 3-5 times tank volume an hour is a good rule of thumb.

 

I have a setup close to yours, 29g main tank with 10g sump with 192watts of power compact lighting. I loose about 3/4-1 1/2 inch of water a day in my sump and it has no cambers.

 

I would at the least use the LR area for your return area too, and have a auto top off. Remove the first divider between LR and return. Leave the second one for a bubble trap.

 

Other then that it looks really good, I'm working on a 20L for a sump on my tank too. Like what you have done.

[Algae]

Looks fine to me. thats only a 6" wall so your skimmer should work fine. make sure you put in some kind of a prefilter on that last gate to the main pump to keep any fuge debris from running through it.

I was looking at it wrong.It does look like 7"-8" and should be fine. Not used to seeing such a small area for a skimmer. I have two skimmers that I can't even dream about getting in my 20L skimmer area. If you place the sock away from the skimmer inlet and utilize a a sock holder it would accomplish the same results but slightly less effectively than having the inlet close to the sock. Looks good.

 

I would say to start with a mag 9 would be way to much pump for that size tank/setup.

A turn over of 3-5 times tank volume an hour is a good rule of thumb.

 

I would at the least use the LR area for your return area too, and have a auto top off. Remove the first divider between LR and return. Leave the second one for a bubble trap.

.

If the Mag is the only pump you have you can throttle it back. It is a bit of overkill but you can get it to work all right. You want to have a safety margin in case the overflow gets a bit clogged.

There are some people that like to get a high turnover though their sump and others that believe that a turnover of 3X's vol. or so work best. To me it is easier to get flow out of tank powerheads than to rely on the turnover through the sump.

Ditto, again on the next to last pane removal and a screen/prefilter. You might get by dosing/topping off once every day or two if your house, lights, etc. doesn't evaporate your water too quickly.

Basically, you have done a good job!

I am not sure why I am writing this since I am rehashing what has been said before. Guess I'm getting like Kim and just trying to get posts and pink rep boxes?

[undrtkr_00]

Yeah, that return section is a bit small because 100% of the evaporation water level change will show up there. You'll need an ATO or frequent topoffs to keep up.

 

If made the big section the return and split the tank-> sump line to the left and right section like Grassi suggested, you'd have more evaporation room to play with.