10 Gallon Sump/Refugium Idea

I was building a sump/refugium for my new 17g nano. I have been looking at others builds and I have taken some ideas to try and reduce noise and utilize as much of my small space as possible.

Looking at the attached pictures from left to right, the left picture is a top view. Basically, there are 2 parallel chambers divided by a piece of glass that will both dump over an angled baffle into the return section that will be at one end.

The equipment section (skimmer, heater, etc.) will be along the back so that I can reuse my HOB skimmer and still be able to close the door, and there will be a pair of bubble trap baffles in addition to the angled baffle. The refugium will be on the front so I can see everything going on in there.

Just looking for some input from you guys with experience building sumps.

 

2 thoughts, not enough room unless your fuge will only be 3" to 4" wide. Where is the water flowing in from and how is it distributed to the fuge?
Third you will eventually have an issue with the slanted baffle not staying in place.

It's a very nice design just needs a larger sump and some bracing to keep the slanted baffle where it belongs

 

I am not sure where Telgar saw the dimensions – I might have read to fast….but regardless. If this is going to be small and attached to a 17 gallon nano – perhaps you might want to consider a coil ?

 

The fuge would have footprint of roughly 5"x15", and so would the equipment section.

Both the equipment section and refugium would be fed off the drain from the DT, it would be Tee'd with a valve to reduce flow to the refugium.

Thanks for letting me know about bracing the baffle, I hadn't heard about them breaking loose.

 

I thought I read it was going to be a 10 gallon - yeah, it's in the title

thought I was going crazy there for a sec

 

A coiled denitrater? Maybe if this doesn't work I will look into that, but I've had success with my nano with just a HOB fuge, so I'm hoping to be able to do the same with a full-size fuge.

 

ok, whats the footprint of the skimmer, remember you want a little extra space around it for proper water volume.

 

Just to clarify, I will have a 17g DT on a metal stand with a 10g sump underneath it.

 

The skimmer is a Coralife 65g HOB, so all I need just enough room for the RIO1100 pump and the return. That is unless I get the urge to run it in sump, but at this point, I have the room behind the tank, and I'd rather not lose the water volume the skimmer would take up.

 

OH - there it is ! I knew I was missing an obvious somewhere -- year, 10 gallon is tight, I stand by a coil tucked inside the 10

Or just forgo the equipment and run the 10 gallon fuge with a gravity drip back to the sump.