DIY Sump Design - Please review

I'm doing a DIY sump build on my new 75 gal. reef tank. The tank that I got for the sump is a 40 gal. breeder. The overflow will be plumbed into the inlet with a valved inlet to the refugium cranked down for less flow. The protien skimmer will likely be a Reef Octopus Needle Wheel 150 for which the appropriate footprint has been shown.

After the inlet there will be some sort of mechanical filtration, either carbon or the filter foam. From there it will flow into the skimmer area that will be about 10" deep as I've read that the Reef Oct. likes about 10" of water (I can do further adjustments and reading later on that). then into the pump pit. The Fuge inlet will be plumbed past the sump inlet with the ball valve and will then flow into the pump pit via a series of holes set just above the pump pits water level (hole size has not been determined yet). In the even of the fuge outlet holes plugging, the overflow level of the fuge will be a half inch lower at the pump pit so it will overflow into the pump pit first before flowing back into the skimmer area.

Should the Fuge be fed from the return line instead of the overflow line?

Any comments or criticisms?

 

Here's mine.

 

At first glance I kind of dig yours Firefighter. I like the idea of controlling the flow to the refugium and moving the rest to the other half. Cool. 8)

I moved this to the DIY board.

 

Your layout is well thought out. The two flow paths from the tank over flow give you a lot of flexibility, and gets "dirty" water into both sections of your filter. Post some pics as you build...

 

It will require a lot of extra work than a normal sump - but from the looks of it - getting "dirty" water to both sections will pay off in dividends of clean water and healthy tank residents.

Nicely though out!!!! Now how are your silicone skills!!!!?!?!? ( I know mine are sub-par at best and I have built several sumps already) Luckily the sealing of individual chambers is secondary to overall flow - a few small leaks in a sump will have no net effect on your filtration IMHO.

Now you have to post pics of your build!!!

 

Looks great! Post pics!

 

Nice design!! I did something similar. sump w/skimmer on the left, fuge on the right, and return to DT in the middle. My drain splits to both sides so I can feed the fuge with the dirty DT water before it goes through the filter sock and skimmer.

Yes, the fuge should be fed from the overflow.

Good luck with the build and don't forget the pics

 

Looks like mine except you have a "long" fuge which is a pretty good idea! All that extra work will totally pay off in the end. I actually enjoyed building mine from just glass panels, but to each their own.

Looking forward to the build-thread.

 

Many thanks on the compliments.

Where should the heater go? Would it be too much flow by to have it in the intake chamber? I could extend out the Skimmer chamber to put the heater in there... Also, should the main panel between the Fuge and the rest of the sump be black to avoid light flooding into the sump?

 

Anyone know the flow calculations for water flow through a square oriface?

My concern is, will my 2" x 2.5" overflow after my mechanical filter be able to accomodate the flow of the Megaflow overflow?

I think I remember seeing somewhere that the Megaflow is capable of 600gph. Lets take friction loss and head out of the equation for simplicity. So if 1/3 of that goes to my Fuge (200gph) then I'm feeding 400 gph to my sump. Worst case scenario it floods the intake chamber and runs into the skimmer chamber but that kind of defeats the purpose of having the mechanical filtration...

Any thoughts on the flow rate that can pass through that 2" x 2.5" weir?