My New All-in-one Super Sump Project

In an attempt to clean up my "Reactor Room" I came up with this little gem of an idea...

In place of all my seperate fuge, make-up water resivoirs, sumps, etc.. why not build it all into one large tank?? So here is what I came up with:



Water enters into the bubble trap and is split into two directions, a light flow to the dual fuge chambers each with adjustable flow rates; the main flow runs through the heater chamber and then combines with the discharge water from the fuge chambers. From there water is directed into the open sump area where the Skimmer and Reacter are located and finally pumped back into the display tank.

On the left side the two make-up water resivoirs are filled with fresh water and have pumps attached to liquid level controllers on alternate day timers, this little feature allows an auto-top-off system that will allow for dosing trace elements/chemicals on oppisite days from each resivoir if desired.

Construction should begin next week :

 

I'd put the skimmer right by the water inlet from the tank. It will be more effective there. Branch off the inlet into 3 pipes with adj valves - one for each fuge, and one to the skimmer/return pump/reactor chamber.

 

Interesting idea....

So I should alter the design, add a third fuge chamber on the water rail, and put the skimmer in chamber 3 -- I like it!

 

Do you have a separate pump for the skimmer and reactor or are these fed from the sump return pump? Some of the current thinking is that it is best to have "dirty" water going into the skimmer as opposed to that which has already been through some processing.

Personally, for our sump, the goal is to have only 3 pumps total (a closed loop recirculation, a PH for the Ca reactor internal circulation, and a sump "return" pump that supplies all equipment and returns water to the tank)...so the skimmer, in our setup, will only be able to get water that has been through some filtration (a trade off)...

You can see the sump layout in this thread: http://www.3reef.com/forums/filters-etc/equipment-room-not-48562.html

 

I do have seperate pumps, so with the modified design I can direct unprocessed water to the skimmer

Revised Design:

 

That is a really neat design! Do you plan on having two types of macro is that why there are two fuge areas? I agree with the others about the skimmer part. I've researched fuges a lot and it seems to be recommended to skim before fuge (or any processing) in order to let the skimmer do the dirty work first and also to put cleaner water into the fuge.

I can't wait to see how this comes out! Keep us posted!

 

Yes on the two fuge areas, I designed a fuge that way this summer and it has allowed for some really cool experiments with different substrates, marcos, plants, etc... wanted to keep that design in mind.

I think its best to have unprocess water entering the fuges, don't want to remove any nutrients from entering them

 

I also like the 2 fuge design to have different macros, flowrates, and lighting configurations.

 

After reading all of your great suggestions, I have come up with what should be a very cool new design ;D



In this version I have added the skimmer chamber with 2 flow gates; by opening "Skim Gate 1" unprocessed water from the display tank fills the skimmer chamber, opening "Skim Gate 2" filles the skimmer chamber from water that has run through the 2 fuge chambers. Both Skim Gates could be opened and then unprocessed water & fuge water would be combined in the skimmer chamber. This should offer excellent flexibility.

In addition the heater chamber has been moved next to the return port, this will ensure that all water moving though the system is exposed the the heating elements for maximum effect.

 

I like it....Excellent design.