Newbie Seeks Now-it-all For Sump Help!

Hi everyone!
I’m working at adding a sump to my system. The display tank is a 50 tall reef and I have an old 30 I’m going to convert into the sump. The problem is that I’ve never done anything like this before so I’m relying on you’re communal wisdom to get me through this. The picture is of my proposed sump. I’m making the dividers out of acrylic. I will be adding about 15 or 20 lbs of live rock and sand as well as about 5-7 red mangroves and chaeto with a grow light. The only knowledge I’m bringing to the table is that water runs downhill. The display tank is not drilled, I was thinking about running an overflow box. The fear is that if I lose power or siphon that I’m going to end up with a bunch of water on my floor. My thinking is that if I minimize the return pump area I will accomplish two things: 1) If I lose my siphon, I would only pump maybe one extra gallon and burn up a return pump. 2) If I lose power, the empty space in the tank will more than accommodate the water that trickles back from the downpipe and the return

What I need from my fellow reefers:
Check out the picture and tell me what I’m doing wrong
Offer any recommendations for a decent skimmer (looking to spend about 100-200/ new or used)
I’m assuming I need to match up the flow rate of my return pump with the amount of water coming from my overflow box. What do I need to consider here?

 

Acrylic won't bond to glass with silicone, just an FYI. All in all, your fuge should work. I would also add some sponge or floss into baffles to minimize bubbles from hitting the return pump. Just make sure you leave enough water level so your return doesn't run dry.

 

i dont know i used lexan it worked pretty good

it held to gether but i wouldnt trust it to hold weight or water

 

thanks for the info guys. the biggest concern i have is matching the water going in with what is going out. do i need i need to worry about this or will it pretty much sort itself out? how can you rate the flow of water through your overflows?

 

the easiest way to solve this is to put a valve on the return from from the pump to the tank.

most overflows are around 700gph(but ofcourse the farther the water must travel the less it is).

 

As long as your overflow is rated for more GPH than your return, you are good. Putting a ball valve on your return, like how sostoudt mentioned is a good safe guard to ensure that.

 

it's nice to have the ball valve to shut down when doing water changes, ect also so your not running your pumps and skimmers dry when the tank isnt able to overflow and not have to pull 5 plugs

 

I'm not sure how to-scale that sketch is, but if it's close than you're going to run into a problem in the chamber where your return pump is. That chamber is where you will see all your evaporation and with the level that low, unless you have an automatic top-off system you'll be running a serious risk of the water level dropping too low and ruining your return pump.

 

yeah, it's not to scale. it was basically a quick little sketch up. my reason for making the return pump chamber so small is that i'm worried about losing power or a siphon. i'm trying to make some insurance and limiting the amount of water that would be available to spill onto the floor.

 

I would run the skimmer in the first section coming from tank then refuge then pump,farther for bubbles to go to pump but if your fuge is alot higher than your return water the fall of water into the pump area will cause bubbles.