Please grade my sump design homework

Powerman is right. I built my bubble traps the way you diagram here, MMcDonald; and my return pump caught a bubble or two, so I'd recommend you use 3 panes, as you're using your bubble traps to maintain water levels.

It's a trade off. If you use the 2 pane method, you can't go under/over as Powerman suggests b/c in this fashion, water level will not be dictated by the baffles. If you use 3 panes, you get the best of all worlds, but you use more materials, perform more work, and you lose precious space in the sump.

BTW, I have the XP-2000 on a stand, and it sits in 6 5/8" of water. This level works very well for me. If I had to do it over again, I might have ditched the skimmer stand and simply baffled the space at 6 5/8" depth. The extra water depth isn't accomplishing anything, and the less water in your sump, the better (for power outage reasons).