Reconfigurable baffles!

Funny this topic should come up. I just replaced my sump LAST NIGHT and tried pressure locking baffles, using EPMD stripping as rec. by wetwebmedia. What an absolute failure!! I tried to add water and sand gradually to prevent uneven pressure- even though my baffles were quite tight, they both slipped and failed quickly, sending what was to be my DSB/ fuge area sand everywere!!
What a PITA. I tell you my baffles were TIGHT, almost worried they were too tight, and I used the recommended weatherstripping. I will go back to caulking them in place. Good luck if you want to try it though.

 

I thought about trying this. Can I just get he gray weather stripping from my local hardware store?

 

I too tried this after reading, and as all but one person has reported, epic failure. Will have to drain sump, clean, dry, and silicone baffles in place. Better to do it right the first time than have to deal with this hassle.

 

Sorry to hear that Face. What happened? As mentioned before, if the water level is significantly higher on one side of a baffle, you will experience failure.

In my sump, the fuge is fixed in place because of this, but the bubble traps are removable.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these should only be used for bubble traps. Trying to use them to hold in a fuge seems to be a disaster for everyone that has tried.

If you have to, silicone your fuge (what I did), and use the reconfigurables ones everywhere else.

I also think there is a limit on the flow rate through your sump. I doubt these would work in a sump passing 3000 gph through for some of the bigger tanks.

 

I don't have a fuge in this setup, just intake, baffles(bubble trap), and return. All water in sections are(were) even. It took 2 days before all collapsed, and only 1 day before the last baffle collapsed. I fixed it, and it collapsed again a day later.

 

Used my sump\fuge for just over 2 years never had any issues with the acrylic bending or any issues with the glue or the foam.

I have been using this setup for years in fresh water with my Africans to separate 20 or 40 gallon tanks into sections for the babies that I used to breed.

Most of the time I would have at least 4 sometimes 5 different sizes and you have to separate them or the bigger ones tend to make dinner out of the smallest ones.

I used to drill holes and silicone Nylon screening over the holes and separate a 20 gallon into at least 3 sections.

Then as they got bigger I would remove the plexi to give them more room to manuver.

 

Actually not a good idea for a DSB fuge, the pressure of the sand at the bottom would push the plexi out at the bottom and create a disaster just like you had, you would need to glue the Fuge part in. But for a standard 3 part no DSB sump/fuge it works just fine.

 

Just curious, what's the flow rate through your sump?

 

700 gph