Sump design. Do I have the go ahead?!

Firstly, I apologize if this is in the wrong place.. I couldn't find a better place to post it.

Secondly, sorry the picture is so crappy. I had to take a picture of my sketch with my phone.

I have a brand new 38G tank that I will be converting into a sump for my 90G. It will be replacing a wet/dry that I currently am running.

My goals are:

1. To have a fairly large Fuge, with good mangrove growth, and as much macro algae as possible.

2. To have a section dedicated to a skimmer and a phosban reactor, made in such a way that I will have as minimal return of micro bubbles as possible. I have a major issue with micro bubbles right now, and it is killing me.

3. To be safe, as as effective with my space as possible!


IMG_1771 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

I haven't picked out a skimmer yet, but I feel as though I've left enough space for as large of one as I will get. (Upgrade won't be for at least 2 months.)

Also, please excuse my plan not being to scale completely.

 

First question....

Would running the chambers in a different order reduce micro bubbles further? If I ran the water from Skimmer, through baffle, to fuge, through baffle, to return pump, would it be more beneficial than the set up I have sketched?

 

The set up you have now looks great just like mine. I didn't put a baffle on my fuge and regret it now as I still get some micro bubbles from that side. Thumbs up on the design. It's also nice to feed the fuge from the drain because it won't be working with water that has been stripped of nutrient from a skimmer.

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The baffles will reduce the micro bubbles so the setup that you have looks to be a good one and that looks like nice size sump/fuge.

 

Oh and if you use a BRS reactor you can save some sump space by mounting it elsewhere.

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Thanks for your input guys. After a little more research, I decided to go ahead with my plan. Just got off the phone with the local glass shop. I pick up the pieces tomorrow. Right around 30 bucks for the 6 cuts. Not too shabby. I'll keep you posted.

 

You really don't NEED three baffles. You could could get rid of the innermost baffles and be fine and it makes cleaning better as with three its hard to clean between them. Also don't really need the ball valve to the Skimmer unless you really want to. If the flow through the fuge is slow enough you also shouldn't need a bubble trap at all just teeth. But either way definitely use teeth to help catch the macro algae.

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Everything looks good. Only question I have is why do you have a ball valve on the drain to the skimmer compartment?

 

I think i would have the drain drop straight into the fuge with a tee to Skimmer section and a ball valve below it.so you can adjust the flow through there and excess goes to Skimmer.

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I now realize that the ball valve on the skimmer side is not needed. Thanks for pointing that out.

I picked up the glass from the local glass cutting store. Epic fail, every piece is different. I don't understand how people can't measure the simplest things. The inside diameter of my tank is 11.75. I requested all 6 cuts be 11.75. I mentioned that the tollerance would be slightly less than that, so that there was no chance they would be cut over 11.75 and not fit. I used to work in a machine shop.... I was talking thousands of a inch tollerance... I guess they figured it wouldn't hurt to give me glass that was 11.6 in length. Ugh. 2 of the cuts are 11.5. Come on people. Needless to say, I'll be going back tomorrow to pick up new cuts. I will be sure to take my measuring stick and leave my wallet in the car.

How much of a gap can there be? There really shouldn't be one at all, correct?