Sump Pictures

Hello, I was wondering if some of you great people would post pictures or email to me pictures of your sump and or drawings of the design you used. A picture is worth a gazillion words to me. I am going to build a 55 gallon sump/fuge combo with an in sump protein skimmer. I would like to see how others built a similar setup.

Also, because I have seen it done several ways and I am sure this is pretty subjective, is it best to have the overflow water go directly to the skimmer then to the refugium then to return pump or is another way more desired?

Is a protein skimmer the only necessary mechanical filtration, is it sufficient on its own as the only means of mechanical filtration?

Thank you

undertaking125@yahoo.com

 

Sorry. Mine is custom built. But here how it looks.

Its not Droid, it's me fishies.

 

Another angle

Its not Droid, it's me fishies.

 

This sump was made by Kritter Tanks and its 36w x 12d x 17h which is perfect for my 75g stand.




The sump is divided into compartments. The initial drain is on the top of the picture sectioned off from the right so it flows to the left where the skimmer compartment is. Water then flows to the front of the sump to the center refugium. then theres a bubble wall and into the last compartment all the way to the right which is the return. Really, there's endless possibilities. MY tank is only 48" long so a 40 gal breeder would take up all the space and i needed room for the dosing equipment.

Drain Compartment: 17x5
Skimmer Compartment: 11x12
Refugium: 17x12
Return compartment: 17x8

Just one tip if you are going to make your own sump. I've seen a lot of people make sumps and not take into account the rate of evaporation. If you have a ATO system then don't worry but if you're like me and you top off manually, make sure the return compartment is big enough to handle a power outage and also big enough so you don't have to constantly refill your return compartment to keep your pump from running dry.

 

Due to lack of space I had to get creative and have my sump separate from my fuge, though in the end I like this idead and i can have a remote DSB.

 

Here's mine. It has a built in frag tank.

 

Here is my drawing. This was made to barely fit in my cabinet. Next time I will leave more room for care and handling

 

Here's some pictures of mine when I was setting it up had to take my stand apart to get the 40 gal sump in it

 

Here are some after pluming

 

I have two overflows. One overflow goes straight to the skimmer section on the right. The other splits. Half to the skimmer, half to the refugium on the left. The refugium overflows into the skimmer section. Return in the middle.