Time to grow up and sump

SO I'm gonna do a sump/refugium for my 55g. I looked into making my own overflow box and the female unit nixed that plan and told me to just by the CPR overflow box. I really like their units, but I was wondering WHICH MODEL TO GET. I mean how many GPH should I plan for?
As far as the sump itself, I have a standard stand (sorry for the redundancy) so would a 20L work? Should I have it a larger tank underneath? I'm just looking for some advice from you guys because I respect alot of you exp and know-how and appreciate all comments!

 

How much turn over through your sump do you want?
A 20 long is plenty big. I have a 10 under my 46.

 

20 gallon tank will be fine.

You want 10X flow of the volume of the sump flowing through e.g. 200GPH, the flow is controlled by your return pump. Find a pump that will move 200GPH at 4 feet of head.

Get one that is rated at least 2X your sump flow. This should help keep the noise down.

 

awesome 2 in ten, that was exactly the info I was looking for!!! so i can easily get away with a 300 gph cpr overflow then!

 

I have one and an aqualifter laying around if you want it. PM for info.

 

ok, as for plumbing im gonna drive the return with a dannar mag 5 then have a t-secton run to my refugium on the far right, skimmer in the center and return on the far left of the 20 with an all plastic check valve (True Union Swing Check Valve - 1 inch Slip x 1 inch Slip) and a couple of jets towards the center of my display tank. top it off with a korillia 3 on each end what do you think i can do better?

 

I would say the mag5 is too small. I also have a 55g with a 30g sump and I use a mag12 split between 3 returns into the tank and then I still use 3 additional powerheads for circulation.

 

ok i have decided i am going to go with a mj 3000

 

lol

My "female unit" dreads the days i goto home depot/lowes. not b/c she doesnt like me tinkering but b/c she is worried im going to sell my liver for a new saw kit or something i equally dont need.

 

yeah we go to lowes at least once a week. I got lotsa tool and have to finish a sunroom on the house while sumping my 55g reef. I have to proove i can do both so she lets me keep going on coral stuff. BTW im thinknig about having a 200-300 gallon frag system out there ;-)