Sump/Refugia Size

[moocow]

I've already made the plans and I'm getting close to buying materials.
But the more I look and think about it more unsure of it I am.

My tank is a 58 gallon Oceanic.
I was planning to put a Sump/refugia under it.
But the tank I'm using is only 20 gallons, that means after I leave space for back flow I've only got about 12-15 gallons of working volume.
Is that really big enough?
I've been looking at 30 gallon tanks, but the LFS close to $50?! For one.
I think I could make one of acrylic cheaper than that.

What should I do?
is 15 really enough?

[angel2007]

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/sump.php

[Toddrtrex]

I have a 20 High sump for my 58 ( reef ready ) I have plenty of room of the extra water when the main pump is off.

My fuge is pretty darn small, since my skimmer took up a good amount of the room. But, there is enough space in there for some smaller rocks and some macro.

Here is a picture of it after I had cleaned it.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/toddrtrex/cleansump.jpg

[rbursek]

A 4x8 1/4 inch acrylic sheet cost me $100.00 at wholesale price.
Bob

[moocow]

so this would be enough....
what skimmer is that? Geeze that thing is a monster!

I'm a bit confused about the calculator.
What is "height above over flow"???

[Toddrtrex]

The skimmer is an ASM 1GX, and actually isn't all that big. :)

[Bigmike]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/newbie/index.php

Ive been in the hpbby for years now and built many sumps, this article still was helpful in building a good working sump.

[moocow]

okay, cool.
Good reading material. Lots of info there.
But ultimately, what determines the water height in the return section???
I plan on doing the return in the middle and the skimmer and fuge on the ends.

my tank dimensions are
24"Lx13"Wx16"H

So I'll make the baffle from the fuge to the return about 12"-13"
I dunno how high to make the baffles from the skimmer section though, how do I determine what the water height will be in the return section??

[bergzy]

i just use a 5g bucket for chaeto growth on my 250g adjusted volume sps tank.

the uniseals are mostly for fun as i now use the 5g bucket sort of in sump rather than having it as an external fuge.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/KIF_0403edit.jpg

total cost of a 5g bucket fuge? $4 or $5 for the bucket at home depot.

similar situation to your case, with a limited space sump...i use a 2g bucket.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y38/bergzy/IMG_5107edit.jpg

why buckets?

i use them to isolate it from the sump since none of my sumps have baffles/partitions. i also power them independently with dedicated pumps rather than to rely on sump flow...which imo and ime, have grown chaeto but at slower rates.

Salty's refugium flow rate (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=462212)