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Clowny88
03/08/2015, 12:52 PM
I'm upgrading to a 75g and looking to add a sump. The primary reason is to hide equipment and have a pod breeding ground for a mandarin in the future.

Here's where I'm torn...

I've watched videos and read about diy sumps, adding baffles to separate the chambers, etc. The last video I watched, the guy actually cracked his tank doing so.

On the flip side, my lfs's tend to just have these large tanks under their setups with skimmer, algae, live rock, etc.

I have a 45g tall that I'd like to use if possible. But it seems like a risk and more work and more cost to add baffles. My sump will be on the other side of the wall... so VISUALLY, I don't care if the setup isbugly, cluttered, etc. I will never have a HUGE bioload. Currently 2 fish and cuc and softies.

Thoughts on one method vs the other? I realize a sump build out would be a cleaner more systematic setup, but is it completely necessary?

Thanks.

RocketEngineer
03/08/2015, 01:28 PM
The simplest sump is just a single container with no baffles. However, if you have an internal skimmer, you want the water level of the section the skimmer sits in to stay constant which is best achieved with a baffle. That way evaporation only impact the return pump section of the sump, not the skimmer section. After that, its all just a matter of what you are trying to achieve and how much room is available.

FraggledRock
03/08/2015, 01:44 PM
i have 3 sections.

a drain chamber for drain water and to keep level for skimmer

a "fuge" setup with sand and chaeto

and then the return section, which is small.

Clowny88
03/08/2015, 03:34 PM
The simplest sump is just a single container with no baffles. However, if you have an internal skimmer, you want the water level of the section the skimmer sits in to stay constant which is best achieved with a baffle. That way evaporation only impact the return pump section of the sump, not the skimmer section. After that, its all just a matter of what you are trying to achieve and how much room is available.

Great point. I do have room available (fish room) and I haven't bought a skimmer yet.

1) Buy internal skimmer and hook auto top off directly to sump for the evaporation issue?

2) Buy external skimmer

3) Baffle it up (does it necessarily HAVE to be 3 chambers to house a fuge?)

RocketEngineer
03/08/2015, 04:03 PM
1) Buy internal skimmer and hook auto top off directly to sump for the evaporation issue?

An ATO is nice but I prefer to to rely on basic physics over electronics any day. Gravity doesn't fail, electrical devices.......

2) Buy external skimmer

Personally, I prefer an internal skimmer because if the thing goes nuts and overflows, it just goes right back into the tank instead of getting saltwater everywhere. JMO

3) Baffle it up (does it necessarily HAVE to be 3 chambers to house a fuge?)

Adding baffles isn't that hard. Since nobody sees them anyways there is no worry about being neat with the silicone.

Yeah, it works best that way. I prefer the return pump in the middle and supplying the refugium from the pump as it keeps a the detritus in the skimmer section where its easy to clean out during a water change. Also, by having it at one end I can make the refugium baffle much taller giving me more room for stuff to grow.

bklynreef123
03/08/2015, 04:39 PM
The simplest sump is just a single container with no baffles. However, if you have an internal skimmer, you want the water level of the section the skimmer sits in to stay constant which is best achieved with a baffle. That way evaporation only impact the return pump section of the sump, not the skimmer section. After that, its all just a matter of what you are trying to achieve and how much room is available.

+10000 IMO its not worth having a sump without baffles for this reason.

mandarin_goby
03/08/2015, 04:51 PM
I have no baffles. Water comes in from the display on the right, then comes my HOB skimmer (which I had from my no sump days), then my mangroves, then my return pump. Nice and simple. I figure when I had no sump, my display had no baffles either and I was using a HOB skimmer...so, more volume is more volume. I keep SPS (birdsnest, pocillopora), LPS, a clam and softies, so happy tank = happy me.

Clowny88
03/09/2015, 12:55 PM
Adding baffles isn't that hard. Since nobody sees them anyways there is no worry about being neat with the silicone.

Yeah, it works best that way. I prefer the return pump in the middle and supplying the refugium from the pump as it keeps a the detritus in the skimmer section where its easy to clean out during a water change. Also, by having it at one end I can make the refugium baffle much taller giving me more room for stuff to grow.

Good to know. I guess my worry is that I'm searching craigslist for a 55g long for a sump (I have a 35 gal tall, doesn't seem like would work as well). And after seeing a DIY vid on YouTube where the guy shattered his tank installing baffles, I thought... Why buy a used tank with the risk I bust it?? But if its easy, I'll give it a shot.

RocketEngineer
03/09/2015, 01:20 PM
I would ask why did the tank break. My first guess is that he used acrylic baffles in a glass tank. Acrylic will swell when exposed to water and if it doesn't have the room to grow it puts pressure on the glass and sometimes that's too much for the pane of glass. If you use the same techniques as the tank itself, you don't have that problem.

Clowny88
03/09/2015, 03:37 PM
I would ask why did the tank break. My first guess is that he used acrylic baffles in a glass tank. Acrylic will swell when exposed to water and if it doesn't have the room to grow it puts pressure on the glass and sometimes that's too much for the pane of glass. If you use the same techniques as the tank itself, you don't have that problem.
Personally I thought how dumb to put up a how to video where you break your tank lol. so I don't know how he broke it. So should I be looking at the glass baffles vs acrylic? Or how much room to allow for swelling? For example if its a 12 inch space front to back how much smaller should my baffle be?

Hitch08
03/09/2015, 04:01 PM
If it's a glass tank, use glass baffles. Depending on whether you intend to use a light for a refugium, you might want to consider smoked glass. I've heard that should reduce the amount of light getting to other parts of the sump and causing algae.

If you get it from a glass supplier, ask them to file down the edges of the glass (reduces the chances of cutting yourself on the edges).

If your sump is 12" front to back, you will want a baffle between 11 7/8's and 11 15/16's. In other words 1/8" to 1/16" shorter than 12".

At least that's what I have read...

Silvergryphon
03/09/2015, 04:37 PM
Glass baffles are cheap, I think I paid $12 for 4 pieces of glass for the baffles.

RocketEngineer
03/09/2015, 05:01 PM
Personally I thought how dumb to put up a how to video where you break your tank lol. so I don't know how he broke it. So should I be looking at the glass baffles vs acrylic? Or how much room to allow for swelling? For example if its a 12 inch space front to back how much smaller should my baffle be?

Like I said, you don't use acrylic baffles in a glass tank. If it is acrylic, both the baffle and the tank swell and nothing happens. Its only when you use different materials that you run into trouble.

Oh, and make sure you use 1/4" glass. The thin stuff is really easy to hit and break while working in the sump. Do it right the first time.

Timfish
03/09/2015, 08:39 PM
Keep it as simple as possible. Your priority should be ease of maintenance and replacement of parts. My systems, some are over two decades old, just have simple sumps/refugiums with no baffles (and I don't use skimmers).

http://youtu.be/WDj0daKV2B8

http://youtu.be/5AnmQXmE8d0

Clowny88
03/09/2015, 09:39 PM
Thanks a lot for the input guys. By the way, Timfish... Beautiful setup. That star is crazy. I'm surprised to see Xenia fairly isolated to one spot.

RocketEngineer
03/10/2015, 07:32 AM
FYI: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2428067

fishgate
03/10/2015, 09:18 AM
Have at least 2 sections in the sump so at least 1 piece of glass (1 for the return pump). This is very important since if your siphon stops this is the amount of water that will be pumped up into your DT. It also keeps the skimmer part of the sump with a consistent water level.