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saltwaternoobie
10/11/2015, 09:02 PM
So i am looking at doing a diy sump using a 40 gallon breeder tank !
I have looked and trying to find plans and not having much luck !

wondering if there are anyone has any plans or idea on how to build the baffles
for the sump ?

i have a basic idea but unsure heights etc ? how many bubble traps and such
wondering if someone could point me in a direction other than the stickies

Xxero
10/11/2015, 10:06 PM
Lots of good info. here:

http://www.melevsreef.com/search/node/diy%20sump

saltwaternoobie
10/11/2015, 10:12 PM
Lots of good info. here:

http://www.melevsreef.com/search/node/diy%20sump

Thanks for the link ! your a better googlemaster than me ! lol:hammer:

Xxero
10/12/2015, 10:41 AM
Ha! No problem...I toss that link out there all of the time for general/basic information. I like it because it deals with both glass and acrylic, and I like the way Melev explains the why's and the how's of every little part.

GL !

Blondebell
10/12/2015, 12:41 PM
meleevs is great - I got my first few sump designs from his site.

I'd get glass baffles and have them cut to size at a local hardware store. Ive had Ace cut them for me in the past. and use 100% silicone. nothing that says mildew resistant etc just 100% silicone. reef safe label is best.

and just make sure that somewhere between your return pump and your skimmer you have a bubble trap. minimum of 1in spacing imho. more if you want to be able to clean between them easily. the rest depends on the function of your sump and whats going to be placed in it. Baffle sizes control the depth so make sure to pay attention to the depth your skimmer requires. always make it deeper than the recommendation. you can raise skimmer to adjust but you cannot make the water deeper later.

Good luck:fish1:

intyme
10/12/2015, 04:43 PM
I put in a 9" high section with a bubble trap, bc my skimmer needs 9" water, into a return section, then pumped to the display and fuge. I Tee'd off the return in my fuge. I have zero micro bubbles in the DT...... Keep it stupid simple

saltwaternoobie
10/12/2015, 07:33 PM
Thanks for the tips !helps a lot ! Exploring putting the refugium at the end !

bws
10/12/2015, 08:16 PM
i went 9 inch for the first baffle on my 40 breeder, i wish i would of gone 12... it only holds about 22-25 gallons of water. it could take another 10 gallons easy. sorta feel i have a lot of wasted space for total volume. but its still nice. i made my sump with the ;last baffle after the refugium area going to the return area a 1/4 inch lower so it would not get a dead spot in the sump and build nasty crap on the surface of the water. i sort of wish i would of took the time to design it with a center return area and a 2 drain system with a gate valve that slows down the amount of water going to the refuge area...but that would of took a lot of thought and work so i just went with the clkassic left to right..

geekengineer
10/12/2015, 11:08 PM
So I was sort of starting to look into making a 20L sump and hoping I could find a way to glue acrylic (or possibly ABS 3D printed plates/parts) into a glass aquarium so I could make more fancier baffles if I wanted to. Sounds like this would be possible? I was thinking about maybe sanding the ends would make the silicone stick to the acrylic and make it good enough. However I couldn't tell from this melvs sight if they were saying flame polish ends is better.

intyme
10/13/2015, 05:30 PM
i went 9 inch for the first baffle on my 40 breeder, i wish i would of gone 12... it only holds about 22-25 gallons of water. it could take another 10 gallons easy. sorta feel i have a lot of wasted space for total volume. but its still nice. i made my sump with the ;last baffle after the refugium area going to the return area a 1/4 inch lower so it would not get a dead spot in the sump and build nasty crap on the surface of the water. i sort of wish i would of took the time to design it with a center return area and a 2 drain system with a gate valve that slows down the amount of water going to the refuge area...but that would of took a lot of thought and work so i just went with the clkassic left to right..

Right.... I was lazy to build a stand for the skimmer. I also wanted to have enough room to drain the entire overflow box if needed.

kinnadian
10/13/2015, 05:41 PM
So I was sort of starting to look into making a 20L sump and hoping I could find a way to glue acrylic (or possibly ABS 3D printed plates/parts) into a glass aquarium so I could make more fancier baffles if I wanted to. Sounds like this would be possible? I was thinking about maybe sanding the ends would make the silicone stick to the acrylic and make it good enough. However I couldn't tell from this melvs sight if they were saying flame polish ends is better.

Sanding won't do anything, silicone just poorly adheres to acrylic.

You can get away with using acrylic for baffles and it will probably last a long time, might get leaks eventually. Certainly never use silicone with acrylic for anything that is holding pressure. Baffles don't experience much pressure from the water unless your chambers have large differences in height.

Putting small strips of acrylic on the glass (with the flat top/bottom siliconed to the glass) on either side of the acrylic baffle will greatly reduce the risk of an issue occurring.

saltwaternoobie
10/13/2015, 08:53 PM
i went 9 inch for the first baffle on my 40 breeder, i wish i would of gone 12... it only holds about 22-25 gallons of water. it could take another 10 gallons easy. sorta feel i have a lot of wasted space for total volume. but its still nice. i made my sump with the ;last baffle after the refugium area going to the return area a 1/4 inch lower so it would not get a dead spot in the sump and build nasty crap on the surface of the water. i sort of wish i would of took the time to design it with a center return area and a 2 drain system with a gate valve that slows down the amount of water going to the refuge area...but that would of took a lot of thought and work so i just went with the clkassic left to right..

i have looked at a 1000 diagrams for sumps and considering doing a center return with refugium and feeding the refugium with a tee from the return pump
What would be the main advantage of doing this setup ?

geekengineer
10/13/2015, 08:54 PM
Sanding won't do anything, silicone just poorly adheres to acrylic.

You can get away with using acrylic for baffles and it will probably last a long time, might get leaks eventually. Certainly never use silicone with acrylic for anything that is holding pressure. Baffles don't experience much pressure from the water unless your chambers have large differences in height.

Putting small strips of acrylic on the glass (with the flat top/bottom siliconed to the glass) on either side of the acrylic baffle will greatly reduce the risk of an issue occurring.

So I not sure if this is the same as what I was thinking today as a solution. I was thinking of putting "T" ends on the acrylic baffles so that there would be more surface area attaching the plastic to the glass. Is that same as what your saying here?

saltwaternoobie have you decided what your using glass or acrylic yet for your baffles?

saltwaternoobie
10/13/2015, 09:09 PM
So I not sure if this is the same as what I was thinking today as a solution. I was thinking of putting "T" ends on the acrylic baffles so that there would be more surface area attaching the plastic to the glass. Is that same as what your saying here?

saltwaternoobie have you decided what your using glass or acrylic yet for your baffles?


hey! thinking of using glass for baffles , i like the idea of acrylic but ive read adhering acrylic to glass aquarium isnt that strong of a bond !

With a center return is there an issue with noise ?

geekengineer
10/13/2015, 09:34 PM
hey! thinking of using glass for baffles , i like the idea of acrylic but ive read adhering acrylic to glass aquarium isnt that strong of a bond !

With a center return is there an issue with noise ?

yeah I just hate the idea of cutting glass but I hate the idea of building a whole acrylic sump too. I can't win either way..:(

I not sure about weather the center return is louder or not. I guess it could be since you have water going to be splashing in both directions, but can't say im the expert. Maybe if you put baffles the right way it wouldn't matter either.

I was planing doing a side return at this point with a refuge in the middle. I haven't considered a center drain. I have to look into that myself more I was too worried about baffles sticking I guess. :)

saltwaternoobie
10/13/2015, 09:49 PM
yeah I just hate the idea of cutting glass but I hate the idea of building a whole acrylic sump too. I can't win either way..:(

I not sure about weather the center return is louder or not. I guess it could be since you have water going to be splashing in both directions, but can't say im the expert. Maybe if you put baffles the right way it wouldn't matter either.

I was planing doing a side return at this point with a refuge in the middle. I haven't considered a center drain. I have to look into that myself more I was too worried about baffles sticking I guess. :)

Thats how i am , hate the idea of cutting glass but one can get a glass shop to cut it hearing some hardware stores cut glass as well ! If a hardware store can do it who is probably some kid making min wage no offence meant to anyone
sure we could both tackle it ! have heard a center return is good as the refugium does not get as much flow which is ideal ! however there are tonnes of people using left to right configurations and surviving ! So is there really a right way or wrong way?

Personally i think we are overthinking and dammm it I just want the ocean in my basement !:lolspin:

geekengineer
10/13/2015, 11:01 PM
Thats how i am , hate the idea of cutting glass but one can get a glass shop to cut it hearing some hardware stores cut glass as well ! If a hardware store can do it who is probably some kid making min wage no offence meant to anyone
sure we could both tackle it ! have heard a center return is good as the refugium does not get as much flow which is ideal ! however there are tonnes of people using left to right configurations and surviving ! So is there really a right way or wrong way?

Personally i think we are overthinking and dammm it I just want the ocean in my basement !:lolspin:

I think they do have better cutting equipment at the hardware store (the one I go to) so it may still be better to have them cut it. I might do some experiments just to see if the acrylic 'T' idea would work but otherwise probably just go to store and have them cut some glass segments up if it isn't cost prohibitive.

So yeah.. sometimes the easiest solution just gets you to the end goal as good as the fancy things. I agree.

I am trying to put it in my bedroom which may be a bad idea (but I forget to take care of it otherwise) so noise is going to be a big concern in my setup. Although I find the water noise relaxing to a degree just want to keep it down to reasonable level.