Building new 29 Gallon sump/fuge - Sanity check please (with pics)

[Guest FZ1Rider]

Repost from RC, looking for more advice:

 

Below are two plans that I have been thinking about for a new sump / fuge. I have never built one before and I'm still not sure I'm headed in the right direction after reading melve's site a few times.

 

Here are the two plans. On both water would flow under the "IN" section and then rise through the carbon chamber. I won't always have carbon but I like the idea of having a place to force water through carbon if needed.

 

The max water level will be 13 inches as set by the baffles.

 

I run a hang on tank skimmer now and am able to fit it into my overflow box so it's not noticeable. I may upgrade in the future but I may not so I don't know if it's worth having the skimmer section. Plus I am very height limited under my stand (22 inches max.) but I have seen a few skimmers that have 6x10 footprints and under 22inchs (obviously with a drain spout). of course a third option would be to go with option 1 and just make both area's fuges and then change it if I need to later without the need to shut it down and add components.

 

The biggest question is just having the one set of baffles enough and having the others as overflows or do I need to add more baffles.

 

All input is greatly appreciated.

 

Option 1:

 

 

Option 2:

 

 

Another idea I just had would be to spill the out section and have 2 pieces of egg crate separate them so I could ad a sponge or other sort of filter for large particles. Would that be worth it?

 

Thanks

Peter

[dandy7200]

Peter, go back to Melev's site and study the designs a little more. You need 3 baffles for an effective bubble trap. You have no return section and since that is the lowest point of the water column even a little evap will cause you problems. Put in a skimmer compartment even if you hang your current skimmer on the front of the sump it will make cleaning it easier and get a pump out of the display. IMHO a skimmer compartment is much more crucial than a fuge. If you run short on space lose the fuge and gain sump space. I have found that if you don't allow enough room to do a fuge right it's not going to provide you with enough benefit to justify it's real estate. I am getting ready to pull my fuge off my 75 since I only have a 30 sump and would rather have more water than algae, sand and rock. Also, you'll eventually want a bigger skimmer, trust me, we all do

[Guest FZ1Rider]

Peter, go back to Melev's site and study the designs a little more. You need 3 baffles for an effective bubble trap. You have no return section and since that is the lowest point of the water column even a little evap will cause you problems. Put in a skimmer compartment even if you hang your current skimmer on the front of the sump it will make cleaning it easier and get a pump out of the display. IMHO a skimmer compartment is much more crucial than a fuge. If you run short on space lose the fuge and gain sump space. I have found that if you don't allow enough room to do a fuge right it's not going to provide you with enough benefit to justify it's real estate. I am getting ready to pull my fuge off my 75 since I only have a 30 sump and would rather have more water than algae, sand and rock. Also, you'll eventually want a bigger skimmer, trust me, we all do

 

 

When I say baffles I mean a set of three (2 low 1 high) so there is a bubble trap. Are you saying I need three of those (9 separators). I actually will have two one between sump / fuge and one between the fuge / return (out == return). I also have a sump right now but I can't accommodate the two units in the space under my tank which is why I was building the new one. The primary reason for the fuge was to support copipod growth for when I get my mandarin a couple months down the line.

 

Luckily I have a AGA RR with megaflow and the pump / return from my skimmer fit in there so there is no concern with respect to the appearance. I do agree that at some point I will want a larger skimmer though. That's why I was sizing them up before building.

 

I was under the impression that in current design 2 I would see evap in the fuge. Is this not correct? I have an ATO system that is running in my sump now and is ready t be moved over when ready.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll spend some more time on melev's tonight.

 

Peter

[Guest Riclat]

Peter,

You might want to consider running activated carbon in a reactor, such as a Phosban reactor. Melev says that's more effective than forcing water through a bag of carbon.

 

Richard