Just a couple more drawings of the system. Display Sump from the back Sump from the front I have a pile of work to do in the basement this weekend to continue to prep it for the tank. I need the clone myself so I can have twice as many hours in the day.
What's the function of the "sling" looking piece in the sump? I'm also assuming that when it's actually built the middle piece in the bubble trap won't go all the way to the bottom...
Its actually a media tray/holder for a media basket. Water will be pumped up from the bottom and it will overflow into the larger comparatment, pass through the bubble trap and then return to the display. No, none of the lowermost panes in the bubble traps will seal off the sump.
That return section (two holes in sump at one end) looks much too small. I'd recommend growing that out into a longer section.
How much larger would you recommend? Twice the size? I can move the internal baffles no problem, but the overall length is pretty firm.
If you rotated your media bin 90 degrees so it spans the sump instead of hugging the wall, you'd have room to move those baffles back. Better yet, remove them as they are completely unnecessary. You'd have 30" of linear travel time from the previous set. Have your media bin dump its water on the baffle side (away from the direction the water is flowing. You can put heaters in that zone.