maroun.c

Hi Maroun. Great to see you on RA again. With this sump, you didn't show the width of it. I don't see the benefit to a 12" DSB area as part of the refugium as that limits vertical height for macro algae growth. But if you have no or little sand in the display tank(s), this may be your own option.

Make sure your baffles have a 2" (5cm) gap each time, as that will allow you to have that amount of flow through your sump. It's still faster than I'd recommend, but it can work. How many drains are coming down into the skimmer zone? Four or more?

Hi Marc,
Sump will be 28 inches wide. With this width would the 12 inch DSB area be significant? I can make it wider but then that limits the alga area. Could also go for a lengthwise partition instead of a front to back one this way i will have a 24 inch long DSB area but only 14 inch wide?
Another alternative is a dsb area in the skimmer section as i'm upgrading to an external skimmer afterwards and could take out my existing skimmer.

2inches baffles which on the width of the sump will slow down flow i think.
The 4-5000G flow is the nominal rating of the pumps which will still lose a lot due to head loss: 14 foot height and 3 90 degrees elbows...
Drains to skimmer zone are 2x1.5 inch from tank and an additional spare one. Will also have 4x1 inch drains from the frag tanks (2 actual drains and 2 emergency ones)
Appreciate suggestions on flow plan:
- Feed frag tanks, skimmer and water change tank from DT drain or have dedicated feed pumps?
-Feed external skimmer from drain or dedicated pump?
Thanks

Why not make your entire refugium 4" deep with sand? Only issue is how the water enters that zone right now, but a small vertical baffle 5" tall would be just enough to keep the sand in the area and have plant growth above all of the sand. That's a nice big footprint of four square feet of sand. Having a 12" x 12" x 28" zone of sand may not be as effective, and it would put 190 lbs of sand in one spot. With it being 22" x 28" x 4" you'd only use 114 lbs of sand and have more surface area, with 8" of space above all the sand for macro growth (four square feet).

2" baffles for sure, even with the sump 28" wide. Don't go narrower, you want your sump bubble free and I know 2" wide gaps work perfectly because all my large sumps have them.

You can make a big bubble tower in the skimmer zone of the sump to house all those drains. I would plumb the emergency drains into the standard drains with a Tee-fitting. The bottom is never going to clog up, it's the top that might. That will reduce all those pipes. Here's a sump with many drains in the back of the skimmer section:


I would have a return pump for the tank, and the secondary pump feed all the satellite systems and gear via a manifold.

Thanks for all the help Marc.
Agreed on making the whole refugium a DSB, guess I'll just shorten the 7" baffle and shift it to the left side.
That's a Super neat sump I hope mine ends up half decent!!!

Yes, move that 7" baffle to the left but leave 2" of gap there too. Every gap is 2" to avoid microbubbles. And the bubble tower hopefully will work as expected. The picture may give you ideas, or you can do your own thing.

Thanks Marc.

Originally Posted by maroun.c

Thanks Marc.

Please do update is more often with your latest stuff.