First tank: looking for advice on a possible DIY sump

[Argos02]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone had any guidance on a possible DIY sump; looking for a mentor ;Happy . I am looking at starting my first saltwater tank (around 100 gallons) and doing hours and hours of research to make sure it is "perfect" the first time around.

For my mechanical filtration I want to use a Thieling compact roller mat (or something equivocal) and a refugium. I have found the Trigger Platinum sump but that costs around $1,000(!) and want to look into all possibilities before I start, DIY being one of them.

I have been looking at several sump designs and videos and have some ideas about what it should probably look like but I am not too handy and wanted to see if anyone has done something similar. I feel like I could maybe make this happen for under half that price. ("feel" is the key word)

There seems to be an initial compartment for filtration (mostly filter socks) where the water enters. With the Thieling this would directly connect to the tank overflow. Then there seems to be two compartments, one for a refugium and another for a skimmer. I won't be using a skimmer so I believe that I would only need a compartment for the auto-roller and refugium, along with a small compartment between the refugium and return pump?

Is there any special way to set up the partitions and the designs for flow? I noticed that some have adjustable heights for adjusting the water level. Is that hard to do?

Has anyone done anything similar that can take me under their wing? Is there a good resource out there that describes important concepts the goes into a sump design like flow pattern, baffles, key things to know etc.?

Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[itsken37]

For my 55 i used a 20 gallon divided into 3 sections., like this. Works like a charm

 

[Billdogg]

^^^I did the same, except it's a 40 breeder for my 120DT^^^

Glass tank = glass dividers that any local glass shop can cut fairly inexpensively. I strongly recommend using 1/4" glass for the baffles - although thinner glass is, indeed, less expensive, it can break easily. You DO NOT want to be trying to clean glass shards out of your sump!!! Silicone them in place and you are ready to go, and for well under the price of a "ready made" sump!

Good luck and keep us updated!

 

[X-37B]

^^^I did the same, except it's a 40 breeder for my 120DT^^^

Glass tank = glass dividers that any local glass shop can cut fairly inexpensively. I strongly recommend using 1/4" glass for the baffles - although thinner glass is, indeed, less expensive, it can break easily. You DO NOT want to be trying to clean glass shards out of your sump!!! Silicone them in place and you are ready to go, and for well under the price of a "ready made" sump!

Good luck and keep us updated!

Same here! 120DT with 40 breeder, no fuge or baffles though.
Plenty of baffle kits out their for a 40B.

 

[Brett S]

For my 55 i used a 20 gallon divided into 3 sections., like this. Works like a charm

That looks like a great basic design, but the only change I would make is where the water exits the second chamber I would make sure that the first baffle is an ‘over’ (where the water flows over the top of the baffle) instead of an ‘under’, like it is shown. I set up my sump that way with an under baffle first and what I discovered is that middle chamber gets oils and gunk building up on the surface of the water because it gets no surface skimming. With an ‘over’ baffle the you will get surface skimming and the water surface will stay nice and clean.

 

[Argos02]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond.

@itsken37 Thank you for the diagram. I noticed the last chamber has a variable water line label. How do you adjust the water line? Is it a moveable baffle? If so how did you implement that? Also, I have noticed that a over/under (or in this case an over/under/over) partitions are quite common before the return pump. Is this for bubbles from a skimmer? If I wouldn't be running a skimmer is this needed, or should I implement this regardless?

@Billdogg Thanks for the recommendation, will do if I choose this path!

@90's reefer , nice and organized! I just thought you had to have baffles but I guess not. Are baffles just for denying bubbles access to the return pump? I am having a hard time seeing where your return pump is, is it in the main sump chamber? Also regarding the baffle kits. I thought about those, but aren't they all plastic/acrylic? I have read that this material won't adhere to glass (actual sump) very well. I was thinking about just getting a 1$ per gallon sale tank for the sump.

Also thanks @Brett S for the comments. Brett, makes sense to me, great tip.

 

[Brett S]

Multiple baffles before the return pump are for helping to remove any micro bubbles before the water is pumped back up to the display tank. These can come from the skimmer or even from the water from the drains entering the sump. They are more cosmetic than a necessity, but they are fairly easy to install when you are setting up the sump and would be difficult to retrofit after things were set up, so I would be inclined to put them in even if you don’t think you’ll need them. But they aren’t necessary.

Baffles in general help to keep things separated (if you wanted to set up a fuge with chaeto, for example, the baffles would help keep the algae away from your return pump and other equipment). Baffles also help to keep the water level constant. The water level in the return pump chamber will vary as water evaporates and as you add top off water to make up for evaporation. If you don’t have any baffles then the whole sump is the return pump chamber and so the water level in the whole sump will vary as water evaporates. This can be a problem for skimmers as they can be very affected by the water level around them. As the water level lowers (even by a small amount) it will make the skimmate drier or maybe even stop them from producing skimmate and as the water level raises the skimmate will get wetter or the skimmer may even start overflowing. But again, they aren’t absolutely necessary and if you don’t have a skimmer then keeping the water level constant in part of the sump is probably less of a concern.