Diy 55 gallon sump

[HDavid]

I have a 120 gallon too fin aquarium I’m looking to add a sump to. Before any of you suggest a 40 gallon breeder (my preference) the 120 gallon dimensions are roughly 60”x18.5”x26” so a 40 gallon would be the same width. I’m not exactly sure what equipment I’m going to be running in it other than a 4”x6” pump. These are the rough sketches I made. I am looking for any constructive criticism or better baffle layouts.

 

[saltwater60]

Looks good. I’d add a light and make the center as large as possible and make it a refugium.

Also not sure if that’s your actual water level but it seems high and likely to overflow in a power outage?

 

[HDavid]

Yea chamber 3 is planned to be the fuge. I’m still calculating the baffle height but I planned on the first baffle being 3 inches below the lid and every other baffle being one inch shorter then the last. If my math is right there should be space for 10 gallon of of extra water. Should I allocate more apace for excess water?

 

[saltwater60]

The calculation for extra water volume I can’t answer for you.
You’ll have to see how far down the 120 gallon drops when the power is off. Say it’s 2” of water that gets sucked out. It would be the volume of water 2” times 48”x18” but I’m sure you know how to calcite water volume.
Also make sure the sump baffles don’t fit too tight. I made one once and one fit on the tight side and a few years later the panel cracked. Not sure if it was related or not. Next one I made for a bit looser and lasted for years!!

 

[SecretiveFish]

We have designed and built many DIY sumps over the years, and the problem we had with that design type is two fold. Chamber 2 would get bubbles from the overflow water in Chamber 1 inhibiting the protein skimmer from functioning optimally, but the real problem was between chamber 4 to 5. Often the water coming into chamber 5 from chamber 4 would splash, causing bubbles that were then shot back into the tank as micro bubbles irritating fish and corals. I am sure a solution is out there, but we didn't come up with anything we loved.

In the last six months we replaced our last two DIY sumps with Trigger Systems Sapphire 26 sumps, and just WOW!!! They are so incredibly quiet compared to our DIY ones, and no microbubbles get back into the display tank. I am still floored at how well they work.

 

[saltwater60]

He shouldn’t have a bubbles going from 4 to 5 because they are at the same level. I do agree I thought about the protein skimmer being aggravated by the water flow coming in but you’ll just have to see how it goes. I’m sure you can get it worked out.

I had a 20 gallon sump that worked fantastic. Quiet and no bubbles at all. Skimmer worked great.