DIY 20 Gallon Sump

[JKUNZ]

I'm planning my new sump/ sump stand and am looking for opinions and answers. I'll be using a 20 gallon tall (24.25x12.5x16.75). The plan is either to have the center section a deep sand bed refugium, or solely a deep sand bed chamber.

 

Here is my initial sketch with the center chamber as the refugium, with a deep sand bed between 6 and 8 inches deep.

 

 

 

This is a front image with all the components in place. The dark grey is my AquaC Urchin Pro (8x3.25x20), the red is a submariner UV sterilizer (10x3x2.5), the yellow is a phosban reactor 150 (17.5x4), and the white is the return pump and tube to the tank.

 

 

Another image, reverse view, of the sump with the components in place:

 

 

As stated before, my other option is to redesign the center chamber so that it is only a deep sand bed without refugium. Let me know what you think!

[psam]

I just had a similar one built out of acrylic and ended up scrapping the over / under baffles from skimmer area in favor of a single bafffle since the mce600 doesn't have any bubble problem. Does the aqua c skimmer really produce that many bubbles to warrant the extra baffles? If not, you might consider just a single baffle which would give your middle refugium area more real estate. Not to mention, chaeto or whatever macro may help trap any small bubbles that make it over to the middle. I'd personally start with one unless there's a known bubble issue. Easy to add more later if need be.

 

just an idea. nice design.

[JKUNZ]

You're probably right, it doesn't produce excessive micro-bubbles. If I were to dedicate the center chamber to only a deep sand bed chember then I would've removed the extra baffles anyway, so I might as well remove them from the get go.

 

Do you have any pics of yours?

 

 

 

Here's another image with the baffles removed:

 

[JKUNZ]

Here's a quick update of the overall idea. To the right (green) will be the chiller, and to the left (light grey) is the bucket of fresh RO for the ATO. The platform is simply to lift everything off the ground.

 

[Matty1124]

i have a 20g Long sump... i just have every thing other then the return pump on one side and then in the last 5th of the tank i have the return pump after one set of under over baffles... i just said screw the sand... to much work when its so much easier to have extra LR and chaeto, and you can just syphon out any crap in there with out worrying about disturbing the DSB... DSB arent worth it in small set ups is what i have come to understand...

[JKUNZ]

Even as a denitrifier? Everything I've read suggests that 6-8+ inches of a sand bed reduces nitrates/nitrites. I considered a 20long, but thought a tall would be suitable for a DSB, along with excess room for emergency overflow in the case of a power-outage or what have you. Do you have any pics of your set-up??