[tosiek]

So, i built myself a quick sump/fuge with stuff i had laying around and i am planning on redoing it. I knew i would mess up and make some mistakes the first time around. So the sump works fine but its not great. Here's what i have and it measures 18" x 14" and is 13" high. I'm planning on rebuilding it and going to make it 20" x 15" and 14 or 15" high.



the plan was to have the intake go through a baffle and up into a carbon chamber w/ phos-zorb then go into another baffle with a sponge to help reduce microbubbles and larger material if there is any that are running through. then it goes into another chamber and releases into the fuge area which would have my HOB skimmer (AquaC Remora) and then through 3 baffles into a return chamber. all baffles are half inch.

Now the problems:

1. When i have the carbon/phoszorb and the sponge in where they are marked now the intake chamber and the carbon chamber overflow into my fuge because of the sponge i installed. So i had a waterfall that was acting like a skimmer (had foam buildup w/ dirt on the sides of the fuge) adding a crapload of microbubbles into the tank.

2. B/c of problem 1 i moved the carbon/phoszorb into the chamber right before the fuge and removed the sponge all together but now i have microbubbles in my main tank. The water current from start to finish is too linear and too strong and doesn't let the microbubbles sit long enough for them to collect/dissapear.

I am redoing the sump and making it larger with thicker plexi and i need advice on it.

So far my biggest mistake is the smaller chambers near the intake. Should be larger to accept the incoming water, planning on two chambers instead of 3. and having a larger/more spread flow from the last chamber into the fuge. I put the intake from the carbon chambers into the fuge area low and too small and the flow through it is huge, so planning on spreading that and letting it flow over from the top over a larger area into the fuge part. Either that or making verticle slots in the panel instead of the horizontal that are there and spreading them across the length of the chamber.

I can also make the final chamber smaller, but that would mean i have less play in the water level due to evaporation.

Also i know that my skimmer adds microbubbles and i have a feeling they will flow into the pump area and get into my tank if i place the skimmer in the fuge. Any thoughts on that?

And my last thought was to split the drain into the fuge letting half go into the intake chamber and half into the fuge area.

What do you guys think of the mods to the current setup, anything i can improve upon? Or am i beating a dead sump design. If anything is stupid or silly that i did just yell and me and slap me and tell me how to change it. Lookin for advice =0)

I've read all the sump building sites and forum posts. =0) Thought i would get a little creative and hopefully learn someting in the process.

[tosiek]

no advice or input huh. sigh.

[Psycho graphic]

I would use reactors for both your phoszorb and carbon as they clog fast when used in "socks" placed in the baffles. This way you can use this sump and not have to build a new one. That is a very nice looking sump.