Okay so I had an old 29 gallon in the garage and I really don’t like my current set up with my sump. So I decided to build my own. I bought all the stuff and I’m just planning now. I want to fit both the skimmer and a refugium because I have a mandarin and want a good copepod surplus. Does this set up look ok? I’m hoping that in the future I might just take the socks out and do maybe a 30 then 40 then 50 ppi(maybe more if they have that). Just so I don’t have to worry about replacing socks every 2-3 days.
It looked like it cut off the original so I’m going to post both sides of it to be safe
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@SFReefer
1y
Personally, filter socks are a thing of the past. Easy to change filter floss is the way to go.
@BigCreamy
1y
Are you talking about the roller? Or like a pad of filter floss
@SFReefer
1y
Skimmer water height is generally low like 6-8 inches, I would recommend the Water flows in to the sump and rolls over the top of the first baffle into the media section and the water for the skimmer goes in from the bottom of the media baffle. A waterfall into the skimmer compartment is going to be loud. You want to space the baffles in or out of refugium larger so you can put something to control the flow. I would say filter floss from the refugium to the pump.
@BigCreamy
1y
Yeah the recommended height for the skimmer I’m getting is 7-9 inches so I was putting it at 8 inches. But just so I’m understanding right. You think it should overflow from the first chamber into the bio media then under to the skimmer. But how would that work with the sponges that i was gonna use?
@BigCreamy
1y
I could try to bring down that baffle from the bio media section and bring the Skimmer up the inch so it’s almost the same height? Or if you have a better layout for the first chamber or two I’m all ears lol
@billy
1y
Is this a baffle kit you bought? Or are you cutting custom acrylic pieces for the sump sections?
@BigCreamy
1y
Cutting custom pieces. I just bought the sheets and a tool
@billy
1y
Ok cool. So I bought a kit and I’ll show you how mine is set up. The sump and refugium have holes in between ( dark blue ) so the water line is the same (light blue). And then from refugium to return pump it’s flipped from what you have. And there is bio blocks and mechanical filtration. My favorite part of the kit is an adjustable height acrylic piece (pink) so you can manually adjust the water height for the skimmer/refugium chamber. The water pressure basically will hold the pink piece against the red. Hopefully that makes any sense hah. Idk if there is a right or wrong way to do a sump. Just wanted to give you more ideas
@BigCreamy
1y
Yeah that’s a good idea! That’s why I posted lol never made one or really even seen a good one. I’ve tried to look up some but they’re all so different so I just went with what I thought looked right. But that makes a lot of sense.
@BigCreamy
1y
Also do you think the 2-3 inch drop from the bio media section to the skimmer would be loud like SFReefer said? If so do you have any ideas to keep the sponge in use?
@billy
1y
Yeah I agree with SFreefer. Theres no need or benefit for that red area.
@BigCreamy
1y
Well the reason I had it that high was so that the level in the first chamber was higher. Less sound coming from the filter socks
@billy
1y
My overflow pipe goes under the water then over flows into the sump
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The skimmer will also be much larger, it’ll be sticking out of the top of the tank but I can’t draw that haha