Sumps

Glenn, a member of DFWMAS contacted me about a 34 gallon hexagonal tank he wanted to modify, and incorporate a sump with a refugium.

I was asked to build a small sump to house a skimmer made by DAS.  It's a self-contained skimmer that usually draws water in from the surrounding area. The rest of the available  sump is purely the return zone.

This sump & refugium is designed to fit under a smaller tank. Dimensions are 26" x 18" x 16" and can also be made cube shaped (20" x 20" x 16" for example). What is nice about this sump is that the refugium spans the entire front so you can enjoy seeing the macro algae grow and the pods scurrying about.

By special request, this sump was designed to fit under a 90g bowfront tank.

Dimensions: 32" x 12" x 16" (26g maximum volume)

This sump had to be a creative one, because #1) it was for someone new entering into the hobby and didn't have previous experience with any reef keeping, and #2) the design of the stand made things very difficult to fit anything in of decent size. Originally, it was to be a one-piece unit, but in mid-stream the skimmer was replaced with a different sized unit, and everything was reworked. The base unit holds the skimmer and the return area. Above it, a refugium drains diagonally into the return area.

David, a member of DFWMAS, requested a custom sump that he designed himself. Water flows through a small section filled with bioballs to break up the bubbles, then into the skimmer section. Next, it will flow through a refugium using Miracle Mud, and down through more bioballs into the return section. This sump is 48" x 16" x 16" and fit under a 125g reef. This is a single-flow sump system that moves the water from the left to the right.

Keith, a DFWMAS club member and customer of mine, ordered a frag tank and matching sump.  He designed the steel stand and listed his desires, and I got busy building his dream setup.

The frag tank is 47.75" x 30" x 14" and holds 75g of water.  The custom overflow has three Durso drains and two Locline returns, with room for pumps on either side of the overflow.

Due to the lack of space, this sump was built in two parts so it could be installed more readily. The skimmer and return zone are in the shorter sump, and the taller vessel is the refugium. The sump is 28" x 14" x 14"( or 23.8-gallons) and the refugium is 10" x 14" x 18"( or 10.9-gallons). When running, the combined volume of both parts added up to about 23g of water.

The first sump I designed was basically a refugium and a return zone.  It incorporated a bubble tower to avoid microbubbles, and kept the sump quiet.  It fit under a 29-gallon reef, and held 16-gallons to the top rim.

I was asked to build a 4' x 3' propagation tank for DFWMAS, and after a little thinking and a little more time building, this is what they got.  This is a durable tank that will last for years, made with 3/8" cast acrylic.  The corner overflow has a 1.5" drain and 1" return, which is plenty for this volume of water.