Opinion/rant: Sump designs are overcomplicated

[Slocke]

IMO the perfect sump is the Trigger Systems Ruby product line. Good feature, good layout, not overly complex, but not barebones

The first chamber is the water entry and it’s big enough to hold a skimmer I have a Diablo 160xs in there, but I don’t use it currently. The rest of the space is filled with live rock

The second compartment I ran as a cheato fuge in a prior system. It’s plenty large compared to these undersized fuges companies try to squeeze in

But on my current setup i use an algae scrubber and made this a cryptic zone

With cabinet shut it looks like this

But open you see

That live rock has yellow, blue, and purple sponge growing all over it, but more on the bottom than the top. The life rock was purchased about 12 - 14 years ago and has been ion my systems since day 1. It’s caked in coraline. It’s authentic Fiji, pukani, and tonga rock. It’s also in chamber 1 and under the floating scrubber

Chamber 3 is the return and I have a reactor connected but not in use, just parked there in case I need to run media for any reason. It also has live rock in it. And lots of mulm

This sump also has media shelves that forces all water through the media, and build in probe holders in chamber 1

I’ll admit that that sump looks like it would fit my needs perfectly!

 

[VintageReefer]

I’ll admit that that sump looks like it would fit my needs perfectly!

The design is very good. the compartments are large and useful. I never used the filter socks, just extended the drain pipes so they exit a few inches underwater

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Anybody looking for a trigger, make sure you go to the trigger website and click on blemished. Some great deals to be found at times. I run a crystal sump in my fish only and love it.

Blemished – Trigger Systems

 

[mikst]

While I've got you all here, so I'm a chronic over engineerer. I am trying to actually embrace the lessons of the old school reefers.

Side story, I haven't even built my 29 gallon display with 10 gallon sump yet because of various reasons, but I just had the epiphany 5 nights ago that I have a 45 gallon tank and stand sitting unused in my garage! (I actually have numerous empty tanks). It kept me up several hours in the middle of the night thinking about it.

So I measured since I'm past the return period on the 29 gallon I bought from petco, I can actually shoe horn it into my 45 gallon tank's stand. Now I will have a 45 gallon tank with 29 gallon sump! Haha

Here's how I am thinking to use it. Separated by diy baffles.

Left most is an ato chamber, approx 7 or so gallons worth.

Right most is where the dt drain and edrain enter the sump. Heater will be in there as well as an airstone. I won't be running a skimmer. This big chamber will be a steady height cryptic refugium with the baffle out of the crypt into the chaeto fuge being a flow over baffle.

The middle chamber is the return chamber and chaeto fuge. I'll build a cage around the return pump with egg crate.

I have all the materials laying around to construct all of it. I look forward to it. I tried to keep to as simple as possible and integrate an ato because the tank will take all the room in the stand. All of it.

I'm open to thoughts. Dimensions are rough guesses, not absolute.

 

[William Chiavetta]

What software is this?

 

[Slocke]

What software is this?

It’s a screenshot of the PDF from the ProStar website

 

[William Chiavetta]

It’s a screenshot of the PDF from the ProStar website

Thank you!

 

[Slocke]

Thank you!

At one point I would have been able to do that in AutoCAD but that day has long past as I no longer do that sort of engineering

 

[William Chiavetta]

At one point I would have been able to do that in AutoCAD but that day has long past as I no longer do that sort of engineering

lol I might try that

 

[Sawacoral]

Cause we both know how easy clams are…

what's wrong with clams? I've never had any but have been interested.

 

[Slocke]

what's wrong with clams? I've never had any but have been interested.

Tried twice; failed twice. The first one was knocked off the rock while I was away and didn't get enough light. Second, seemed to be doing well until one morning, I found my fish feasting on its corpse.

 

[Reeferbadness]

I hear mesh socks are easy to clean? Don't catch as much but don't clog and you just spray them with a hose and return to the tank. I was thinking about trying those.

I use a power washer to clean my 200 Micron fleece filter socks - easy and cheap and keeps the tank crystal clear and Phos very manageable. Mesh socks hardly filter out anything

 

[Tamberav]

I use a power washer to clean my 200 Micron fleece filter socks - easy and cheap and keeps the tank crystal clear and Phos very manageable. Mesh socks hardly filter out anything

ya that sounds handy, I live in an apartment, ah well, something to consider when we move.

 

[Reeferbadness]

ya that sounds handy, I live in an apartment, ah well, something to consider when we move.

Don’t apartments have hose nozzles u can access? The space to keep a power washer is about a medium sized vacuum cleaner. A much better and easier to maintain option would be to add a Red Sea Reematt to ur system - if u can find one that fits ur sump it’s a major game changer

 

[Tamberav]

Don’t apartments have hose nozzles u can access? The space to keep a power washer is about a medium sized vacuum cleaner. A much better and easier to maintain option would be to add a Red Sea Reematt to ur system - if u can find one that fits ur sump it’s a major game changer

I have dual overflows so don’t think that works with them easily but it has been done.

We move enough that I tend to have to pick and choose what I can keep/have and move.

Let’s just say the vacuum cleaners did not come in the last move and I bought new ones.

 

[PotatoPig]

I have 3 compartments in my (IMO) simple DIY sump:

Compartment 1: Drain from tank, filter sock holder and skimmer. It’s also now apparently a haven for fan worms. This has a bubble trap on exit that releases water at the bottom vs top, into the base of…

Compartment 2:
Refugium. This is a heap of rubble for micro critter habitat on eggcrate, so water percolates up through it, into macro algae, and then over a weir into:

Compartment 3: This exists to stop macro from getting into the return pump, and to ensure the return pump doesn’t have access to enough water to cause a flood if a drain fails.

IMO this is a nice simple setup and I’d be very reluctant to give up any of them. Maybe maybe the bubble trap if I could reconfigure the rock refugium and ensure the skimmer didn’t conflict with the macro.

 

[JoJosReef]

I have 3 compartments in my (IMO) simple DIY sump:

Compartment 1: Drain from tank, filter sock holder and skimmer. It’s also now apparently a haven for fan worms. This has a bubble trap on exit that releases water at the bottom vs top, into the base of…

Compartment 2:
Refugium. This is a heap of rubble for micro critter habitat on eggcrate, so water percolates up through it, into macro algae, and then over a weir into:

Compartment 3: This exists to stop macro from getting into the return pump, and to ensure the return pump doesn’t have access to enough water to cause a flood if a drain fails.

IMO this is a nice simple setup and I’d be very reluctant to give up any of them. Maybe maybe the bubble trap if I could reconfigure the rock refugium and ensure the skimmer didn’t conflict with the macro.

Would love to see some pics of this sump! Sounds similar to my goal for a sump, sans skimmer.

 

[VintageReefer]

At one point I would have been able to do that in AutoCAD but that day has long past as I no longer do that sort of engineering

Same!

I used to be fully proficient in both mechanical hand drafting and autocad but those are skills you use or lose. I used to dabble and fire up cad for side projects just to keep active with it but as years go on…you lose the ability.

On well. Lost that skill but gained many others as career paths changed

 

[VintageReefer]

Would love to see some pics of this sump! Sounds similar to my goal for a sump, sans skimmer.

That’s the same design as my current sump, trigger Ruby / crystal 30

The Ruby has a few upgrades but the same principle / layout.

And if anyone wants, trigger has a blemish crystal 30 for $185

 

[PotatoPig]

Would love to see some pics of this sump! Sounds similar to my goal for a sump, sans skimmer.

Neat and Clean Diagrammatic Form:

The ugly realized version:

The Evian bottle is a $5 ATO, over on the right just out of frame is a 500ml bottle connected to the tank via an air hose siphon with a knot in I use to drop dose, the funnel on the left with the pvc is for dropping food in so it sinks down to the return pump and gets circulated in the tank for the fish to chase. I forgot I also have a carbon reactor I use occasionally in the same chamber as the return pump. For various reasons I also run it with the water a little above the final baffle as a default, partly just because that’s where it needs to be for the basic ATO.