20g Sump Plans - Complete

looks good to me. What about your current setup do you not like?

Only suggestion, I've seen some tanks use a Y joint when splitting off to 2 returns to cut down on the flow restriction of a T. I'm not sure where they find them because I haven't seen them around, but it's a thought.

Oh and a ball valve on your return is nice to have as well when you shut off your pump for whatever reason.


Edited by Luckedout - October 20 2010 at 10:27am

Also..., why would you have your return pump break off to the refuge rather than have your drain split off?  Seems like it would save you a lot of pump power.....

Do you use a Durso or Gurgle buster?

No, it's a good thought if you aren't using all the flow from your pump. It's a bad thought if you don't have enough flow. 

Nice clear drawing and very cool that you came here for suggestions.

I agree that the drain line is much better used to send water to the Refugium. After all, that's using the dirtier water from the main display to grow all kinds of bugs and algae. This is a major purpose of a Refugium. The nighttime pH improvement with RDP (Reverse Daylight Photosynthesis) is the other major purpose.

Why split the return? The best part of a sump is the RDP Refugium. Why not have all the water go through the Refugium? See the pic at the bottom of this post. With so much of the necessary flow in a reef tank being created by powerheads inside the display, we no longer have to worry about too much flow through a Refugium. In fact Refugiums grow even faster and filter more water better if they get a lot more flow.

A Return pump should always be rated for more flow than needed. The time may come when it will need to be throttled up and then you will be glad you plumbed it that way. A ball valve right above the output of the return pump can be a great extra feature.

Another consideration would be, if there is enough extra flow from the return pump, to run a branch to the Skimmer. Does that make sense?

I don't like baffles and have found ways around them, but if you like them, at least take out the baffle between the skimmer and return pump. Most people don't realize the value of this. Let me explain. The small area as you have it will require top off too frequently. Even with an auto top-off operated by float or solenoid, the problems associated with lack of water during some kind of failure are much less when there is a larger reservoir of water. There is also the simple matter of the frequency of the topoff switch cycling on-off. Larger area means less switching and prolonged life. Make sense? Oh, and the winter heater can go horizontally or at least diagonally in this area of the sump when the baffle is removed.

Finally, I have found a real good safety feature is to place pond liner or several layers of heavy plastic sheet underneath the Sump/Refugium. I tack this liner up the side of the stand  3-6 inches and even tack it to an extra board in the stand doorway. This creates a pan into which water is captured in case of overflow or other water spill/leak.


This pic was taken about a month or two after setup. At first the Utah Rock wall was there to help slow the water and allow bubbles to rise. (When Chaeto fills in top to bottom and side to side the bubbles stick to it and combine, then rise easily up through the algae.) After I added the floss bag the bubbles mostly disappeared so the rock was no longer needed and eventually disappeared as I used it for mounting coral frags. The return pump is a Rio 2500 but what can't be seen is a closed loop circulation system powered by a 1200 gph external pump hanging on a spring suspended platform way above the Refugium.


Edited by Mark Peterson - October 20 2010 at 3:57pm

More added to my post above.

Understood. Are you planning on a topoff system? If so, the constant level problem is solved. (Another reasoin that I don't bother with a Skimmer.)

The problem of air bubbles from the skimmer being drawn into the return pump can be perplexing. Do you have a plan for that?

My Skimmer is currently pushing back water that does not have any visible bubbles. That or thsey are gone by the time they reach the return pump so I'm not too worried about that part. At this time I'm not planning a top off system. I probably will add one in the future but my evaporation hasn't been bad enough to warrant the expense (sg is stable)

Ill see what I can do about my Skimmer area. My Skimmer has a 6x7" footprint so it shouldn't be too hard

Edited by Ahanix - October 20 2010 at 4:18pm

Thanks for everyones suggestions

After doing a bit more research, and a trip to the hardware store, I came up with this idea, seems practical and should work out great

I decided to go down to only 1 baffle, this was cut and is 8 1/2 inches high. I will be setting my overflow area to 11 inches. Leaving 19 inches for the sump/return area

For the second area, I decided that I am going to get a plastic container, place sand, LR and macro inside of it. This way, if I ever need to take it out for any reason, I can just pull it right out, this idea seemed very good to me, due to the fact that I am not sure if I will be keeping sand in my fuge or not. Also, it will isolate itself away from the return pump, and will also give my return pump a large amount of water volume to work with.

Ah, yeah. No worries, I actually only need ~3 gallons of space for what drains out of my tank. (I have my tank set up with a siphon break and the return lines are higher than my overflow. I was going to throw a ball valve on it, but with my tank stand, I have to pull my sump out of the top, so this will be pretty permanent once its in there.

let us know how that durso drain works out =)