Fluid Flow Dynamics and sump design?

Quick question I've looked at as many sump designs as I can find but I can't find a particular answer to my setup.

If I were to add a baffle where I have the yellow line and egg crate where the green line is, so that water is forced under and through my media and then over the last baffle into my return will the water level be the same throughout all chambers like it would if I were to just leave it as it is?

Every design I see uses the same baffles on all chambers either an over under over, or under over under design.



Reason being this 55g sump is going on a 180 corner flow tank. I know that if the power goes out or if I shut the pump off it will back flow 10 to 12 gallons into the sump. I left just over 2 cubic feet of over flow space in the sump which is just over 14 gallons so its close but should not over flow. I'm rethinking my sump design after days of staring at it...

burbon44s said:

Water level will be the same through- out the sump. Unless the filter media plugs up.

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exactly what I needed thank you.

jsodwi said:

It may be the way the pic looks but with that second baffle in on the right , all of your bioballs would be fully submerged. Is that baffle right to the bottom of tank and a few inches from the top?

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We're not done yet I've got more questions regarding media and such.

soupa2 said:

all height wise is dictated by the bottom baffle.. which for instance, your case hope i'm right that water flows from left to right. if all the bottom baffle glass siliconed to the bottom of tank then the top edge to the next bottom baffle is your water level of that section.. my sump is posted here.. my bottom baffle are on a decline of every pieces of glass height being 1" lower from each section.. my suggest is try to fill tank and sump up and see when power of pump shuts off will all the top water be overflow over the sump.. if it does over flows my suggestion is to lower the bottom baffle glass height of the pump section..
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?552299-300-deep-dimension

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Thank you for the explanation, I did understand the basic concept of overflow design. I wasn't exactly sure if having the water coming in and exiting opposite heights was going to have a major impact on the forces needed to push the volume of water up and over the last baffle into the return. Also reviewing things if I needed to, all I need to do if I do have a water level problem is cut out and modify the last pane of glass before the pump in my setup.

You're sump looks really clean and that was good thinking to use a slightly lower level on each chamber to encourage flow.



Now this is what I ended up doing

excuse my one drunk baffle







water enters from left goes under,over,under. crating is sitting on glass tabs I put in so I could remove it in case I need to access the air stones or heater.

I like having mixed media and not just stuck on one type of plastic or ceramic for bacterial colonization. Likewise I think this will give me areas with high aeration and also those with little to no aeration for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Kind of get the best of both worlds, both wet/dry and refuge styles.

Media choices, Cheapest option is going to be pot scrubbers across the crating with mixed solid state media spread out sparingly as to try not to reduce flow. I already have a case of them and throwing the bio balls across the surface.

Or, going all out on 5 gallons of Marine Pure Cer Media 1.5" spheres as a base layer with 10 gallons of balls on top. I haven't seen many user reviews on the product but at 80% porosity I think it would be the best solid media to avoid clogging.

Well that is whats going on in my mind what do you guys think?

Gill Blue said:

looks like more baffles than you need, but it shouldn't hurt anything. did you leave space at the top for the water to flow if there's a clog ? some of those baffles look pretty high.

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Should be good, I mentioned in the OP I left just over 2 cubic ft. Which is about 14.5gal and the 180 should shut down after 10-12gal. That's where my reef shuts down.

Also 1" from the top of the highest baffle to the top of the trim in case it needs to flow over do to a blockage

soupa2 said:

i would suggest using bio home to support the middle portion of egg create up just in case some media you put are heavy like mine.. eventually you will need to dismantle the egg create to suck out gunk on the bottom of compartment... mine are filter socks, media bags, and 25L of matrix sections.. drunk glass was easy to leveled it, all you should of done was to use a sharpie and use a right angle to draw a line on outside of tank..

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Mm yea right angle would have been a good idea in this case. I was using simple spacers I cut out of wood and balancing the pane on them and using them for spacers between the baffles.

I'll be using 200 micron sock on the inlet and a carbon, gfo reactor for my chemical needs. That's why I tried to keep it simple on the sump chambers. No need for extra.