Submersed Media Sump

[cichlid2006]

I think maintenance will be easier if you reverse the way the flow goes through the sump, go from the right side to the left (on your picture). That way the water will go from top to bottom through the sponges/media and collect the crap in the top layers instead of you having to empty the whole lot out to clean the bottom sponges/media and to clean the bottom of the sump out regularly.

I could be wrong as I am only on my first sump but that seems like it would be simpler to me.

 

[pengu13]

You don't want to make only one chamber system because those media will get clogged in no time from all the waste. Any other reason for braeking up different filter media sections is so that it is easy to maintain. If it becomes like one whole tower and you can see that the media is clogged its gonna be a nightmare to clean.

not entirely true, you can still have filter socks for mechanical filtration and to clean off bio max or matrix is easy just pull the media bad throw it in a 5 g pale of tank water and rinse. the harder thing for me to clean is my filter sponges, have to clean them really well to get full flow.

i'm no expert but i do like simpler ideas, less to go wrong.
and if you do keep baffles just make sure your pump chamber is larger enough to keep up with the flow because i know when my sponges clog a little bit i notice the water level in the pump chamber go down