What do you guys think of this sump idea?

[ryanoh]

Water enters on the right, goes though some filter media (probably ceramic rings), then into the pump chamber. The pump is tee'd to feed a refugium as well as go back to the main tank. I tried to leave some room for the water during a power outage as well.

Am I thinking about the baffles right? Any other thoughts?

 

[cichlid_king]

First of all what is it for? Fresh or salt?

 

[ryanoh]

For a freshwater 40 gallon African cichlid tank. This sump will be made out of a 20 gallon long aquarium.

 

[ryanoh]

Bump? Anyone?

 

[Mavrick813]

From Right to Left Baffle 4 and 5 need to be reversed...

EDIT: Strike that. I think what your trying to accomplish is putting the pump in the middle and having water flow into the center from Both ends? If so it looks fine. However I would add a 3 baffle between the Refugium and Return chamber to try and eliminate Micro Bubbles.

 

[ryanoh]

That was my thought process, about water coming into the pump chamber from both sides. The refugium on the left though will be filled up by the pump, not from overflow from the tank. Should I switch it and have water go from the overflow to the reugium then to the pump chamber, then back up to the display tank?

 

[ryanoh]

I simplified the sump down to just three chambers and two baffles. Water comes in on the right, will pass through filter socks, then flows to the left into the pump chamber. From there its tee'd to go back to the tank, and to go to the refugium on the left, where it overflows back into the pump chamber. The pump chamber is just going to have some sort of basket of filter media sitting in it rather than me trying to fit it all in between the baffles. Is that an okay thing to do?

Two questions though.
1) How do I make sure water goes through the refugium and not just over it? Do I need two baffles like I originally had, or will putting the pipe lower in the water make this happen?
2) What's a good method of mechanical filtration from the refugium to the pump? I don't want plants or anything going the baffle and getting into my pump.

Thanks guys!