[sgarron]

I think I'm going to take an old 20L I have laying around and make it a sump-refugium. I have questions about baffle sizes and loction. Mostly how tall are the baffles?

I would also like to put a skimmer in the sump, removing my Aqua-C remora pro. Any thoughts on skimmers? Deltec, Tunze, ASM, H&S? Keep in ming that I only have 24 inches under the cabinet, really 21 to the top of the door anything higher would be a maintenance issue.

Also, any experiences with Lifereef overflows compared to CPR?

[reefdaddy725]

Baffles are mostly to keep bubbles from going into your return, they also calm the water down a bit from its fall from the tank to the sump. The first baffle should go from the top of the sump and stop about 3 to 4 inches from the bottom. Leave a 2 to 3 inch space and set a baffle from the bottom about 5 inches up the sump. Do the opposite on the other side if you like. then you can keep the fuge in the middle. Next is why do you want to change skimmers? If yours is working now adding the fuge in the sump is only going to be a benifit so your skimmer should become even more efficient. If the reason for putting one in your sump is to get rid of the pump in your tank thats another story but you could addapt it to hob of the sump. just my 2 cents.

[sgarron]

I have been happy with the skimmer, but I don't have the clearance in the cabinet for this one. I would like to get everything out of the tank except an overflow box.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I wouldput the skimmer and fuge at oposite ends of the sump and feed the fuge with a 1/2 inch "T" from the main drain.your return would be the center section and the water from the fuge would go directly into the return section.This is for two reasons.You dont want all those pods from the fuge going thru the skimmer.And the flow thru the fuge should be around 50/100 gph so you dont wash all the pods out in five minutes.The plants in the fuge will also grow better when fed "raw"unskimmed water.

[sgarron]

Can I put the pipe coming from the overflow to the skimmer section below the water level? I figure this would eliminate any splashing noise.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Sure you can do that. another thing you can do to eliminate noise is use a series of 45's so the water wont fall straight down.You might even be able to do this inside the overflow if you have room.Another thing you can do is use"street L's.instead of regular L's to avoid sharp turns and resistance.These work especialy well in high flow return lines to prevent cavitation(in some cases the cause of micro bubbles).In cases of extremely high flow use sweeps instead of street L's or regular L's.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I forgot. Cavitation almost always occurs on the suction side or intake of pumps.I would make sure to use the above methods in that case.