Starting a new 90gal reef. Need some advice on my sump, please!

[jntvarga]

Thank you for reading this! I recently got a 90 gal reef ready, and I am about to start it up this weekend,(after I get a return pump..lol) I bought a home-made sump (pictures below) and I wanted some advice on the layout. I drew it up on paint, and included a picture of it. Does this seem good? Is there any suggestions you can give me? Any advise would be wonderful. sump.jpgsump layout.pdf

[cichlidtx]

Congrats on the tank. On the sump, I would put the skimmer pump in the input area. This will protect the pump from the sand in the fuge area. The skimmer output can go into the fuge or be routed to the return area with pvc if needed. Keep posting updates as you go along.

[rage]

1) I think you may have the Input/ Output chambers reversed. The output or return chamber is normally the lowest area in the sump.
In your intended setup, if you have evaporation that you are slow to refill, with the return chamber on the right, your pump can pump that area dry very quickly while you still have water on the left two chambers.

2) The suggestion about keeping the pump away from the sand is sound. If it was me, I wouldn't even have sand in my sump. Usually, detritus accumulates in the sump. If your sump has no sand, you can suck out the detritus much easier. You can keep some rock and macro in the middle chamber.

3) The Hang on back skimmer is normally good for smaller tank. Try yours but keep an eye out, you may have to go with bigger skimmer.

[jntvarga]

Thank you so much for the help. So I moved it. It does look a lot better. Do I need a sponge for the output of the skimmer? No sand in the refuge area? How will I know if the skimmer is working good enough? Sorry about all the questions I am just really excited!

[eklikewhoa]

That looks kinda small for a 90g, Make sure your overflow isn't too low and flood that thing in the event of an outage

[rage]

Do I need a sponge for the output of the skimmer?

You don't need a sponge. You can use one but you will have to clean it periodically.

No sand in the refuge area?

I don't use sand in my sump/ fuge and try to remove most from my display tank as well.
Some people do. For sand to do some good, you need 4+ inches (look up Deep Sand Bed) but then detritus builds up under there and could turn into a slow time bomb when it releases NH3 and other stuff if disturbed.
Shallow sand doesn't have that problem and then it does not help much.

How will I know if the skimmer is working good enough?

Along with other filtration devices (sand, rock, macro algae, sponge, filter socks ....), skimmer is supposed to remove organic compound (the food and fish waste) from water to prevent NH3, NO2, NO3 build-up. Once your tank matures and if you have 0 of those chemicals, then you are good. If not, you will need to improve one or more of your filtration methods.

[jntvarga]

Thank you so much! Does this look better?web.jpg

[fish daddy]

will if fit under the tank with the skimmer HOB? You must have a tall stand.
What size tank is the sump? It does look small for a 90g.

[Darbex]

I would make sure that the out of the skimmer is far away from the return line. Otherwise you will get micro bubbles in your tank or you can have the skimmer out hooked up to a filter sock to break up the micro bubbles.