Sump baffles - Niagra falls

[You could have saved alot of time and just put somthing around the return pump to block off the bubbes from even getting to it. I had that same problem untill i filled my return area with holey rock. Not only do i not have any bubbles, I don't have a pH problem.]
 
[Yes, that is true, but putting LR rubble in your return area does displace the volume of water in that section. So if you have a 5g return section with 2g of evaporation, the water will lower about 1/3. With LR in place, it may lower 1/2 or more which may end up running the pump dry.

Just some food for thought.

I've got the same niagara falls in my new 80g sump, and the return area is very small. I really do hate this sump, but I'm working with it for now until I have time to make a new one.]
 
[After consulting with the Captain we decided to incorperate 2 mods. The baffle after the last stage to route the water downwards AND I included a "T" with a ball valve to route water back to the intake area in effect throttling back the pump a tad. I didnt want to have to take it back out. Pay no attention top the hack job on the silicone. LOL there 2 large tubes worth in there. I added 1" backing blocks between each baffle and glued them to the sides of the sump to give the baffles added strength so they woudnt be pushed around. After a 24 hour cure Ill fire it up in the morning!

Andy]



Edited By Maldivan on 1091127128
 
[The mods worked well I must say. The last baffle forces the water down and so far has been ok. Ive placed some filter floss in-between it so I can filter the water somewhat. The Ball valve is about 3/4 open ( re-routing water back to the intake side ) showing me that I have waaaayyyyy too much pump for what I need ( Marc you were right ).I have the new Eco style pump made by Sen, I may buy the 1000 gph model and use this one for a closed loop when the 1" SCWD's come out. If I had a 55 gal sump ( tealcobra - Amanda you 2 were right on this one :) ) i think it would have been ok. But for the 29 gal, well its still a tad turbulent through there.Oh well problems solved and its gonna work till I get the smaller pump.ATM Im probably getting about 4X turn-over instead of the 10-12 I was looking for but its all good !

peace out!

Andy]
 
[Andy,

You should consider 10-12x turnover only inside the display. You don't need that much turnover inside the sump and fuge. I think 4x in that area is not bad. I believe if you follow through with your last idea of getting a smaller pump on the return and then using the larger pump for a closed loop you will be much happier. I had a noisy sump and a major micro bubble problem for a while too until I implemented that concept. Now I couldn't be happier. Plenty of flow inside the display and enough through my sump/fuge/skimmer to get the job done. HTH]
 
[Hi Josh,
The mag9 is otw .The RC head-loss calc puts me at 700 gph with it. Thats turning over the tank 7 times and thats well good enough for me. I also will be interested to see if the flow decrease by 1/2 in my fuge. ATM its racing through there at 1584 gph :( because 80% of the pumps output is being re-directed to the input side of the fuge.My lofty expectations of massive turnover rate in the display is limited by my sump size. I wish I had had the forethought before , but hey... I learn something every day in this hobby!

Andy]
 
[Good deal. The Mag9 should be good for what you need through the sump. I have a mag7 returning from my 10G sump. Water flow from the tank to the sump is through a 20G fuge then into the sump. With the Mag7 there is a good flow but it doesn't get turbulent. Then I have a Mag9 on a SCWD closed loop adding extra flow within the 29G display. I started with the same idea as you with a Mag9 in that small sump trying to boost my turnover only to make my sump loud and cause microbubbles.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.]
 
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