Help me with my sump

[AkaSlyGuy]

Thank you for reading. I am about to set up a sump and have a few questions for you. My main tank is a 58 gallon. The sump is a 30 gallon long. My main question is about the baffles I need to add. Here is my idea, tell me if it will work or if it is overkill:

From left to right, as if you were looking at the front of it:

Water enters the sump on the left side. My first baffle is raised about 1 1/2 inches off of the bottom of the glass so that the water flows under the first baffle. This compartment will aslo house my skimmer (I think).

After flowing under the first, the water then flows over the next baffle. Between this baffle and the next I will have some live sand and other stuff.

The next baffle will also have water flow over the top of it.

The forth baffle will have water flow under it and lead the water into the return pump compartment.

So, basically I have UNDER---OVER---------OVER---Under

Does anyone see any problems with my idea? I have not done exact measurments yet, but should any baffles be taller than the others? I was thinking that the first one and the last one should be the tallest, but I really can not tell you why I am thinking that.

I would really appreciate any feedback on this that anyone can offer.

Thank you very much
Joe

[Ltspd]

Sounds like you are on the right track. You want the bubbles to break before they back to the return pump section. Your design should do that. Good luck

[srgtkoons]

Now depending on what size your return pump is and how much you wish you rely on the section with livesand and whatnot. Some people split their drain lines from the overflow into two pipes. One enters at the beginning so the water goes into the refugium area. The other is goes in after that so the flow through the refugium is reduced giving it more contact time with the goodies in there without having to reduce the flow throughout the system. Since your still using a skimmer you might not really need to worry about it. And another thing is I would place a couple baffles as tall as you intend your sand to be deep. This will prevent the sand from being blown around in the sump.

[Reefland]

Yup, your definitely on the right track.

You may consider using two more baffles at the end, an over then under. Micro bubbles being returned is an eyesore so go ahead and make sure they will be gone. I liked to look at the design being the first two over baffles holding the refuge in place, then a series of three baffles, under-over-under, for bubble removal. 2 more baffles in your design would be the same thing.

For the baffle heights, make all your Under baffles about 1.5" from the bottom. Your first over baffle should be at a height that will accept the drain water from your tank. If your not sure how much will drain during a power failure, 5" in the sump should be more than enough. So your first over baffle is 5" less than the height of the sump, then each over baffle after that should step down .5-1" in consession.

Best of luck,
Scott