1st question- Sump size

[Thaumas]

I've yet to read anywhere what size sump you need for what size display tank....I'm currently planning on using a 30 gallon sump for my 180 gallon tank. Is there any good reason to have a larger sump? I thought I read somewhere larger would give you more overflow capacity? My 30 gallon will house my protein skimmer, refugium and light, pump, heaters, hmmm think that's all. I'm hoping I can get by with it and still have some room in my stand for easy access and hopefully misc supplies.

Thanks in advance for any advice you all have

[charlie]

Usually look for 20% of your display size. The more water the more stability you have. Do you have room for a refugium? On my system I have a 100 gallon sump, and an external 75 gallon refugium, and all it does is add a little more stability to the system. HTH

[ToddTT]

I've never heard anyone complain that their sump was too big.

Err on the side of larger, and make sure that it fits in your cabinet, and leaves room for maintenance.

If you haven't seen it already, go here, and also click on the sump designs on the left side of the page:

Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

It might give you some ideas for what you'll do with your sump, and how much room you might need.

[DevonM]

I have about a 40 gallon sump for my 260 gallon display. If I had it to do over again I would go with a sump dimension that gives me more surface area and capacity for when the power goes out and all of your display tank's head water drains into the sump. My sump is kind of tall and narrow which also gave me some limitations on what in-sump skimmer I could use.

[Thaumas]

Thanks all for the input That link is great..... I'm in the process of looking at diff dimension sumps to see which would fit best in stand now.