do I really need baffles?

[nitrofish]

im making a sump out of a 75 gallon aquarium for my 180 gallon tank and I was wondering if I really need baffles. i heard live rock would defuse any microbubles , so I figured I could put my skimmer in the front where the water comes into the sump and then make a seprator from the live rock with a piece of acrylic with some holes in it. think it would be ok?

 

[NateHanson]

Depends on how fast the flow is. With really slow flow, the rock will probably help disperse a lot of bubbles, but with faster flow, they'll just get swept by and into the return pump.

 

[Lourdes]

How about raising up the acrylic an inch or so and have the holes also .

 

[cman]

It worked for me. My sump is only a 20gal so I'm not sure how it will work on a 75 but I haven't had any problems with bubbles.

 

[nitrofish]

How about raising up the acrylic an inch or so and have the holes also .

I figure the holes will be about 6 inches up, so that my pumps stay under water.

 

[Chris A.]

Why not put 2-3 baffles before your return?

 

[nitrofish]

Why not put 2-3 baffles before your return?

the problem is im not sure exactly how big and how far apart to make them.

 

[Chris A.]

Click on this link and enter your tank size sump Calculater That will tell you how many gallons you will need for the overflow back into your sump then just subtract that from the 75g and figure at what hight of your baffles.EX:75-20=55 w3ich by the dimensions of a 75g it`s a little over 14.5" for the baffles Tank volume calculater

 

[Chris A.]

If you keep them at 2" apart you can benifit from being able to put a bag of carbon or other things inbetween the baffles.

 

[Chris A.]

If you want give me the dimensions of your 180 and how low the returns are from the water level and i`ll calculate them for you.

 

[NateHanson]

the problem is im not sure exactly how big and how far apart to make them.

The height is set by the amount of water that drains from your tank/plumbing when the return pump is shut down. If you were guessing, I'd say keep your "over" baffles 4 inches from the top of the sump. That should be enough.

As far as how far apart, the further apart, the slower the water will flow, so the more bubbles will rise out of the water column, rather than get swept through. I'd do them 2" apart and keep the "under" baffles 2" off the bottom.

Finally, end each set of baffles with an "under" baffle. Over baffles at the end don't do anything.

 

[stang8s]

all depends on the setup i think. I have a 10gal sump under my 75 and i have no baffles in it at all, and no bubbles in the tank.

 

[Ray]

I have a 65g sump with no baffles and a iwakki 100 return

 

[nitrofish]

heres my plan, the main tank will have two sets of hang on overflows capable of 1200 gph each that drain into the sump. aside of the tank I will also have a refugium with one hang on overflow that can handel 1200 gph. this also drains into the sump.

the pump on the sump with be rated for 3,000 gph and split 3 ways, two into the main tank and 1 into the refugium. the refugium is also a 75 gallon tank.

 

[nitrofish]

my overflows drain about 1" of water when the pump is shut off. my tank is 24" deep by 72" long.

 

[mattn007]

I am setting up my first 90 gallon tank with sump and refugium. I am a newbie reefer and please take that into consideration with what I suggest.

If baffles will cost you money and be difficult or complicated then I recomend waiting to see if they are actually required, following the keep is simple philosophy. I don't think everyone's setup requires them. Even if you are getting micro bubbles in the display tank the best approach would be to figure out where they are coming from and try to address that first. If you cannot stop them at the source then you might consider baffles.

 

[Armando]

I recomend waiting to see if they are actually required,

I strongly recommend that you do NOT do this. I had to put baffles in a sump on an existing setup and it was extremely difficult do to it. It's much easier to put the baffles before you start the system. Save some time, sweat, blood and tears and put them right away.

 

[nitrofish]

the baffles will cost me nothing, so its not really a money issue, its more of a "how do I do it" issue. I only want to do it once, so it had better work.

 

[NateHanson]

Definitely, if you have the space, put them in before you set up the tank. You don't want to have to install these after the fact.

That said, you're right Matt. Some setups don't need them. And some bubble problems can be addressed at the source.

 

[Chris A.]

Jeff,if you make your baffles 16" high that will hold your tank water plus the water in the tubes easily(i put your return at 2" under the surface of the water.