Would having a lid change anything because my dad doesn't want all this humidity so we are going to get a lid for the main tank and sump?

bump

Depending on your lights, pumps etc, may need something to keep your temperatures down and evaporation is one of the easiest ways. Other way is a chiller but they can be costly. Not sure of your system but might not be a whole lot of evaporation. I've got about 200G system total, couple of external pumps, internal on the skimmer and 2-250W MH and evap 1-2g a day.

There is nothing wrong with lids if you keep your temps okay. You can try running with temporary lids and if no problems, look to something more permanent later.

About the only negative is salt creep. With a lid on the tank you can have problems such as the lid blocking light, could consider a hood though. Air exchange is another thing but a skimmer can help. Not sure of the height of you skimmer so maybe harder to make your sump tight. A bit of gap isn't a big deal.

On mine, I'll be putting the skimmer in the same area as the sump intake. I feel that putting the skimmer after the fuge kinda defeats the point. Why skim out what yer growing in the fuge...pods and other goodies that you want to slowly enter the display. I also read that you want the raw water from the tank so that it skims better.

quite right i have to agree i got my skimmer in a 5gallon bucket with the siphon hose running into the bucket. the bucket overflows into the fuge which aids in heat disipation and also releases gases when they hit the fuge crude but very effective:wink:

Best website for sump information
 

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

The right menu has information on like 15 different sump designs

Jim

thanks guys. i'm going to find out what skimmer i want. and post it here and then i'll draw up a design for you guys:)

sump diagram
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...rpant/Sump.jpg
Sump Dimensions
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...ant/Sumpdi.jpg

Anything Wrong Missing?

in the picture your baffles are looking weird I think where your waer goes in i have on my sump the water goes in over the 1St baffle and then under and then over to allow for the water to rid of the bubbles. if that makes sense. i will submit my sump you can take a look ok

Hey SeaSerpant, weather it's skimmer->fuge->return or skimmer->return->fuge setup, I would reccoment making the return area as large as possible. I never really knew what people meant when they mentioned this to me when I was building mine. The reason is the return area is the first area to notice the effects of tank evaporation. So a larger return area allows you more time in between top ups. Before I built my ATO I was only able to be away from my tank for 2 days before my return area was out of water. Just something to think about.

HTH

Kevin