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On my new 240 gallon reef aquarium I designed my own aquarium sump. This aquarium sump is to house my protein skimmer, live rock and my return pumps. The design of the aquarium sump was dictated by the location I had for it. It is placed in a wall with multiple aquariums over the top of it. I needed to start with the location of the skimmer chamber. Once I determined the location the return pump location was determined. I wanted the return pump hold as far away from any falling water to eliminate any chance of micro bubbles coming out of the return lines.
The water enters the aquarium sumo in the upper left hand corner. That chamber houses two 300 watt heaters, filter socks and some probes. The water then drops 2 inches into the skimmer chamber. An ASM G4X skimmer sits on an egg crate riser to put the skimmer at the correct water level approx 10” of water. The water then flows into the center chamber where live rock sits on egg crate. The water then flows around the corner into the return pump area. The hole for the Reeflo dart pump is at the far end of the chamber. There is also a Quiet One 4000 internal pump that feeds my surges.
I started with a 120 tank. The first thing I did was drill two holes for 2 inch bulkheads. One of the holes was put in just in case I needed to run a second external pump.
I cut some pieces of plywood and made a L-
Here is the completed sump with the four glass baffles in place. The bulkheads and
elbow for the return pump where also installed. 
I took a 2 inch PVC street elbow and glued on a male threaded coupling. I then cut a piece of egg crate to fit in the end of the elbow. This will help prevent any large objects from getting sucked into the return pump. The elbow was then threaded into a 2 inch bulkhead
Here is a picture of the sump set up. I ended up cutting and siliconing in a PVC support for the long piece of glass that divides the return chamber from the middle one. It was deflecting a little and I did not like that. It ended up being useful since I zip tied egg crate to it to create the live rock chamber.
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