Sump Design Input?

I have a 30 gallon tank... I think I want to put the return in the middle and stuff the fuge off on the end. I want to have the compartment with the drain and filter sock cut out, which somewhat sucks because it takes up a lot of room... but I can stuff some of the skimmer under it so it's not all wasted.

The drain PVC device I made is on the left (the hole anyway), the filter sock hole on the right.



I ended up getting a little lazy so I quit adding baffles. I was thinking of doing an over > under baffle system instead of the over > under > over set up that is common. This is primarily to save me 2" overall. Additionally, I was thinking of adding a strip of foam across the top to help prevent micro bubbles from getting into the return side.






I wish it were possible to set the drain chamber along the side, but 4" filter socks prevent that with a 12" wide tank :\ . Anyway, please shoot me some input and perhaps some alternative designs that might make better use of my space. I could possibly throw the return and skimmer section together to really save some space, but I worry about micro bubbles with that set up. Though I could possibly route the outgoing skimmer water into an overflow baffle and thus prevent a lot of them that way.

 

I'm really debating just picking up a hang-on filter sock adapter and trying to make that as quiet as possible. It seems like making that little box where the water will come in, then up, then back to filter sock might not be really easy and it takes up a lot of room that could be used to situate the skimmer. That would leave me more room for return or fuge.