need pics of homemade sump

[bradjenny]

at the fish store today and had a idea of making my own sump. i am planning on doing a 180 aquarium inthe wall. so maybe a 75 gallon sump would work for me. it is a fish only tank. can i just take the tank and take like 1/4 inch plexi glass and silicone it in there for the filtration. i am lost there on what to do.....i know water will come down and i plan on putting a section of 2 socks for the water to come into then dropping onto plexi glass with a bunch of hole drilled into it going into bio balls.....then making a part where it will go through a big foam block to filter the water.......that is about all i know to do so far....i am getting a reef octo skimmer to put in the tank also along with the heaters and i dont know if i need a another divider for the pump to sit into....this will all be done into a aquarium.......i just need pics of your sumps for ideas and possibly dimensions.......i have a proclear aquatics sump now and what i said above is what it does.........i dont know what to do shoot me some ideas thanks :spin2:

[polyp02]

Some people suggest not to do acrylic with silicone since it does not bind to it. But others have done so. I also did my own 30g sump using 3/16" glass(sold and cut at my local hardware store) and used GE silicone 1 to do put everything together. I also added a frame at the bottom of the sump. I would say that you do not need a brace at top since you will have baffles acting as braces, that is if you will do your sump from scratch like me. You can also buy a used, or new, tank and just divide it with the baffles. Here is mine though.

http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/polyp831/75gal_Reef/Silicones-1.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/polyp831/30gal_Sump.jpg
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy345/polyp831/DSC_0979.jpg

[Makenna]

Here is a pic of a 75g that i am using for a sump for a 220g. It is very simple, which is good.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/Rudro1/TankBuild2009003.jpg

Filter sock on left, 3 baffles, return section.

Thanks!!

[disciple]

Nice looking sump so far. I dont have any experience building tanks or sumps but if i were you i would test that bad boy outside just in case it fails. The last thing you want to do is mop up the floor. good luck

[bradjenny]

wow looks good need some more ideas keep them coming thanks

[redfishblewfish]

40 breeder sump for a 90 g DT.

The left section has a 150 micron sock and pump for the external skimmer. That section is drilled with bulkhead for eventually an external pump.

Center section is return section

Right section is refugium, which now has cheato.


Oh, and one more thing, it has acrylic baffles (actually 3/8 carbonate), and amazingly they work! Don't believe those who say you can't use acrylic. The secret is to use plenty of silicone on either side of the baffle.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp271/psh54/Tale%20of%20the%20Tank/IMG_1649.jpg

[kahkaw]

Sorry about my last post. did it from my phone and it didnt past right i guess.

Its an about 40 gallon total sump set up. Small drain chamber, skimmer chamber set to 9" for my skimmer, bubble trap to 5 gallon-ish L shaped return section. return pump also diverts a small amount of water to a 11-ish gallon fuge. The back portion of the sump there is a narrow chamber that holds 8 gallons of fW for ATO.

here is the link again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXQi3TT1kNI

[bradjenny]

ok so i want to take a 50-75 gallon tank and silicone glass in it. where do i start how far should let the water get? how deep of water can a reef octo skimmer sit into? i am having ideas it is just where to start and ...............got the idea in my head just making it so it works and dont have to put water in every other day gotta keep it so i can run contiuously for a week from water change to water change and evaporation......

[kahkaw]

if you want to avoid adding fresh water everyday then you have 3 options. 1-find out how much water you evap a week and make you return chamber bigger than that (least recomended as specific gravity will spike up and down cosiderably week to week) 2- cover your display and sump as best you can (also not the best rout due to lower o2 leves, however skimmers do help keep o2 levels manageable, additionally evapporation does help with cooling your tank down, so you may have higher temps with this method) 3-best rout if you have the space, (IMO) cut back on the size of your sump and build a dedicated fresh water chamber that feeds the return section of your sump via pump and ATO.
I personally do not like wasted space i my cabinet so i will try to put as much in it as i can. on my setup i managed fit an 8 gallon fresh water res that feeds my 5 gallon return. a little bit of method 2 and 3 (just in case i let my res run dry i will have a day or two to get some new water in there)

As far as skimmer depth, the depth of the chamber (again IMO) should be as deep as possible provided you have room to be able to raise the skimmer up to the correct height for your specific skimmer (which i believe is 9 inches) you could just make a simple stand out of egg crate to put your skimmer on.

I know i tend to ramble on a bit but i hope i have helped.

Cheers
Eric

[Bones06]

I just finished mine up this weekend! I'm gonna test water in it on Tuesday!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1955891

[bradjenny]

looks good might have to get with you about some dimensions

[jeff@zina.com]

... need some more ideas ...

Melev's Reef (http://www.melevsreef.com/)

Jeff