DIY 2 g sump build

[Shaker nemo]

I plan on making a 2 gallon sump for my 10 gallon soon to be reef. i will be using a ssmall 2g tank and i have to fix in the divisions. How a many should ther be?I dont think i will use an overflow cuz it uses alot of spac in my alredy cluttered tank...
So can i just use a valve? And what is a bubble trap? idont unerstand what it does :( i plan on keeping some filter media a protein skimmer and a fan to cool down the tank. In what order should it be placed? where should the bubble trap be? lots of questions i know, im a newbie to reef tanks :hmm5: THANK YOU IN ADVANCE :lolspin:

[shifty51008]

to be honest, a 2 gal sump is gonna be to small to really do much other than hold some extra water. you will need an overflow if you plan on having a sump, a valve just won't work. so by the time you do have a way to get water from the DT to the sump you will need a return pump to pump the water back up, if it is a submersiable pump then that will take up pretty much the room in the sump.

you may be stuck with HOB equipment. but on a 10 gal tank there is really no reason to have a skimmer, just do regular 20% water changes weekly or every 2 weeks. if you want to run carbon and or gfo you can find either a cheap HOB filter or canister filter, just clean them out every couple of weeks so they don't start producing nitrates.

[Dapg8gt]

Me personally would just type in Diy sump in the search tab at the top of the page . Or bubble trap, or.......(enter other common search fields here) =).

[smartwater101]

I agree with shifty, go bigger if you can. Heck, make your 10g the sump and get 20g DT?

[Shaker nemo]

No cuz I have a 3 gallon tank lying about so I thought I could turn it into a sump :) I thought maybe it would work. My Main reason is to increase water to keep a pair of clownfish and add some filtration media and possibly even a homemade protein skimmer :D thx fr all the help guys :)

[shifty51008]

increasing the water volume by just adding a sump won't make any diffrence with the fish you can keep in a 10 gal. if the fish is gonna out grow a 10 gal, adding a sump still won't change that no matter if it is a 1000 gal sump or a 2 gal sump :)

[Shaker nemo]

Lolz yes I guess so. But I really want a sump to keep the cooling fan in it and it also reduces temp by itself which I need. Want a filter to be on the safe side :D 2 clowns in a 10 g should be okay right? Or should I get damsels instead?
One more thing I'm getting blood shrimps and turbo snails for my clean up crew for now. How many of each? (not sure if the shrimP at the lfs is a blood shrimp or a skunk shrimp) :S

[shifty51008]

I would try for a 20 gal for 2 clowns but you may be ok, just stay with the small types. clowns are damsels :)

a blood shrimp is dark red with a few white dots, the skunk is red with a white stripe down the whole back. you should be fine with 2 shrimps and 1 turbo snail.

[Shaker nemo]

I meant yellow tail blue damsels sorry. ☺