BC29 Drill & sump addition

[racefan]

I took my BC29 & tore it down & re did it. It was getting overgrown. I don't have any tank before & after shots but I have after pics of the sump setup. I had a local reef club member build me a sump (beautiful job by the way, hated to hide it!) then I drilled the back for a 3/4" bulkhead & made a external durso. I really screwed up trying to paint it black (at least it's hidden from view) since the back is not real thick glass I made a gusset for the bulkhead hole to reinforce it. Probably not needed but what the heck, kept me entertained. On the pump return, I tee'd the line & put a gate valve so that if I needed to throttle the pump back I can open the valve & just return water to the sump with no strain on the pump (read that on Melvsreef.com) then when I want to do a water change I just rotate the 90 degree so it points straight out attach the pipe to it & open the gate valve & the water goes into the bucket(read that here on RC, thanks jonnybravo22!) I replaced the sand so I'm just waiting to see if I have a mini cycle before bringing the critters from the Q/T tank.

 

[pompeyjohn]

Nice sump - is it DIY?

 

[MTWiley]

Love that idea for the water changes, I've bookmarked this page and will be saving a copy of that picture since I'll be draining my BC29 to redo it here in a few weeks/months.

 

[racefan]

Nice sump - is it DIY?

Yes. A member of my local reef club made it for me.

 

[racefan]

Love that idea for the water changes, I've bookmarked this page and will be saving a copy of that picture since I'll be draining my BC29 to redo it here in a few weeks/months.

Here's where I got the idea from I just modified it a tad.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1643924
Here's another thread I found useful http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1674149

 

[MTWiley]

Thanks, I'll be checking those out, out of curiosity what thickness acrylic did you use?

 

[racefan]

1/8" It was just some scrap I had laying around my shop.

 

[alazo1]

I'm thinking about putting a sump on my BC as well, thanks for the ideas.

Question, Is the back of the bc29 plastic or glass. Feels like plastic.

thanks,
Albert

 

[mic209]

Nice sump... I noticed your water level sticker is on the wrong side. That side of the sump will always have the same water level.

 

[TundraGuy]

Looks promising. Have you thought about adding a SQWD check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=133tgjyPIyQ this will allow you to use two returns and get a sweeping motion in the water. Now a few words to the haters out there. I have used these things for years without problems. The only times I have run into problems is when I do one of two things. One run way too much flow through the device (ie using the smaller model when I should have used the bigger one). Two when plumbing the thing two low on a high pressure line (ie plumb the SQWD with shorter return lines to prevent high PSI or back pressure). I have no affiliation with this company I am just a Reef-a-holic that has used a lot of different equipment.