building a rubbermade sump tell me if Im wrong

ct67-72

New member
Im gonig to connect 2 containers together with bulkheads so water has to flow out of one into the other.
water is going to flow into a bucket with grating on the bottom and filter material inside. the idea is to have the hole in the bucket under the filter material so water has to flow through to come out into the sump and into the skimmer compartment. then flowing through bulkheads into the other container holding the return pump.
I figure I can put high low switch in the second and if for some reason the overflow box breaks a siphon it will shut off the return pump, but the first bucket will have enough water to keep the skimmer submerged.
the idea is to cut off the second bucket if the flow stops once the water is under the connecting bulkheads.
in my head it sounds like a good idea and that it will work. but any thoughts are welcome.
 
If you can build an acylic sump or do what I did turn an old wet dry into a sump you will be much more happy. i started out with the rubbermaid set up then ended up doing what I have now. Unless your talking about the big stock black tanks then yeah go for it.

Heres a pic when put it in. It has since changed
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I thought about doing that but moneys a little tight so I thought the containers were a good way to go. not the huge black ones but the regular ones.
 
Ive read horror stories about the regular ones. The one I had in mine was in there for about 3 months before I switched and there were stress marks from the water pressure. I picked up my wet/dry for 70 bucks from a local reefer and the acrylic cost me like 20 bucks less than $100 i had a sump. just a suggestion.
 
you could try a restaurant supply store. I own a restaurant and im always amazed at the amount of large strong containers i find there for very cheap. the nice thing is that they are all food safe so the will be reef safe. also the containers are very thick and wont bow if you fill them with water.
 
mybe I will wait. there is a guy on ebay that has all pre cut sumps for like 100$ gives you clamps and glue to build it. if I could save 100$ it would be nice but maybe I shouldent
 
Id really like ot try it out. just looking to save some money if possible. I know what my 29 reef cost and Im scared with the 150:eek1:
I guess Ill get the diy sump kit from this guy, it sounds pretty neat and probably pretty fun to build.
I still might use my bucket idea for filtration though. any thoughts on that?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11652741#post11652741 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ct67-72
I still might use my bucket idea for filtration though. any thoughts on that?

If you used just a filter sock you could eliminate the whole bucket deal.
 
I was thinking I can stack the bucket with media like a canister filter. something to get it off the bottom then floss and media the water would have to go through to get out the bottom.
I ended up buying a 20l tonight and canned the bin idea.
I dont want to do a refugium and dont want the wet dry thing so i thought the bucket woule work out pretty well
 
Here is a few shots of my sump I took tonight. Between buying the used wet dry, some acylic and the glue I may have $100 dollars in this set up. But because of the depth of the tank I had to make a provision in the sump to fit by drilling a hole on the side and glueing a pvc cap on the inside. So if you can afford it I would steer away from the rubbermaid sump as much as possable.

<a href="http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee51/DragSX04/?action=view&current=IMG_6289.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee51/DragSX04/IMG_6289.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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<a href="http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee51/DragSX04/?action=view&current=IMG_6291.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee51/DragSX04/IMG_6291.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
20l very good idea. that would have been my next suggestion. Now just go get some glass cut make some baffles and your set
 
Yeah thats the down side to a 12 inch deep tank its only like 10 inches deep. Theres no glass tank that will fit in it and even the acrylic sumps are too deep so that was the only option. It worked out great though. My next project is going to be use the right side to make a larger fuge that will connect to the first sump.
 
you really should not have any type of manual filter material in a reef tank....This is a mistake that most people think they have to clean the tank of particles...
 
i have set up a 75 gal sump using rubermaid containers. Just make sure that the weak parts of the containers are souported.
Sorry about the pics of my wet dry in front of the containers.
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