Finished my Sump Upgrade!

[migston]

Since setting up my tank, I had this sump design which worked decently well.

It had a few major drawbacks though:

1) It took up a lot of room. The sump fuge was made of two 10 gallon tanks and ate up all of the length in my stand, leaving me no room for any other equipment.

2) My skimmer section was tiny. In fact, the only skimmer I could fit on this system was a Remora Hang on.

3) My return section was also tiny and needed to be topped off constantly.

So I decided to upgrade from the 10 gallon tanks to a single 30 gallon. Not only would it offer more water volume, but it would also free up a lot of length that I can use for a calcium reactor in the future.

I got the new sump, installed some baffles, ordered an Octopus Recirc Skimmer and got ready to do the install.

My one major hurdle was my center brace. There's simply no way of getting a 36" long sump under my stand without cutting it. I did some research and eventually assured myself that cutting the brace off would be fine.

Anyways to make a long story short, I borrowed a jigsaw from Bill (thanks Bill!) and proceeded to butcher my center brace. It wasn't pretty but I got it out with no problems aside from an ugly ugly looking center brace. Ah well.

So here it is all installed.

Overall I'm very happy with the upgrade. Here is a pic of the available room that I freed up on the right side.

Here's a pic of my new skimmer which is built amazingly well.

Of course, there are a few design flaws.

1) I should have put the sump on the right side of the stand. Right now I have this long, ugly tube going from my skimmer drain to the collection cup because nothing will fit on the left side anymore.

2) I used some wood putty to put my brace back on and it is ugly. Gonna sand it down one of these days though.

3) The lip of the sump is so high that it's sort of hard to pour water into it from my jug to top off. I get by though by pouring it in sideways.

4) My skimmer section just barely accomodates my skimmer. I had to put it in diagonally for it to fit. As a result, I can't really turn the ball valve that controls the water level. I'm doing a gate valve mod to it pretty soon though, so it won't be an issue.

Anyways, good times. Overall I'm happy, but toying with the idea of draining it and sliding it over to the right.

 

[DRC69]

Not to bad. What size tank do you have???
Return pump area I like to see about 6" or more.
Big open area for the skimmer and heaters in the middle of the sump.
Still better then the two 10's.
Nice setup.

 

[migston]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7761077#post7761077 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DRC69
Not to bad. What size tank do you have???
Return pump area I like to see about 6" or more.
Big open area for the skimmer and heaters in the middle of the sump.
Still better then the two 10's.
Nice setup.

The return area is roughly 10Lx12Wx11H. it's just hidden by the center brace. Should be plenty big enough

My heater is in the area between the baffles.

Tank is a 60g.

 

[DRC69]

Cool that will work.
Do you really like the skimmer?? Thinking of buying one down the road.
Good price I seen on them.

 

[migston]

The skimmer is built great. To clean up the manufacturer oils and what not, I ran it outside in some vinegar. It did not leak at all which I hear is a problem with ASM recircs. So it can be run externally. I couldn't do that though because the family would not appreciate a big skimmer sitting outside the stand.

I don't have it dialled in the way I want right now though. Recirc skimmers need a slower feed than normal skimmers. With my feed valve opened up all the way it was causing a lot of big bubbles to enter the skimmer from my overflow and the water level kept fluctuating up and down, which is bad for recircs.

I turned it down which stabilized the water level and removed the bubbles. My water level is low though because I can't adjust the output ball valve (thanks to my miscalculation). Like I said I'm installing a gate valve pretty soon to fix that.

The best part? I got this skimmer for $200 shipped. Cheaper and better built than ASM skimmers.

 

[DRC69]

Thanks for the info on the skimmer.

 

[818]

Damn Migs we get no pics of the tank?

Nice turnover BTW

Sam

 

[818]

Is that a pacific coast skimmer?

 

[migston]

Sam, I've got this crappy point and shoot camera right now so it's tough to take a decent pic of the tank. The white balance, focus and exposure aren't adjustable so I'm having a hard time taking a good pic. Gimme a sec.

Yeah Pacific Coast Imports and Reef Octopus skimmers are exactly the same, just from different distributors.

edit:
Here ya go

Really a pathetic pic. I'm gonna fire up my video camera and take a screen grab one of these days cause those usually come out way better since everything is manual.

 

[818]

Wowzer now thats coraline baby!!!!

Hey Migs whats your experience with hawk fish and shrimp. I really want to get a flame hawk like yours or maybe even a long nose.

Thanks

Sam

 

[migston]

I don't have any shrimp right now, but I'm toying with the idea getting a pair. I'll get some when I can afford to potentially throw $50 down his throat. He's pretty chill though. He doesn't bother any of my hermits or inverts so I'm optimistic. I actually think mine has an identity crisis because he always hangs out with the clowns and tries to act like one by swimming around with them.

He's such a wimp. My Black Sailfin Blenny used to chase him all over the place but they're buddies now. Strangely enough he's not scared of my hand whenever I'm in the tank messing with things.

Yeah my coralline grows insanely fast. Can't say the same about my corals though for some reason :\ I'm thinking I had a lot of undetectable phosphates that settled in my old fuge because it seriously looked like a used toilet after I took it out. Seriously nasty stuff.

 

[cayecaulker]

Looks good Migs.

Sand the wood putty down and call it done.

 

[migston]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7761431#post7761431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cayecaulker
Looks good Migs.

Sand the wood putty down and call it done.

Yeah i need to go get some sort of plastic or drop cloth to prevent the dust from getting in the sump first. This stuff is supposedly stainable but I have no clue how to match it with my stand's finish.

 

[migston]

For those of you that rememebr, my skimmer section was too small and I couldn't close the ball valve much. So as a result I had to raise the water level of the skimmer by upping the input flow. Most of you know that this will result in less efficient skimming because of shorter dwell time and large bubbles entering the skimmer.

However, it didn't seem to phase my DNW-110. Here's about 4 days worth of skimmate despite the less than optimal tweaking. Coke can is there for size reference.

Here's a closer look

I did get my gate valve parts today so I did the mod real quick and here's the result.

I can't wait to see what kind of nastiness this thing will pull now that it's actually dialled in correctly. Worth every single penny.

 

[lastin1]

migston: How high is your skimmer sump water level?

 

[migston]

The water level is about 11" high but it doesn't matter for this skimmer. It's fed directly from my overflow and is actually designed to be run externally. I hear the non-recirculating versions need to be in about 8" of water or so though.