First time building acrylic sump, some help please

[DanielJay]

I am working on designing my first acrylic sump. I have come to the conclusion that the sump will be 60x15x15. There will be a 2 inch brace around the entire top except on the far right edge (one of the 15" wide sides) and that will be 6" wide to allow for bulkheads to be inserted. That 6" strip will allow me to secure my drain lines down into the tank. Then there will be another 2" wide brace right above the baffles. The plan for now is to use 1 solid piece for the top and use a router to cut out the holes in the top.

The skimmer section will be 16" long starting 6" away from the right edge. Then after the skimmer section I will add the 3 baffles 1.5" or 2" apart and 9" tall. Then the rest of the area will be for return water storage. Will also hold my heaters and reactors.

I will also have to drill a hole in the far left side to accommodate a 2" bulkhead for my return pump.

I have seen different charts stating that for anything over 14" tall you should use 3/8" instead of 1/4" acrylic. If you were to build this sump which thickness would you use? Would 1/4" acrylic be strong enough since the tank is not much taller than what different charts say?

Do you see any problems with this design? This is going under a 125g tank.

 

[uncleof6]

I would want to make it a bit wider front to back, and perhaps, less long, due to flow rate. I have several acrylic designs--for external pumps, if you are interested. Since you are in wall, what is behind? Think you can put some width on the sump, and not encroach your space behind too much.

This is the one I like for your tank.


I doubt I would want to use anything less than 3/8" cast acrylic for this project. I like things to last.

 

[peppie]

+ 1 on the 3/8''

 

[kaipo13]

I recently built a sump 61" long by 12" wide by 15" tall, using 3/8" acrylic. There is no eurobrace, just the baffles and additional cross braces. It is more than strong enough.

 

[DanielJay]

kaipo13 do you have a build thread or pictures up?

I would have liked to make the sump a bit wider but that is what the size under the tank is. I am working on posting more pictures on my build thread after I post this post here.

My build thread is here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2134831

 

[JEC11718]

post up some pics when u get it going

 

[DanielJay]

I have almost completely re-designed my original idea as I have been waiting for some contact back from a company about the possibility of them building the sump instead of me.
My original idea looked like this:

My new idea with same outside dimensions looks like this:

The new design is with 3/8" acrylic without a brace on the top.
I also added a shelf that would accommodate 2x 4" filter socks if I wanted to run them.
The piece of acrylic on the left edge near the top is to secure my drain lines into the sump.
Bubble traps are 9" tall.
Skimmer section is directly after the filter sock shelf.
Heaters and reactors will go on the right hand side where the return section is.

What do you think? Any changes I should make?