Going to be building a sump. Would I be better off with acrylic or glass?

[GroktheCube]

I'm in the process of setting up a Marineland frameless 93g cube (30" x 30" x 24"), which will house the fish from my 120g reef during a 10 week fallow period to eradicate crypto, and then serve as a dedicated anemone tank. Internal stand dimensions are 28" x 28" x 24". The large opening on the back of the stand is ~22" x 19".

I will be constructing a black tempered glass C2C overflow (4.5" high x 4" deep, with the top of the glass 1.5" below the tank's brim) and using a Beananimal drain. The return pump will be an Eheim 1262, so I will be using 1" PVC plumbing, as that should be more than adequate to handle that flow with lots of room to spare.

I'm planning on constructing a sump that is 26" x 20" x 18".

I will be using an external recirculating skimmer, so I will only be using a two chamber sump. The first chamber will be where the siphon, open channel, and skimmer return enter the sump. The other chamber will accommodate pumps, heaters, and the ATO.

I've never built something like this before, and I'm debating material choice.

My first instinct is to lean towards acrylic, as it would be lighter, less expensive, and easier to cut/shape if needed. It also seems like building a reliable and safe acrylic tank might be a bit easier for the novice than building a glass tank, especially given the relatively large dimensions of the sump I'll be building. No matter what, I'll obviously be practicing a bit with scrap pieces before building something that will actually need to hold water.

Given I'm a rank novice when it comes to tank construction, am I right in leaning towards acrylic for my purposes, or would glass be worth giving further consideration to?

 

[Yodeling]

I've worked with acrylic and glass, both as a novice, and glass was definitely easier as well as much less expensive. A glass shop can provide the exact cuts you need and all you have to do is glue them together. There's much more "science" behind properly cutting and bonding acrylic imho.

 

[ca1ore]

Whenever I need a sump I make every effort to use a stock glass tank. Sumps always end up looking like hell anyway, so why go fancy. A standard 29 gallon would work I'd think.

 

[GroktheCube]

Thanks for the feedback. Personally, I'd prefer to err on the side of larger rather than smaller. I kinda like getting as much sump as possible under the tank.

However, that does make me contemplate a 45g cube. I'll need to go get a price quote.

 

[GroktheCube]

Got a price quote of $130 for the 45g cube. Decided to go for it. I'll order up the glass I need for the baffles.

Thanks for the idea ca1ore, I hadn't even thought of a factory tank given the odd dimensions.

 

[uncleof6]

You are going to find out that a cube tank makes very poor sumps....sump function is not all about size, it is about design (though it is simple,) cube tanks make it very complicated.

 

[GroktheCube]

You are going to find out that a cube tank makes very poor sumps....sump function is not all about size, it is about design (though it is simple,) cube tanks make it very complicated.

What issues do you foresee with a cube tank? Maybe I'm missing something very obvious here.

 

[uncleof6]

usually due to dimension requirements for particular sections, you need to turn the water flow 180 degrees....It is kinda confusing I suppose...

I have designed a few 'cube' sumps, and I think a 40 breeder is a better option. It has with as well as length... if that makes any sense at all.

 

[GroktheCube]

Ahh, I see what you mean. I was only planning on having two chambers.

I was going to make a 10" x 12" square in the back corner for tank and skimmer drains, with bubble traps on the two sides of the square not touching the tank's outer walls.

 

[GroktheCube]

Here we go, I did a quick drawing a couple quick renders to demonstrate what I'm planning.

 

[ca1ore]

That's cool, don't see why it wouldn't work just fine. Love the diagrams, how did you do that?

 

[GroktheCube]

Autodesk Inventor for the diagram. The renderings are from Autodesk Showcase.

Given the layout, I'll end up with a couple of dead spots in there, but that isn't a bad thing. Should make my life a little bit easier when it comes to removing detritus.

 

[slief]

I'm of the minority here. Personally, I much prefer acrylic for sumps despite their additional costs. Overtime, we have a tendency to add things to our plumbing be it reactors, water change devices, dosing etc and in doing so, inevitably end up wanting to run more lines to or from the sump. I'm not one to have a bunch of lines running in through the top of the sump. Especially because my sumps are covered to limit evaporation as well as humidity below the tank. Instead I like running things through bulk heads or john guest fittings. With acrylic being much easier to drill, it's much easier for your system to evolve without risking breaking glass to add a bulkhead or add john guest fittings. Granted my sumps have always been large with external pumps but I personally would never even consider a glass sump for the reasons mentioned above. Also, acrylic is much more forgiving and much less prone to getting cracked.

Here is an example of three 1/4" lines with John Guest style fittings that I added to my refugium which is down stream from my main sump. This was done while they sumps were running. Those three 1/4 lines are for my automatic water change system and my ATO.

These additional bulk heads were added after the fact as well in order to accommodate additional reactors. I'd be very reluctant to drill my sumps with the sumps in operation let alone with the sumps removed if they were glass. With acrylic, it's simple and safe.