So, who knows how to make a sump?

[Brock Fluharty]

I am setting up a 20 high H. brevicep (seahorses) tank. It is going to have a standard 10 gallon sump, and a chiller to keep the tank at 65*F. Only problem is that i've never set up a sump, and honestly don't think I can do it alone. My stepdad has a little SW experience, but not in plumbing, overflows, baffles, returns, etc. I was wondering if someone near me could maybe come over to my house one day (after I have all of the materials) and help me set up this sump. I have the basic understanding, but i'm not sure how I would go about plumbing it into an overflow, seahorse proofing the output/input, etc. Whoever wants to help me could have a zoa frag, lol.

I'm near Parkersburg, WV.

Thanks!

 

[gebrony]

i have built a small hob refugium but everything was already cut for me, i just had to glue it all together.

didnt seem to hard of course it was acrylic though

 

[grendl]

If you look at Lowcels gallery (lowcel has a post in Ltpipers "The Light Has Arrived" thread) he has a pic on the 2nd or 3rd page, of his marked up 29 gallon tank that he used for his sump/refugium AND has pics of it under the tank. I used that as a template for my own 29 gallon sump, which I just now got done glueing some of the glass in. I am going to try to take some pics of the step by step of the process & post them here. Its really not as tough as ppl might think. Several of the folks on here have built there own, & have various tales of what worked for them. You will read around the net that you shouldn't use acrylic inserts for glass tanks, because the acrylic doesnt bond well to glass.... I wouldn't pay that too much mind.... I believe both Phil & Jim have used acrylic & glass together with no failures... Phil has a massive sumpfugium that is something to behold, & I believe that Jim posted that he had built not one, but several using that method.

I personally went with glass, because it was cheaper. However, there were a few pitfalls associated with that decision... The main being that I had the gut cut maybe a 16th or two, too short, so it didnt fit snugly. Had I gone with acrylic, that would not have been an issue, because I could have gotten it cut a little big, then trimmed it as it needed. I am not too worried about it, something Phil suggested long ago came back to me & I was (hopefully) able to correct it. I havent finished yet, so I cant say for sure....

Another benefit to acrylic... it wont explode if a rockslides into it.

 

[MattG]

You will read around the net that you shouldn't use acrylic inserts for glass tanks, because the acrylic doesnt bond well to glass

If you do decide to use acrylic baffles in a glass tank make sure the baffles are not too tight. When acrylic gets wet it absorbs some of the water and will expand. The expansion is very small but if its a super tight fit it can expand enough to crack your glass.

 

[LtPiper]

I used acrylic in glass. Did it just like matt suggests and had it cut just a tad small and used aquarium silicone that you can get at lowes and glued them in.

Wow first time I've seen Lowcels sump design and what do you know....... That's the sump that's setting under my tank minus the frag tray.

 

[Brock Fluharty]

I'm not sure if I should make a sump, or just run the chiller thru a canister filter, and then run that into my main tank....the sump idea sound so simple until I remember about overflow boxes, ans how expensive they are...

 

[phljess]

Here is a pic of the sump for my 210g. It is a 75g tank that has been modified. I used acrylic baffles because they are less likely to break. I have never had any trouble with the acrylic and I think it is much better to use if you know how to secure it.

 

[LtPiper]

I did this for my 10gal frag:

You could probably do something similar with a penguin 350 which is about double the size of the cascade 300 I used.

Mine holds about 2 gallons.

 

[Salty Bginners]

Um....I made the caveman sump...look for it in person at the next frag swap!

 

[gebrony]

what exactly is the caveman sump?

 

[Salty Bginners]

Um... Its a sump...that i made out of a 20g tank, eggcrate, some vaccume hose, and pexiglass that was cut with a chisel( hense the caveman part) and it was artfully named by Ron. Ill bring it by the next swap, do a demo, enlarge my ego, sign autographs...the usual.

 

[Brock Fluharty]

Lol, sounds like a disaster waiting to happen...

 

[Salty Bginners]

Nuh unh... Becides i have a small ego, and im not at all big-headed.

And they should make thoes sombreos bigger...mine is starting to get tight...