Sump tank help

Ricky1066

New member
Ok after 12 days of cycling and readings all at o I am happy I however do not have a sumptank And I was not planning on getting any but I am told over and over I need one.

So I need some advice I was at the lfs last night he was trying to sell me one for $350 with Bio balls in it.

What I have learned here in two weeks is buy nothig without research.

First off does anyone live in NY area Queens ny and know of any lfs that are repuatable and knwo what they are doing?

Second I was told no bio balls and also told the price is way to high.. Whre should i get a sump I do not want to build it so I am willing to pay to have it done or buy it already made I have no drilled holes so it has to be over the back.

I am actaully still not sure on how much I need it but the advice here is get it so LEts do it ..
 
At a very basic level, a plain 20g aquarium could serve as your sump for very little money. It would just be a place to hide your skimmer and heater and it would increase your system volume, which would improve the stability of your water quality. You don't need bioballs with LR and a skimmer. All you would need is some sort of overflow and a return pump.
 
Surely New York has a local reef club or forum? Surely someone makes acrylic sumps in New York?

$350 is too much money! Like someone else said, you could just make your own... it's not real hard. You can either order acrylic sheets and have it cut to size before shipped to you.

Or you can buy a glass tank (29g would be perfect for a 75g) and goto home depot and purchase some glass or a glass shop and have them cut it. 1/4" glass is perfect for baffles. A 29g would be perfect for a sump/refugium. This is really not hard at all. A cave man can do it.

Look on Melev's site and find the model F. Do something like that... if you don't/can't cut teeth in the one baffle... use some egg crate (can be purchased at lowe's/home depot). I promise... you can do it, and do it for pretty cheap.

Sometimes stores like Petco have $1 per gallon sale. $29 gets you the tank... $10-15 gets you pre cut baffles and your skimmer and heater go in the sump. Put some Live sand (4-5" deep) in the refugium w/ some cheato and couple pieces of LR for pods... and BAM!! You have a sump/refugium.

Or if you can find someone in your area... you should be able to have a 26"-36" sump/refugium built out of acrylic all ready to go for about $200. HTH
 
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