Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
dose anyone know how to custom make a small sump for a 10 gallon? i was think maby like a 5 gallon sump tank. if anyone can give me any ideas or let me know what supplies i would need i would appreciate it. Thanks!
sump
- Thread starter Kengaroo131
- Start date
alexb518
New member
Glass, silicon and a glass cutter is all you need as far as materials go. do you know how to cut glass? oh, you'll probably need some sand paper to sand down the edges of the glass as well. but this is what you do:
1) take your mesurments. when measuring, keep in mind that all the sides will sit on top of the bottom piece. and also, the sides will fit in between the front and back piece.
2) to cut the glass, take a straight edge and measure. keep in mind that the glass cutter will add 1/8" minus (if you're pussing the tape measure against the straight edge and measuring at the end of the glass) or subtract 1/8" minus if you're pulling the tape from the edge of the glass and measuring at the straight edge). once you've lined it up, take the glass cutter and simply press (firmly, but not too hard) and run it down the straight edge. once that's done, place both hands, once on either side of the line/scratch you just made and keep them fairly close to the scratch...maybe an inch. then do a motion with your hands as if you're trying to snap it almost like snapping a stick. and the glass should becoem two pieces.
3) after all your pieces are cut, do a dry fit.
4) now what you want to do is take the front and one of the sides. apply silicon to the bottom edges of both piecies along with the edge of your side piece that will budd up with your front piece. now place them together and use tape and your hands to hold them in place. now, take the other side pice and do the same thing...then slap on the back.
5) now that you have a "tank" put together, you want to run a bead of silicon along every single joint where the glasses meet. once you've done that, wet/lick your finger and run it along the joints so that you press the silicon into the cracks. also, this will smooth it out so it will look better.
6) let dry over night.
7) if you want to put baffles, it's up to you, but the tank/sump is already going to be small and limited in space. if you want to do that part, simply cut some more glass and insert them in there and again use silicon.
hope this helps.
1) take your mesurments. when measuring, keep in mind that all the sides will sit on top of the bottom piece. and also, the sides will fit in between the front and back piece.
2) to cut the glass, take a straight edge and measure. keep in mind that the glass cutter will add 1/8" minus (if you're pussing the tape measure against the straight edge and measuring at the end of the glass) or subtract 1/8" minus if you're pulling the tape from the edge of the glass and measuring at the straight edge). once you've lined it up, take the glass cutter and simply press (firmly, but not too hard) and run it down the straight edge. once that's done, place both hands, once on either side of the line/scratch you just made and keep them fairly close to the scratch...maybe an inch. then do a motion with your hands as if you're trying to snap it almost like snapping a stick. and the glass should becoem two pieces.
3) after all your pieces are cut, do a dry fit.
4) now what you want to do is take the front and one of the sides. apply silicon to the bottom edges of both piecies along with the edge of your side piece that will budd up with your front piece. now place them together and use tape and your hands to hold them in place. now, take the other side pice and do the same thing...then slap on the back.
5) now that you have a "tank" put together, you want to run a bead of silicon along every single joint where the glasses meet. once you've done that, wet/lick your finger and run it along the joints so that you press the silicon into the cracks. also, this will smooth it out so it will look better.
6) let dry over night.
7) if you want to put baffles, it's up to you, but the tank/sump is already going to be small and limited in space. if you want to do that part, simply cut some more glass and insert them in there and again use silicon.
hope this helps.
alexb518
New member
i forgot to add one thing. you'll probably want to buy 1/8" glass for this...it's pretty cheap too. also, i dont' know why i'm suggesting this after i said everythign above, but i didn't even think that for a 5 gallon tank, it's probably cheaper to just buy one and then insert baffles in it. well, there you go...you're an expert on building your own aquariums now.
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
Thank you very much for all that info. i think im going to give it a shot. what exactly do the baffles do?
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
haha yea i didnt really even think of buying one ether haha. what do the baffles do?
alexb518
New member
Youre welcom. Here I just googled baffles...and this should give you a pretty good idea.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_filters_berlin_sump.asp?CartId=
baffles are just the dividers that you put in there. i have built a sump in a long time, but what you do here is you place a piiece of glass as a divider that starts at the bottom and goes roughly half way up. then you take another piece and space it 1-1.5" away except this one will be raised up off the ground...maybe like an inch or two and this will go up to about 3/4 to the top of the tank. then you take a third piece and place it 1-1.5" inch away from that one and place it on the ground. basically the two outside pieices will be identical...starts at the ground and goes half way up. the middle piece will be off the ground a bit to allow water to pass through. traps bubbles here, etc. well, it's friday night and i'm gonna head out to give myself a hang over. but if you want to or if you have any questions, feel free to message me tomarrow and i'll help you out with this some more. Alex
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_filters_berlin_sump.asp?CartId=
baffles are just the dividers that you put in there. i have built a sump in a long time, but what you do here is you place a piiece of glass as a divider that starts at the bottom and goes roughly half way up. then you take another piece and space it 1-1.5" away except this one will be raised up off the ground...maybe like an inch or two and this will go up to about 3/4 to the top of the tank. then you take a third piece and place it 1-1.5" inch away from that one and place it on the ground. basically the two outside pieices will be identical...starts at the ground and goes half way up. the middle piece will be off the ground a bit to allow water to pass through. traps bubbles here, etc. well, it's friday night and i'm gonna head out to give myself a hang over. but if you want to or if you have any questions, feel free to message me tomarrow and i'll help you out with this some more. Alex
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
hahah you'v been a big help alex, im ken by the way. have a good one!
israelnajar
Active member
I personally would go with acrylic. The reason for this is because most local plastic supply companies will let you rummage through their scrap bin for plastic. You can get a killer deal on it too. I got some myself 4 sheets of 48"x12" that is 1/4" all for $1 dollar each. You could even get them to cut it to the dimensions that you need, for cheap and sometimes free.
My local club is doing a nano build off and I opted to build my own tank and working with acrylic is far easier than I had thought.
My local club is doing a nano build off and I opted to build my own tank and working with acrylic is far easier than I had thought.
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
that is a pretty good idea, and i'v always wanted to try to build a tank that would acctually hold water(rather then having 75 gallons of water on the floor hahaha) i though acrylic was expensive. what do you use to hold the acrylic together? is there a special glue?
israelnajar
Active member
Where ever you get your plastic from should sell it(glue). Weldon3 and weldon16.
http://nmoceankeepers.com/nano/entrants/05.php
This is the link to my tank build. You can see how I bent my corners from 1 sheet of 48". If you have any questions let me know.
Edit: Adding baffles to this is very easy also. That is if you decide to go with an acrylic tank. You can also add water to it in 24 hours instead of a week or so that it takes for the silicone to cure. And the glue wont turn pink like the silicone that some people have.
http://nmoceankeepers.com/nano/entrants/05.php
This is the link to my tank build. You can see how I bent my corners from 1 sheet of 48". If you have any questions let me know.
Edit: Adding baffles to this is very easy also. That is if you decide to go with an acrylic tank. You can also add water to it in 24 hours instead of a week or so that it takes for the silicone to cure. And the glue wont turn pink like the silicone that some people have.
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
thanks pretty neat. did you use a heated rod to bend it?
israelnajar
Active member
Actually I used a dryer. The kind that is used for curing inks onto shirts for screen printing.
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
ooh is there a way of just cutting it and glueing it? and what is the differance between plexi glass and acrylic? (if you know)
israelnajar
Active member
I do have a video of me and my friend running a sheet of acrylic through it, I can post a link to it if you like. I can also post how I cut my baffle teeth.
israelnajar
Active member
Cutting it is very easy. Just mark it on the paper and then use a table saw. But you have to make sure that you have a blade that has at LEAST 80 teeth, the more teeth you have the better the cut.
Gluing is fairly easy. If using the weldon3 you need a bottle with a syringe type tip. Sand the edge you want to glue with 160 sand paper and set the edge to the flat panel you want to glue it to. Get your weldon3 in your bottle and run it across your two pieces. You will see a mirror type reflection as the glue is sucked between the two pieces. Wait about 15 minutes and then take the weldon16 and run a bead of that along your edge to help seal any leaks you may have. Also if you use these it makes the gluing a lot easier.
Acrylic and plexi-glass are pretty much the exact same thing, at least from my understanding.
Gluing is fairly easy. If using the weldon3 you need a bottle with a syringe type tip. Sand the edge you want to glue with 160 sand paper and set the edge to the flat panel you want to glue it to. Get your weldon3 in your bottle and run it across your two pieces. You will see a mirror type reflection as the glue is sucked between the two pieces. Wait about 15 minutes and then take the weldon16 and run a bead of that along your edge to help seal any leaks you may have. Also if you use these it makes the gluing a lot easier.
Acrylic and plexi-glass are pretty much the exact same thing, at least from my understanding.
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
awesome yea i would like to see the video if you dont mind that would be a big help.
israelnajar
Active member
This is us running a sheet of acrylic into the dryer and then placing in on the mold what we were using. We ran it through i think a total of 7 times.
http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/israelnajar/DIY Reef/?action=view¤t=MOV02950.flv
We bought a router bit for the dremel tool. And then we mounted the dremel to the table as you see.
To get straight cuts like this, make sure that you use a guide on both sides of the acrylic that you are going to cut. This is easily done by taping or screwing some guides such as scrap acrylic.
http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/israelnajar/DIY Reef/?action=view¤t=MOV03078-1.flv
http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/israelnajar/DIY Reef/?action=view¤t=MOV02950.flv
We bought a router bit for the dremel tool. And then we mounted the dremel to the table as you see.
To get straight cuts like this, make sure that you use a guide on both sides of the acrylic that you are going to cut. This is easily done by taping or screwing some guides such as scrap acrylic.
http://s136.photobucket.com/albums/q187/israelnajar/DIY Reef/?action=view¤t=MOV03078-1.flv
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
thats a pretty good idea mounting a dremle like that. well you'v been a huge help i drew up a little thing of what im thinking about doing with the acrylic.thanks alot for all your help.
israelnajar
Active member
I'm glad I could be of assistance.
Like I said earlier, let me know if you have any questions I will be happy to help.
Like I said earlier, let me know if you have any questions I will be happy to help.
Kengaroo131
Fish Crazy
ok will do. the build might take place next week so i'll let ya know if i need any pointers
thanks again!
thanks again!Similar threads
