55 gallon tank and want sump, refugium

[yello tang]

Hello,
I have had my tank set up for 4 yrs and it has been moved twice my wife and i finally bought a house and i would like to get my skimmer and aquaclear 500 off the back of the tank, i want diy my sump but cant find any rubbermaid container or anything to fit under the 55gal what does everyone use for a sump on your 55 gal? and what overflow and return pump do you use? any advice would be appreciated

 

[bigeyedfish]

I know what you mean about finding something for under a 55gal stand. I actually found two 7 gal containers at the container store that sort of fit. It gonna take some trickery but i think i can get them under and glued together. I plan to bulkhead them together and put a ball valve between them so that i can add one for the sump and the other as a refugium.
I have an AGA overflow so i cant help with that. i plan to get a Mag 5 or 7 cant decide which will be better suited for my setup. I have a junky Rio 2100 that i am getting rid of.
HTH

 

[reeferx]

I think I might change my name to 'sumpboy' but anyway ...
couldn't you stick a cheapo aquarium (10-20 gal) in the stand and stick an internal mag drive in it?
Not enough room?

 

[bigeyedfish]

Nothing bigger than a 10 gal fits in my stand. I dont have enough room to fit everything in one of those and doing the plumbing would have been a B**ch. So it was easy to bulkhead two plastic tubs together and go from there. Its still in the works and could be a disaster, but thats the fun of DIY. I'll post status if it succeeds.

 

[reeferx]

Its still in the works and could be a disaster, but thats the fun of DIY.<hr></blockquote>
No doubt.
A 10 gallon is tight I guess, but for the record I was able to fit an Emperor Aquatic skimmer, two pumps, chemi-pure bags, plastic float valve and a sponge in mine.
I would love to see some pics when you are done... take care,
matt

 

[rhomer]

My wife has two tupperware containers that are for wrapping paper. I was debating about using one of these as a sump. These are very long, very narrow, and shallow.
I was thinking about this to setup many differnt chambers of filtration.

 

[bigeyedfish]

I have an extra 10 gal i'd sell ya for $8. I thought i was going to use it for my sump but decided i needed more capacity and my skimmer took up most of the room.

 

[aj77]

Originally posted by rhomer:
<strong>My wife has two tupperware containers that are for wrapping paper. I was debating about using one of these as a sump. These are very long, very narrow, and shallow.
I was thinking about this to setup many differnt chambers of filtration.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The "shallow" part may come back to bite you in the a**. I seem to remember reading that your sump needs adequate capacity to handle backflow in the event of a power outage: 1/2 should be free to fill up in an emergency, so your shallow tubs should only run at 50% capacity.
AJ

 

[brooklyn johnny]

I know of a 20 gallon that has the same dimensions as two 10 gallons stacked one on top of the other. This may be an option if you have a high stand on your 55.

 

[yello tang]

I found a 18 gallon container that fits under the tank a little snug but it fits. Now my question is what overflow do you suggest I was thinking the tidepool skimmer is this good or do suggest another overflow? and return pump i was thinking a mag 7 any advice would be great
Thanx again

 

[bigeyedfish]

Still cant help you with the overflow kit. I am trying to decide between the mag 5 and mag 7. I am afraid the mag 5 is underpowered for a 55 gal and from what i've read on here there are a lot of problems with the Mag 7's. Just thought you might not have known that, i believe the problems with the 7's are hit or miss so you never know.

 

[bigeyedfish]

woo hoo! I'm a six-line wrasse. sorry to take up space in the thread.