Building a sump

[fishy all the time]

I was thinking of building a sump and I had some questions. I know the basics but otherwise I pretty much could use any advise. I have a 55 gallon tank and the sump would be a 15 gallon. I would have to buy an over the back over flow. The only one that my LFS sells is made by marineland (I think was ment to go with the marineland tide pool). Is this good quality? The next thing I was wondering is the rating on the box was 600 GPH. What size pump do I need to run in the sump? I want to be able to pump it to a spray bar across the top of the tank. The last thing I was confused about was how to run it into the sump. Would I need a cover for the sump? I know I need to run the tubing down from the box to the sump. My LFS told me though that I would have to build a trickle affect. I didnt understand why I needed to do that. Why cant I just run it into the sump? He told me I would have oxygen problem by doing it that way. Anyother information would be a great help. Thank you!!!

 

[david s]

as far as a overflow there are many good ones for sale in the tradeing section of this board as far as 02 problem never heard of it I would start clicking on peoples websight links and look at there sumps also do a search on sumps you will find alot of pics a picture is worth a thousand words when you are building one