DIY sump/fuge... need input

cj7eagle

cj7eagle

Member

I am making this out of a 10 gallon tank for my 29 gallon tank. I plan on using my SS65 skimmer as a HOB with the skimmer sitting in the fuge, and the pump sitting in the intake area. That piece will be solid top to bottom with holes drilled through it for the water to pass into the fuge. then through the zig zag to the return. Then using a mag 5 or 7 to pump it back into the tank.
questions...
how deep do i want the water?
Where should i drill the holes in the first divider? how many and what size will be sufficient?
What do i want for a sand bed in the fuge? regular live sand? or would I be better off with a miracle mud of some sort.
Then all thats left to figure out is what lengths to make my baffles at the end so that water is able to flow through.
any thoughts, or ideas would be great.
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
Originally Posted by cj7eagle

I am making this out of a 10 gallon tank for my 29 gallon tank. I plan on using my SS65 skimmer as a HOB with the skimmer sitting in the fuge, and the pump sitting in the intake area. That piece will be solid top to bottom with holes drilled through it for the water to pass into the fuge. then through the zig zag to the return. Then using a mag 5 or 7 to pump it back into the tank.
questions...
how deep do i want the water? the water in the fuge needs to be about 6 inches above umm lets say a 3 inch live sand bed. there is one of your baffel hights right there, 9 inchesWhere should i drill the holes in the first divider? how many and what size will be sufficient? 3 .75 ich holes will be fine and drill the holes about 1 inch off the sand bed so that the water flows through and up the fugeWhat do i want for a sand bed in the fuge? regular live sand? or would I be better off with a miracle mud of some sort. I assume you are using chato in that a dsb will be bestThen all thats left to figure out is what lengths to make my baffles at the end so that water is able to flow through. starting with the first baffle next to the fuge will need to be the hight you want the water to be in youe fuge around 9 inches or so
any thoughts, or ideas would be great.
the next baffel needs to be about 2 inches from the bottom and the last baffle needs to be about an inch above your pumps hight
 
cj7eagle

cj7eagle

Member
Awesome! thanks a bunch. Thats a lot of help. 1 question though... I thought I read somewhere that a 3" sand bed is asking for trouble, that either you wanted no more than 2" or no less than 4". I forget the reason why, but would i be better off with a 4" sand bed?
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
a fuge bends all the rules you need some type of dsb without filling the fuge with sand. if I remember correctly a 10 gal is only 12 high+ the chato will fix any problems with the sand bed. where is your ss65 going?
 
cj7eagle

cj7eagle

Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
a fuge bends all the rules you need some type of dsb without filling the fuge with sand. if I remember correctly a 10 gal is only 12 high+ the chato will fix any problems with the sand bed. where is your ss65 going?
the ss65 is going to hang on the first piece of plexi glass between the intake and the fuge. the base of skimmer will rest in the fuge area, and the pump will sit in the intake.
before i run out, could you tell me what a good sealent to get would be? and 1 last question, what sort of lighting is reccomended for the fuge? and for how long during the day? same as the DT lights?
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
are you using glass? if so GE SiliconeII is the best
a cheap light fixture from wall mart will work fine like a plant flood light with a srew on base in a silver bowl fixture will work fine
 
cj7eagle

cj7eagle

Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
are you using glass? if so GE SiliconeII is the best
a cheap light fixture from wall mart will work fine like a plant flood light with a srew on base in a silver bowl fixture will work fine
I didnt plan on using glass, I was actually going to go with plexi glass. Will that same silicone work?
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
if your ten is glass your baffles have to be glass as well same with plexi. there is not a way to seal the two together. if the tank is acrylic then use weldon 15
 
cj7eagle

cj7eagle

Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
if your ten is glass your baffles have to be glass as well same with plexi. there is not a way to seal the two together. if the tank is acrylic then use weldon 15
ahhhh, glad i learned that before i ran out to home depot. thanks!
hmm how thick of glass should i get?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
If using glass should the section between intake and fuge be drilled or should it be a 9" baffle from bottom to top?
 
maelv

maelv

Active Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
well with this design you cAN get the flow to pass through the chato how you want

Sign, I was going to use a similar design for my sump/fuge. But I will be using my current tank as the sump fuge (i believe it is a 50 gallon) and place three baffles on each side. My questions are:
1. I am going to get an ASM skimmer (G2), have a Mag 18 return, and a 135 gallon display. How thick should the baffles be in my sump? (not sure if my equipment will have an impact on my sump)
2. How far apart should the baffles be from one another? I was going to for about 1.5" - 2" apart
3. I was going to go with 12" high baffles, will that work?
4. How will it differ having 3 baffles on both sides as opposed to what cj7eagle is going to do with a single peice of glass drilled?
5. A question that has been bogging my brain down...what in the world are baffles used for??!!!
I will be going to Lowe's and having them cut glass in a couple of hours so I can use the GE silicone mentioned..
New and confused......Ismael
 
extremepcs

extremepcs

Member
You're going to use glass for the partitions? In my (limited) experience, acrylic is easier to work with. You can cut it with a fine tooth saw blade, drill it, cut slots for water flow, etc... I used silicone to attach acrylic partitions to a glass tank and it works fine. Just run a bead on each side and smooth it out with your finger. Let it dry for 24hrs and it's good to go. Granted that there is no true bond, but the silicone holds the acrylic in place and prevents water from flowing through the seams. If you are going to use glass, make sure it's NOT tempered if you're going to cut/drill holes in it.
 
maelv

maelv

Active Member
Originally Posted by extremepcs
You're going to use glass for the partitions? In my (limited) experience, acrylic is easier to work with. You can cut it with a fine tooth saw blade, drill it, cut slots for water flow, etc... I used silicone to attach acrylic partitions to a glass tank and it works fine. Just run a bead on each side and smooth it out with your finger. Let it dry for 24hrs and it's good to go. Granted that there is no true bond, but the silicone holds the acrylic in place and prevents water from flowing through the seams. If you are going to use glass, make sure it's NOT tempered if you're going to cut/drill holes in it.
Thanks for the input extremepcs. Yes, I am going to use glass. I already went to Lowe's earlier today and had them cut me (6) 12" x 12" peices, cost me $14. I don't plan on driling holes in the baffles / partitions, as I am going to use 3 baffles on each side of the fuge. After reading all sorts of posts on here saying not to use acrylic with glass, I just opted to use the glass and bought the silicone suggested (GE Silicone II).
 
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