Diy Sump

J

jrthomas40

Guest
well after all day working on this baby it is finally done.....
my idea (came from melevs reef)

my reality



tomorrow the plumbing and the 40g breeder frag tank project will be COMPLETE!!!!
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
thanks i am an idiot though as i was making the buble trap i did it in the wrong order as i put the 2 outside pieces in first thinking oh there will be enough room for me to get my hand in there to get a good hold on the middle...yeah WRONG so now i have egg crate underneath to help hold it up while it dries and hopefully it will have enough hold on it to keep it in place
 
new-guy

new-guy

Member
does the skimmer pump pull the water into the sump. and do you put a return pump at the end of the sump
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
the water is not pulled into the tank by the skimmer i have standpipes from underneath the tank with pvc drain lines in to the first compartment holding the skimmer since the skimmer is in the drain compartment the water bubbling and crashing into it cuz more bubbles into the skimmer increasing its efficiency....
umm if i didnt want to go with the fuge i could put the skimmer in the second compartment which is how i have my sump in my display tank...but for this one i wanted to try something different and give a shot a fuge since so many people swear by them....
if i wanted to put some filter media i have a filter sock that i can put over the pvc drain and put the media in it and since the water is always moving it keeps the filter media moving also increasing the contact time....
i redid the plumbing to fit the new sump and now that the plumbing is fixed and the sump installed it works better than PERFECT
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
for a tank that is not drilled you will need to get you some overflow boxes that run the flex hose run it to the sump
 
new-guy

new-guy

Member
would that require a pump in the first chamber then 2 baffles and then the skimmer in the last is that right? what happens if you dont put in the baffles?
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
no...the water gets to the sump by the overflow box which works by siphon and gravity....so you would have the overflow box draining into your first chamber then to the next chamber with the skimmer then the next chamber would be your return pump....if you dont use the baffles the bubbles from the drain line will get sucked into your return pump and you will put microbubbles into your main tank
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest

the overflow box siphons water from the box that is submerged below water level the return pump pushes water back into the tank and the overflowbox is rated at so many GPH so it keeps up with the pump
 
justilorah

justilorah

Member
i am planning on making one out of a 10g tank, how far apart should the baffles be for the bubble trap? and what would be a good gph for a setup like yours with 55g dt and 10g sump?
 
new-guy

new-guy

Member
ok i understan dthank you very much... what do you think a good gph pump for a 45 tall wopuld be with a 10gall sump? also do you think i could get away with buying a 5 gal for a sump?
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
in my opinion just got to petsmart and pick up a 20 gallon long....30 bucks.....you should have at least 1inch between baffles from the research i have done before building this the middle should be off the bottom 1-1.5inches....it will be really hard to make one like the one i have out of a 10 gallon by the time you put at least 6--8 inches for your drain compartment then another 8-10 inches for your return you are out of room for the fuge....as far as the gph you with the 1in space and 1.5 middle should be plenty for an overflow box rated at over 600gph
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
definitely stay with the 10 gallon if you dont have room for a 20g just more room....in the 10g sump you could do a compartment with the skimmer then bubble trap and return pump....in other words just take the middle section of mine out and smush it together to fit it into the 10
 
new-guy

new-guy

Member
i wanting to go small (5gal) so it will fit into my cabniet and il still have some room and i dont know if i can fit a 10 gal inderneath
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
i say that because you want the return section to be fairly large so that it can accomodate the evaporation
 
new-guy

new-guy

Member
what happens when the pump stops working will i have problem with overflowing? also how do you suggest that i weazel a 10 gal through my cabneit doors?
 
J

jrthomas40

Guest
using a 5 gallon tank for the sump in my opinion is 2 small...by the time you put the skimmer and the baffles you have to leave enough room to compensate the drainage during a power outage so essentially in a 5g sump you may have 2 or 3 gallons of water at the most....if you have a 45g you should be able to get a 10 under

this is the sump i had under my 45 while it worked well it only held about 4 gallons of extra water and that was filling it up past the suggestion level but would still hold extra water in case of a power outage
 
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