New sump plans See what you think.

mckaax

mckaax

Member
I am building this so I can have a place for some frags and more water volume. My sump I have now is set up the same way except some of the areas are not as big. The 8x8 square is the input and the right side is the return. Just wondering how thick you would think the acrylic would need to be?
 
mckaax

mckaax

Member
Can anyone tell me what the thinest acrylic I can use on this sump is. I really do not want to spend $180 for a 3/8in thick acrylic. Will 1/4 be sufficient?
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I used acrylic panels from home depot I think they were 5/16 thick and nowhere near $180 I think I had about $30 in acrylic for my whole sump (6 baffles). They bow a little if the water level gets too low on one side but that could be remedied if I placed a piece of acrylic in between the baffles perpendicular to the baffles to brace it.
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
a ban saw or scroll saw will work fine for cutting it, just make sure it is braced well if using a scroll saw.
Weld-on #4 is what I swear by
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Originally Posted by mckaax
http:///forum/post/2624184
What is the best way to cut acrylic and also what weld do you suggest to use?
I have used a radial arm saw to cut all of my panels but a table saw or circular saw would work well also. You will have to clean up the edge though I used the edge of a steel bench to break the burr off the edge but a piece of thick metal or a file would work too.
Are these panels going in an acrylic sump or glass? If it's a glass tank silcone works fine just be sure you have a fairly large bead on each side of the panel. I don't have any experience with acrylic tanks so I can't make a reccomendation there.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Sorry, I must have been asleep at the wheel when I read your post last night I thought were talking about putting panels in a tank you already had instead of building one from scratch. Don't build the outside of you sump with 5/16 acrylic you need to use at least 3/8. 5/16 would be fine for your ******** panels though.
 
mckaax

mckaax

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/2625161
Sorry, I must have been asleep at the wheel when I read your post last night I thought were talking about putting panels in a tank you already had instead of building one from scratch. Don't build the outside of you sump with 5/16 acrylic you need to use at least 3/8. 5/16 would be fine for your ******** panels though.
Are you sure? I am not wanting to spend that much on acrylic.
What else is everyone else using?
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
I have 5/16" acrylic baffles in my sump and I get a fair amount of bowing when my water level gets low and that is only with a span of 12". You are going to have unsupported spans of 23" in your design and I am pretty sure with that much span the seams would fail. Unless you need to custom fit a sump to your stand, a used glass tank is much cheaper and easier to use to build a sump than building an acrylic sump.
 
fats71

fats71

Active Member
I built one from acrylic from lowes. I think it cost me 50 bucks and they cut it to size for free.
 
mckaax

mckaax

Member
well I spent all night getting this thing up and running. I have to say I am very excited about saving as much money as I did and still got a nice size sump. below are a few pics of the new sump.


 
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