New to sumps/fuges

[radiolotek]

Ok I am making a 70 gallon tank out of acrylic and I want to do a sump/fuge. Here goes. I want to know if you guys can post pics of not only their sumps but also of thier overflow boxes. I know it's a weird request but I am trying to find the best design to build into my tank. Also I have been told that a 10 gallon sump/fuge would be too small for a 70 gal. tank. true? If it is can I get info on where to get a bigger tank to make the sump out of? The prices of tanks here in toum are absurd.

 

[msd2]

Originally posted by Radiolotek
Ok I am making a 70 gallon tank out of acrylic and I want to do a sump/fuge. Here goes. I want to know if you guys can post pics of not only their sumps but also of thier overflow boxes. I know it's a weird request but I am trying to find the best design to build into my tank. Also I have been told that a 10 gallon sump/fuge would be too small for a 70 gal. tank. true? If it is can I get info on where to get a bigger tank to make the sump out of? The prices of tanks here in toum are absurd.
If your making a 70 gal tank why not also just make the sump? Though in my area it was considerably cheaper to purchase a tank and convert it. For my 40 gal acrylic I paid 100 bucks and then had custom baffles cut for 50 bucks. I couldn't even come close to building it for that cost, anyway. here was my adventure with it https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...hreadid=136982
I have a 15gal fuge on my 100 gal and ate are at zero so its plenty big for my tank. Depends on your bioload but my 15gal fuge has had no problem keeping up with the nutrient export.

 

[radiolotek]

Thank you for your help. Here it is around 160 or so for an acrylic tank that is around 40 gal. I will "look" arounnd for tanks that are cheaper than in my area.

 

[elvictre]

I couldn't help reading this post since it is similiar to what I want to do. My question is where do you guys get these acrylic tanks from? There is no local place for me to buy acrylic and the prices I have seen online are absurd. I am looking for something in the 800 gal range, or these dimensions 8 to 9 feet long, 4 feet high, 3 feet deep. If you can point me in the right direction I would love it. Also I want to have a sump/fuge I was thinking in the 80 gal range.
Thanks
Vic

 

[radiolotek]

I am actualy going to build my own tank bacause it will be 36"L X 24"W X 18 3/4"T. It comes out to 70.125 Gal. This will be my first saltwater tank so I don't wanna go huge for my first one. The reason I am building my own is because it is going to cost less than half what one would be to buy it. While I was looking around I found an acrylic tank (basically a box) for around $75 with shipping. It's 29 gal and I think it should be enough fo a sump/fuge to acomidate a 70 Gal. tank. As far as buying one I have no idea. The prices on the net are better than those here locally but not by enough to justify buying one. Crap for one with the dimentions I want ffrom the "cheaper" tank place was still going to be more than it would be to build it.

 

[pyro]

just curious, why don't you buy a glass tank and silicone the baffles in? The glass tanks around here are considerably cheaper, and silicone is a whole lot easier to work with. I know it's not as sturdy, and might not be as pleasing to the eye, but unless your using it to display seahorses or something, they don't really have to be taht pretty, and the baffles aren't supporting that much weight.
Just curious, Thanks!

 

[radiolotek]

Design

 

[radiolotek]

For some reason it wouldn't let me post my sump design. Anywho I could do that but I can't drill glass for one and I can't find a tank here in town bigger than 20 Gal. w/o tank supplies packaged with it. At this point it is almost easier for me to order an acrylic one and go from there.

 

[msd2]

Originally posted by Pyro
just curious, why don't you buy a glass tank and silicone the baffles in? The glass tanks around here are considerably cheaper, and silicone is a whole lot easier to work with. I know it's not as sturdy, and might not be as pleasing to the eye, but unless your using it to display seahorses or something, they don't really have to be taht pretty, and the baffles aren't supporting that much weight.
Just curious, Thanks!
Few reasons I went w/acrylic over glass.
-Much easier to work with, i can custom cut or drill it easily anytime to modify it how I want in the future. I could weld the baffles in place, no question of them not holding this way.
-Strength I like the idea of my sump being able to withstand 17times the abuse a glass tank can take, also the reason I went with an acrylic display tank. I like the idea in an earthquake even if the tank fails it will crack instead of shatter.
-Finally they actually are supporting a pretty good amount of pressure, most of ppl''s fuge's are fairly tall so the amount of pressure on the baffles can be pretty intense, remember water column is what adds the pressure not the length. The last reason was cost the glass tank was 70, the acrylic 100. Not much price difference for what I consider many benefits

 

[radiolotek]

Yeah especially when YOUR state shakes all the time. And MY state is right next to YOUR state. So MY state is bound to shake sometime. LMAO

Besides, I would want something that I can cut and drill myself if needed w/o having to shut down my system for a long period of time to take it to someone to cut it. Especially when this is my first saltwater system and filtering system.

 

[irenicus]

Originally posted by msd2
... For my 40 gal acrylic I paid 100 bucks and then had custom baffles cut for 50 bucks. I couldn't even come close to building it for that cost, anyway...
That sounds like a great price to me.
I was to build a sump of acrylic, but like that idea better.
Where did you get such a deal?

 

[msd2]

Originally posted by Irenicus
That sounds like a great price to me.
I was to build a sump of acrylic, but like that idea better.
Where did you get such a deal?
LFS, shocker huh? What they do is advertise a really good price on the tank but jack up the prices for the stand/canopy. So if you just need the tank you come out way ahead. I also had looked into building one but I couldnt come anywhere near the cheap price to get the tank prebuilt. Literally going the route of the fishtank and adding baffles saved me a few hundred bucks and I didn't have to do any of the critical welds.
BTW I checked around and even the other stores were charging 120-140 for the 40 gal acrylic tank, if you cant find one there is a place online that ppl have used before and seems like a pretty standup company. Your area might be different but acrlyic custome cut around here is not cheap for some reason.

 

[pyro]

just a little side comment... I have all the tools necessary to work with acrylic, other than i need to make myself up a strip heater or something along those lines...
about how much does the stuff cost (not thick stuff, i'm guessing 1/4, maybe 1/8 for an overflow). I'd like to just buy a couple square feet to fool around with it and get the hang of it.

 

[radiolotek]

In my town the stuff is $145 or so for a 4x8 sheet of 3/8. So for something smaller it would be cheaper. I don't know exactly because I have never looked into stuff smaller than 3/8.

 

[pyro]

so about 5$ a square foot ballpark I'm guessing... After I get this tank settled in a little, i'll have to look into it

 

[msd2]

really depends on how u buy it. If you have the equip. to cut it and such a sheet per foot is reasonable. But if you need things custome made you pay more. When I had the baffles made a 15x15 piece was around 15 bucks.

 

[pyro]

well, tool wise, we have:
a nice router that can be table mounted/not
hydrogen/oxygen torch (dads in heating/cooling field)
top of line router bits
table saw with carbide tipped blades
band saw (full sized)
drill press (it's sortof just a vertically moveable drill holder, not the full blown industrial one)
tools i know i need:
solvent/cement
make a scraper
make a strip heater
another good square and a couple clamps
drill bits
Any hard supplies I'm missing? I think I got them all
Thanks!

 

[msd2]

Originally posted by Pyro
well, tool wise, we have:
a nice router that can be table mounted/not
hydrogen/oxygen torch (dads in heating/cooling field)
top of line router bits
table saw with carbide tipped blades
band saw (full sized)
drill press (it's sortof just a vertically moveable drill holder, not the full blown industrial one)
tools i know i need:
solvent/cement
make a scraper
make a strip heater
another good square and a couple clamps
drill bits
Any hard supplies I'm missing? I think I got them all
Thanks!
Well that about covers it cept you will need to get a particular blade for the table saw. You actually dont want a scraper I had several tell me NOT to make it smooth the parts you bond. I use wood drill bits and have never had a problem with them as of yet spliting or cracking the acrylic. I watched when they did the cuts and they always used a table saw because if the cuts aren't damn close to perfectly square its gonna be a major pain in the *ss. I used weldon #4 and 16. 4 is water thin but wickers well between the acrylic its metling together and 16 is great for fillin in those 'off just a bit' fittings. If you do a search there are a few websites that show how they built their tank from scratch.

 

[pyro]

cool, thanks a lot!

 

[radiolotek]

Hopefully this doesn' tget edited but if you go to duboisi dot com it has step by step directions on how to build a tank out of acrylic. I have built 2 already (small but held water perfectly) and it was very acurate. Try it out.