Sump / Acrylic Questions

[funkyman]

I've purchased a sump. It's a 40 gallon from a 200 gallon setup someone local took down. It needs some work such as dividers and bubble traps.
Has anyone here done any work with acrylic? The sump came with a drain box, which is great. However, there are no slots in the bottom of it to let the water out with. Evidentally it's supposed to overflow over the top........which I don't want. If I drilled holes in the bottom of this box, water would exit out the bottom like I want right?
I also don't have the proper tools (router and such) to make the overflow "teeth" in the top of the compartment dividers I'll need to install. Would drilled holes suffice for that purpose as well (instead of the teeth) :notsure:

 

[chipmaker]

Drilled holes have a habit of getting clogged up quicker.........but if you put enough of them in it there is no reason a drill hole would not work......but its gonna take more holes to equal a slot than merely drilling a line of holes the same width and length of a slot......I bet it would take 25 to 50% additional holes to equal what one slot flows.
Why not just use a fine tooth hand saw or even a hack saw.....Drill a hole the diameter of what the width of your slot would be, and cut from the edge down to one edge of the hole, do same for opposite edge of the hole and you got a slot. A little abrasive paper and file will clean it up. A 32 or 24 tooth hacksaw blade would do it easily.

 

[hoycetee]

i did that method but used a jigsaw and it worked great for me just finished building my today just a little touch ups to do where water well enter and some sanding

 

[edwar050]

you could get gutter guard that makes many XXXXXXXXXXXXX
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type pattern and cut a huge hole then put gutter guard to protect it and silicone it up

 

[funkyman]

Excellent idea!! I have renewed hope for this project yet once again.

I'm going to be stuck drilling holes in the drain well though, since it's already installed in there. I'm thinking 1/2" diameter or so to make sure the water exits out smoothly? Maybe bigger? I may even dremel out big slots in the bottom. That would probably be better.
It's always good to get other people's opinions, because they can think outside of the box (or "sump" in this case)

where you may be stuck in a mind set like I was. All I could think of was "router".
Sweet looking sump there hoycetee. Thanks to both of you for the input.

 

[edwar050]

I got the idea of another reefing site. Though I am trying to build overflow boxes that will handle at least 2500 GPH in a 120 bc I am going to run 1,000 GPH in my closed loop through my overflow boxes. The other 1500 will be used in a downdraft aqua c Ev skimmer w sump and refugium.

 

[acrylic51]

Jigsaw will work when cutting acrylic just use a fine tooth blade

 

[acrylic51]

Hey Edwar050 just go to the other site and use the calculator to figure the sizing on your oveflow boxes and bulkhead sizes needed

 

[edwar050]

went to the other site acrylic and found the calculations, very good stuff. I am not worried about bulkheads as i have six 1.5 in on my 120. :thinking: What is the easiest way to bend acrylic while were at it? I think a heat gun is great but at fifty bucks its alot and I don't know if we have a local acrylic shaper.

 

[chipmaker]

YOu can get a "cheap" hot air gun that will work at the Harbor Freight store there in B'ham........Bout $10.00 or so.......I use an old oven that I hooked up in my shop for odds and ends (not cooking) and it works fine. I set the temp to 250 to 260 and within a few minutes its ready to shape. I place my acrylic on flat cookie sheets. I have done it in the house already and while some may say it makes a bad odor or smells the oven up, the wife never new what I was doing and it certainly did not hurt a thing.....Using the oven in the kitch is a personal choice and I am sure there are pros and cons to it, but it works perfectly fine.

 

[acrylic51]

A heat gun will work if your carefull and you'll probably mess up quite a bit of acrylic if you haven't done it before....If you heat it to much it will get bubbles in the piece and it will bend, but the finish will look terrible....
To bad your not close to me....I actually have a heater for acrylic it's 48" long.....It's super easy to bend and you still have to be carefull, because if you leave it on the acrylic heater to long you will start to see bubbles in the material and when that happens just toss it out I never use stuff like that.........you just want to get it warm enough were it just starts to be pliable and then just a tad longer.......Don't have real time frames just know when and how from doing it enough....Just a word of caution....when you do heat and bend wear gloves cause the *hit is hot!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't tell you this, but they warn against it, but when I first starting doing it I used the oven......My wife would kill me if she knew, but you shouldn't do this because it could blow up, but I made sure I didn't leave the area and it heated it perfect.......Pot holders work perfect for keeping the acrylic off the oven racks till it's warm enought to make your bends...Again I don't recommend this method because it is dangerous, and not only that if my wife finds out what I did I'll probably never post again