sump question

bergamer

bergamer

Active Member
I have been looking at sumps and was wondering if I could just use an old fish tank?
I was thinking, for my 90 gallon tank, a 10 gallon glass tank for a sump
have the water dump into the tank (hopefully it wont be too loud) and place my skimmer and then an underwater pump to pump it back to the tank
how does this sound?
would the overflow work correctly, if I placed the overflow hose under the water?
if it matters, it is a Lifereef overflow
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
I think 10 gallons may be too small. If the power were to go out and the return pump stops, the overflow may still continue to pull more than 10 gallons from the tank. Plus there will already be a few gallon of water in the sump to begin with. You can probably just set it all up to see how it would perform if the return pump fails for whatever reason. If it overflows the sump, just replace the 10g with a 20g or 30g.
But to answer your question, yes old fish tanks can make perfect sumps.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Yes they make great sumps if you have the space. Look at the LFS and see if he has any that will fit in your stand, rummage sales, look in the paper. I agree that a mere 10 gallon wouldn't be enough but a 20 gall should work well.
Thomas
 
beachrat

beachrat

New Member
I'm in the process of using a 29g high tank for a sump/refug combo. I have all the plumbing parts, tank and acrylic for the baffles. After I get back from vacation I'll assemble it. I'll post the final design.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Water comes in one end and its usually in a rush and makes many bubbles, baffles are pieces of glass or plexiglass siliconed into place like walls, when the water fills up it pours over the wall at a slower rate. The baffles also seperate areas so you can put different things in each chamber you create like sand, macro algae..etc..
Thomas
 
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