How to make a sump

[JPfish]

After adding a new oak canopy to my 55g tank, i realized that my remora skimmer gets in the way of the of the top lid opening so now I'm inclined to go with a sump.

HOW DOES ONE GO ABOUT THIS? I have no idea. I know I should buy a 10 gal tank at Wal-Mart??

[karlas]

i dont know if it would help but you could check out this site

http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/58.html

[Matt Rogers]

It's not a big deal unless you want to drill your tank.

Otherwise shop around for pre-filters and a sump pump in addition to your sump.

A Mag Drive, SEN, or Eheim internal pump would be great. Eheims are more expensive but they are great and durable as hell. You want a pump that will turn over your tank somewhere between 5-10 times an hour.

For a sump I would probably get a 20 long aquarium. I used a ten gallon on my 30, it worked, but there wasn't a lot of room.

Put your skimmer, heater, pump, etc.. in your sump. Fill it up to about 30-40%, start your siphon for your prefilter, plug in your pump and your done.

[JPfish]

Fill it up to about 30-40%, start your siphon for your prefilter, plug in your pump and your done.

What is a prefilter?

Also, can you please explain in detail how to go about an overflow box! I would really apreciate it!

Please assume that I've never seen a sump before. Although you know I have seen some pics on the web ..sometimes I've seen like an acrylic wall seperating the tank/sump...what's that all about?

[Matt Rogers]

a prefilter is an overflow box!

like one of these:



just put a drain hose on it like this that goes to your sump:




then adjust the overflow box so the teeth start about 1/2" or so under the water.

this will fill the overflow box with the teeth full of water.

then you stick some airline tubing in the U-tube that comes out of the box.

you want the airline tubing to go up to the bend or top of the U-tube.

suck on the other end of the airline tubing to start a siphon through the U-tube. once that get going, plug in your sump pump.

then you're set!! *

you can have a lot of hardware in the sump and out of the tank! it's great!!!

:thumbsup1:

[Matt Rogers]

hey i forgot about the return hose on the sump pump! connect the hose to your sump pump and put a nozzle on the end of the hose that goes in your water.



you probably want a ball valve too or use what comes with the pump to control the flow.

[JPfish]

What are those "seperators" or plexiglass walls i see some people have in their sumps??

[Matt Rogers]

They used to make them just far enough apart to hold a sponge snug or put carbon bags in there.

But these days, more than not, people are using them like baffles to reduce the number of micro bubbles before they get sucked into the pump and get put in the tank.

[Leesa]

In setting up my sump/overflow and return, I discovered, much to my dismay, that if designing and making the overflow myself, that it is very important that the overflow is large enough to accomodate the GPH of the return pump. We chose to make our own overflow because of the limited space behind our tank and not wanting to move the tank out from the wall. We finally finished it, i.e., Josh made the overflow and the sump and we got an insump protein skimmer. However, when we turned it on, the pump was returning the water to the tank faster than the overflow could siphon. Sooooo, Josh is redesigning the overflow so that it will be able to keep up with the pump. We did look at the CPR bakpak, but it requires more than the 2 1/2 inches that we have behind the tank. Everyone told me that patience was a must in this hobby. Meanwhile, my corals and other critters are thriving well. I am just anxious to get the sump/refugium/protein skimmer running so that I can add more!

[Matt Rogers]

Ugh, nothing beats experience huh Leesa? I am sorry you have to go through that.

It brings up an excellent point about the overflows though that people should know just for that reason, thanks for sharing!!

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