DIY Acrylic Sump for 34G Solana Cube

After looking all over the place for an off the shelf sump or even a glass tank which will adequately fill the space under my 34 Solana, I have decided to go the route of building my own sump/fuge out of acrylic.


(Stock Solana Pic)

I'm looking to keep the sump in a 16" L x 16" W x 14" H envelope, and because the front of my stand is clear glass, I'm planning on having the 'fuge facing the front of the tank with the equipment behind. Tentatively, I am opting to go with a Tunze DOC 9002 skimmer, however that is subject to change. This is my initial design:



Basically, the water will flow into the intake area, under a baffle and up towards the skimmer, then through a grate into the refugium, and finally exiting through an identical grate on the opposite side of the refugium.

Does anyone see any issues with this design?


-Hydronaut

 

Looks good to me don't forget heaters and room for rewactors but looks good


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Depending on how you drill the display that may not be enough room for the water to drain in a power outage. I would probably make the refugium a little less shallow just to be sure.

 

Thanks. There's quite a bit of room around the skimmer, however I may kick the refugium baffle forward another inch or so just to be sure. Also considering reworking the intake area a bit to make more room for equipment. Here are some basic dimensions for reference:

Yeah, I'm certainly taking this into consideration. I run a 30G Wet/Dry on my 125 FW with quite a bit of back flow when the power cuts out (intentional to keep the media submerged). For this sump, the water height will be determined by the bottom of the grates into the refugium area + rate of flow through the grates. I'll be drilling the tank and using a glass-holes.com Super Nano con Dientes overflow, which should keep back flow through the intake side to a minimum. As for the return line, I'll include siphon breaks near the water surface plus a check valve just to be on the safe side.

Note: The arbitrary water line displayed in the pics leaves ~2.6 gallons worth of empty space. On the main tank, 1 inch of drainage equals ~1.7gallons.

 

Just wanted to update this thread since I did finish building the sump, although instead of a Tunze 9002 skimmer, I went with a full size SWC Xteme 120 Cone. Check it out here:

Final CAD model:


Top view:


Front View:


Back View:


Sensors:


In stand:



All plumbed up:

 

Wow. Great work. Plumbing looks great and I would say you made the most of the area you have for the sump. What a great setup.

 

Wow. Incredible work. I love the simplicity of the layout. Props and K+.

 

very nice! well thought out. It will be a tight fit in there huh?

 

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Yes, everything fits pretty snug, but it was designed that way. I moved the electrical stuff into the drawer:



And the ATO reservoir behind the stand:


I found a nice use for the stock skimmer too...as a stand for the ATO reservoir

 

lol ;D

Very nice work with the electrical... any concern about water there? Not sure where that drawer is...

matt