I need sump ideas (can't use a tank)

Your ingenuity is second to none. Unfortunately, I don;t think I will be able to find a bin capable of what I am looking for.

Looks phenomenal. I went down and cut some boards and am toying around with a similar design to my stand. I can just add a stacked 2x4 to give me a 12" depth.

I am going to have a sump qouted. See below.

 

I am going to see what this design runs me. It will be roughly 29 gallon tank if it were full to the brim (didn't calculate it inside to inside)

The sump volume will be 16 gallons of water. This design will give me 8 gallons of back-siphon water to play with. Sticking my return down 2 inches would cause a back-siphon of 5 gallons, so I think this design is more than adequate.

Let me know what you think. the float valve would have to go in the return section, right? Or could it go in the fuge?

Thoughts?

 

Mine was exactly the same as yours. I went to the LFS and got them to make me a custom sump that fit underneath my tank. Works like a charm.

 

You could put bafflles in a rubbermaid sump, similar to how you do it wit ha glass sump.

Mine simply uses the appropriate container- inside the larger container.- this keep my skimmer water level constant, etc. I use a strainer type basket for my Chaeto mass- no bubbles at the RP, etc.

If interested, here's my thread on my DIY sump.
IMHO, you don't have to spend hardly anything on a good, large, working sump.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-diy-sump-thread-140525.html

** Edit, Wow, haven't seen that vid in awhile- I've changed a few things on it, but it still works prettyu much the same.
The ATO now comes from a seperate container- that it filled by the RO/DI
and I don't put GAC anywhere in my systen anymore either
I also siphon the sump on WC's straight to my floor drain in my basement

 

This is exactly what I did, I had two tanks made to fit exactly ( with a little extra room so I could move them a bit when joining them) I had a hole drilled in each one so they lined up exactly, drilled a slightly bigger hole in the support panel in my cabinet. I then joined them using a bulkhead in each tank and a large rubber hose attached to the bulkheads. I used a suitable hose that is used in car radiators, new of course.
Be sure to take the length of the bulkheads into consideration when choosing tank sizes. I shortened the bulkheads for more room.
Here is an old photo, I have since dumped the bio balls and upgrades the skimmer to a Reef Octopus.

 

May be too late to the party, but for some more inspiration, here is what I did with my 55 stand to get a 30 gallon 30" long x 14" wide sump into a stand that would normally only fit a 12" wide sump:

 

Looks good. The float valve goes in the return/pump bay, as that's the level that will fluctuate due to evaporation.

 

My 100G has the two Loc Line returns so the nozzles are 3/4" under the displays water surface. This gives me a maximum of 3.5 gallons of backsiphonage before they are exposed to atmosphere and the siphon breaks. My 30G sump runs at about 17-19 gallons when completely full and the ATO kicks off so I have plenty of freeboard or room to contain the backflow in a power outage.

Never connect a sump directly to a RO/DI system via a float valve, always use a ATO storage container so you have a limited supply of fresh water which could possible flood the tank and sump and lower the salinity in case the float fails which it will eventually. When you hook directly to the RO/DI the flow continues to run until its too late.
I fill a 23 gallon Rubbermaid ATO storage can and have that connected to my sump via an ATO device. Float switches or a digital/optical sensor and a solenoid valve or ATO pump are much more reliable than a float valve.

 

Your set up looks awesome!

 

Marshall, walk us through the plumbing of you sump. It looks very complicated with all the pipe, fittings and valves and I'm struggling trying to trace the plumbing arrangement.