New sump

I am going to design a new sump for my 90, I like the lights now so throw money at the tank in different direction ;D ! The restriction I have is it can only be 15 inch wide due to the fact thats all the width I have inside the stand. I am goingto use a 30 gallon aga tank as the sump and a 10 gallon aga turtle tank as the refuguim they are both new. I will also include a bio ball chamber ( I know, I know most of you remove the bio balls but this old guy has never had a problem with nitrates and likes a little back up.) The 10 will have to be drilled on one side to accept the inputs from my protien skimmer but will use the opening on the oppisite side as an overflow back to sump. The 10 will be supported by a 1 1/2 pvc frame to raise it and also give me a place to put both the skimmer pump and return pump. It will also allow the water not used by the skimmer to flow underneath be heated and reach the return pump. i will use live sand and lr frags in the refugium. Let me know your thoughts

 

That's pretty cool, but how do you get to the heater and sump pump if you have to? [smiley=worried2.gif]

 

For the sump I will put a union in for ease of disconnect, just remove union and slide out. As for the heater It will slide out also but in a protected environment it should be ok. Also can abandon in place and put heater somewhere else if failure occurs >

 

So you have the 30 as a sump and placing the 10 inside of the 30 gallon tank?

 

I have heard that keeping the bioballs completely submerged seems to mitigate the nitrate problem.

Why dont you just partition the 30 with baffles to create in in-line refugium? I did this and have a 12" x 12" x 12" refugium in my 29 gallon long, or 7.5 gallons of refugium voloume. I could have added volume to the refugium but added some baffles to accomodate carbon, phosphate scrubbers, poerheads, filters, etc., if needed.

 

Hey Craig did you use a glass tank and did you silicone the baffles? I am rethinking the turtle tank because the opening may be too low. So I may drill the 10 but the baffles are interesting is there i spot I can get more of your details?
Thanks

 

Yes a glass tank with siliconed plexiglass baffles! Pretty easy as I'm not the best DIY guy!

 

Hey Guys,
I'm considering doing a sump on my tank but not sure what I need and how to go about it. My LFS said I would need a overflow box..I have room under my stand for a tank...I run a Prizm Skimmer now....I was considering putting the skimmer on the sump...but how do I feed the water back into the tank? And does my sump need a heater?....My tank is set and has 5 corals in it so I dont want to tear down and start drilling holes.
Please Help...
Thanks
N2R

 

DIY a sump which can be designed thousands of different ways.
You will need an overflow box... what size of thank is this again?
You will also need to research the GPH on the overflow and will have to buy a return pump.
Phil has the picture on the first post. But this depends on the size of tank you have.

 

I have a 55gal....