Mini H.o.b sump out of an Aquaclear 110?

hey guys, I have a 20 gallon nano reef that I just started yesterday, I will be transferring my existing 7 gallons into it once cycled, how ever I have an Idea for filtration, but am not sure if it would work.
I have an aquaclear 110 that needs a new impeller, (I know this is alot of water movement) so I thought of buying a smaller impeller thus pulling up less water into the hob. My Idea is to divide the back into a kind of small sump and have the water all come out on the one side, bu in order to get it to only come out one end of the outlet, I will have to raise the inner wall with plexi glass or plastic with a hole on the end for the outlet. I will post a crude mock up drawing I have done. My question is has anyone tried this? I've seen people use them as mini fuges, but I'd like to try a mini sump! any thoughts or helpful comments?!

 

Very interesting I think it can be done with some fine tuning

 

There are many plans and directions for this on Nano-Reef. I have one myself on my 16G bowfront and run chaetomorpha and a very small bag of GFO and carbon in it. They have a ton of room inside them and the clean rectangular shape is easy to modify versus some of the other odd shaped HOB's.

I shaved the impeller down vertically by rubbing it on some coarse sandpaper rtaher than trimming the ends off so it stays balanced better. Cutting the tips off is hard to balance I found.

 

So I have divided the back into a sump and tested it with different medias and flow rates, and guess what..... It WORKS! haha mind you its a really ugly caulking job but it was tight to get my big clumsy hands into lol. instead of modifying the impeller, I have just added foam into the intake tube. this slows it down plenty and is easily adjusted. I will post pictures

 

That looks like a great idea. Maybe I should try something like that lol. Great work

 

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Thanks yeah its tricky to get your hands in there to smooth out the caulking with out knocking over sections of the sump but with a little fine tuning its working and with the flow slowed by about three quarters its just right for my 20 gallon nano I just have a little bit of tinkering to do with media, like the amount in each section

 

This is a great idea. I didnt think it would work but after seeing the diagrams I think it would be possible. Perfect nano set up. Whoever thought of this had a good imagination. I would love to see pictures of the completed product if you decide to do it.

 

lol thanks I do have quite the imagination, I couldn't find anything online for a sump, just refugiums, but I knew what I wanted and had a general idea of how to make it work! so now that the caulking is cured I'll be installing it on to my cycling tank and will post pictures and a video link withing 24 hours

 

Very cool, I am looking forward to seeing the video!