Sump Questions

Hi All,

Very New Newbie trying to design my first sump. I am going back and forth between a fully custom Acrylic Sump versus a Glass 29g tank (thanks to the $1.00 per gallon tank sale) and DIY the baffles.

I have a couple drawings, hopefully they'll post, that I would appreciate feedback on. My biggest question is on the size of each chamber and the height of the baffles.

The first drawing is if I go with the glass tank DIY option.

The Second Drawing is if I go with a customer sump option.

My DT is a 65G drilled tank.

Thanks

Scott

 

So I found out today that I can't go with 33" long sump due to the fact that there is not enough room to get the tank into the fish tank stand, so now need to go with basically a 20gallon long tank, either DIY Glass or have it made from acrylic. My question now is if 20 gallons is enough size for a sump to operate the proper levels for the skimmer, Refugium, return section that can handle evap and also enough space in case of power loss for overflow.

I removed the one attachment, so would appreciate any comments, with the only mod being that it won't be 18" tall, but instead will be 12".

Thanks and I hope all of this makes sense.

Scott

 

Generally the bigger the better in this hobby.

I have 20 long DIY sump for my 90G.
I really wish my stand was 2~3" taller so the cabinet would have room for taller sump. It's not ideal but I made it work. So did others with similar set-ups. 10" for drain/skimmer, 11" for the fuge and the rest for the return.

 

Thanks for the link to your build. I have 10 for the sump, 3 taken up for the baffles and if I leave 11 for fugue, that would only be 6 for the return. I was planning on doing an in sump return, which I saw you struggled with, but was curious if that small of a space is enough for evaporation and room for the pump.

Also, what height did. Ou set for the 3 baffles and the baffle between return and fuge?

Scott

 

Looks like you are well on your way to an awesome DIY sump! Your drawings look great. Along with the recommendation earlier, bigger is better. Please check the link in my sig for my DIY sump build for ideas for yours, I absolutely love mine and it works perfectly. If it wasn't for this site however, I would have never been able to create it. The best advice I received was to leave plenty of overflow room for when the power goes off. Keep in mind to, if you build it small and fill it with skimmer, return pump, and fuge, then decided to add a reactor you may nit have room. Always keep in mind what you may add later...

-Luke

 

20 gallons isn't ideal, but if that's the only option you have, go with it. Your drawings look very well thought out, but I would definitely make the return chamber as big as possible. It can become a pain really fast when you have to top off every day without fail.

 

If you are thinking about a 20L you might consider a 29. Same footprint as the 20 but taller. With petco's $1/gallon sale it is only $9 more dollars

 

My DIY 3 stage sump.Obviously bigger than yours but center return chamber.I would think 6 gallons would be bug enough return.Use gonna use an ATO system?

YouTube - ‪VitalApparatuz's Channel‬‏

 

My problem, which now even applies to a 20L is that the tank won't fit through the door, so a 29 is even worse because of the height.

I did buy the 20L and a 10 (for a QT) at the $1 sale, so hopefully I'll figure this out.

Did you slide your sump into your stand from the end? It seems very large in your stand, so curious. How big is it?

Scott

 

Yup slide it in from the side