Can someone help me build a sump/fuge?

[bk_market]

I have a 45gal reef running for about 3 months and I would like to add a sump/fuge for it.

I have no experience with cutting glass nor know where to buy equipment and glass to cut.

Im thinking of about 10gal of sump/fuge. For a decent price, can anyone here can help me build one and help me on selecting overflow and pump... Thanx in advance

Even better if u someone selling one

Also have some hammer frags to trade for a sump

 

Hung

Edited June 2, 2007 by bk_market

[fab]

A 10 gallon tanks is so inexpensive, you might be just as well off by just buying one and cutting the holes you need. A fish store or a glass shop can drill the holes for a few dollars each, or maybe someone here can help you with the drilling.

 

fab

[Guest JasonD]

Since your tank is already up and running, it might be easier to just do a u-tube overflow and forget any drilling. I guess you could drain some water out and drill it, but it would be a PITA. If you use a u-tube, you won't need any drilling -- just use a submersible return pump in the sump.

 

A 10 is pretty small, so you may just have room for a 2 chamber sump, one for the drain/skimmer section and one for the return section. If you go up to a 20L for a sump, you can do a 3 section sump: drain/skimmer, fuge, and return. This is what I made -- it was pretty easy. I used the volume calculators on RC to determine how much my tank would overflow when the power went out and how much my sump would hold per inch of height -- this will allow you to calculate how high to make your baffles.

[bk_market]

Yeah I was confused. What I mean is i need to get an overflow box from my main tank to a sump/fuge tank under it and then pump the water back up. Now problem is I dont know where to buy glass baffle to build one. I live in DC anyone know where I can buy some baffle for the tank? Also if I want to share the sump with another nano then where do I drill my 5gal nano?

[fab]

If you want a glass baffle, go to the yellow pages and look under glass. Find one or more stores that sell glass. Measure the length and width of the glass that you will need. Call some stores ask them if they will sell you a piece of glass the size you need and with the edges ground so they are not sharp. Then go buy it. You can set it in place in your tank with some silicone. You will want to use fish safe silicone. That should be available at a garden supply place or a fish store.

 

good luck,

fab

[bk_market]

Great this would be my summer project.

[fab]

It will be a short summer, or a short project. The baffle should take about 1 hour to procure and 10 minutes to install. Then you'll have to wait for the silicone to set.

 

fab

[bk_market]

Okay so I have a 50gal how big should my sump/fuge should be? I know the better the bigger but i dont want anything more than 20gal. I want to have a fuge and a sump with place to put skimmer in there. Should I go for a 15gal tank? Also how much flow should my overflow box be?

[Steve G]

Hung --

 

I have a 20g you can buy or trade for or you can get a 10g very cheap. If you have room for a 20g sump, then do it.

 

I also have some glass baffles, but they may not fit. In any case, you just go to Lowes and have them cut the glass to your specs. Call the specific Lowes store first to make sure they will do it -- many but not all do. Measure the inside width of the tank as close as possible and take off something like 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch. Get more than you need, since they are cheap. Figure out what height you want based on some diagrams of bubble traps and section dividers available online on various forums. (marc levenson is a good source: "melev" or reef central).

 

Stick it in there and silicone it and you're done. Glass-on-glass with silicone is the best method in my opinion. It's a very easy DIY project and satisfying. If you screw up, slice out the silicone with a razor and do over. EVen I did it, which is saying something. I can barely screw in a lightbulb.

[jamesbuf]

Just go to home depot and get some acrylic sheets and make the baffles yourself. You can get some silicone while you're there.

 

Most overflow boxes are rated for at either 600 gallons per hour or 1200 per hour, depending whether there are 1 or 2 bulkheads.

[treesprite]

I have an undrilled 45 display as well, and am converting an empty 38 that has been sitting here for years, into an end-to-end sump/fuge (same dims exept couple inches shorter).

 

I'm going to use an overflow box - you can convert on old HOB filter into one if you have one laying around. I did a "rough draft" using a mini Whisper HOBF.

 

The HOBF has to be the kind with an inside that is divided in 2 sides where one is deeper and the motor hole is on the shallower side. The Whisper is like that. It automatically has - without any adaption needed - an anti-siphon-loss well that overflows to the side with the water outlet to the sump/fuge.

 

All you have to do is create the box that goes inside the tank, then glue it to the part of the HOBF that hangs over the edge of the tank. Attatch the outlet tube that goes to the sump/fuge to the hole where the motor was, and there you have it. Use a pump or strong PH to return water to the display. If you decide you need your HOBF again, all you have to do is detatch the tube the the in-tank box, and put the motor back.

 

I used an old cake icing tool just to taper down the motor hole to a smaller tube size since im using tubing not PVC, but theres no need to do it if you use a bigger tube. A ribbed tube will fit over a smaller opening if you heat it, then will seal tight so no gluing is needed, then if you reall must take it off, it's possible.

 

I have a majorly cheap camera, but did the best i could.

 

 

What I'm doing is splitting the 38 the long way down the center to hide the equipment. The front will be more like a display then, with a lot of LR rubble and macros carefully placed for aesthetics, and a few damsels for color, then the back will have some "wild" fuge space. Of course the front-to-back has to be set up with an overflow & return as well as the 38-to-45, in order to keep the water level up in the display section of the fuge. I'm thinking to add some "shelves" to break up the high/narrow dimensions of the front section, then I can place rock and macros on those which will give them more water flow and allow me to use more, and to the damsels will make it seem like there is more space rather than less. If I ever work up to fragging, I can use the shelves for frags. My problem is that I have no $ to buy all the stuff (willing to trade babysitting for the stuff - weekends & all nights if anyone is up for it... good for a weekend getaway from the kids!)

Edited June 3, 2007 by treesprite

[bk_market]

So for my current 45gal tank, should I get a 20gal sump/fuge or 30g? IS it the bigger the better? what the pro and con of having a big sump/fuge?

[jnguyen4007]

A 20 or 30 gal long would be ideal. the longer it is, the more room you have to accomodate what you want to put into it.

 

James

[bk_market]

Does the depth have anything to do with it?

[jnguyen4007]

This is what I heard and it seems to make a lot of sense to me and so that is how I set mine up. You can use a 20 gal long or high as a sump. Either one is fine. The main difference between the two that matters is how much room you have to use. in a 20 gal long tank, you have more space for your sump, return pump, etc. Whereas the 20 gal high, you have the depth but you don't have a whole lot of wiggle room to accomodate other things. In either one, you still have to leave enough overall volume to accomodate water flowing down to your sump in case of a power failure and not overflow your sump.

 

James

[Steve G]

Bigger is better. As big as you can fit in your space.

 

Longer is good but so is tall/deep (front-to-back). Why?

 

1. Water volume. The more water volume, the more stable is the system.

 

2. Footprint. More bottom area for a deep sand bed, if you use one. A deeper and larger sandbed provides more space for beneficial bacteria and microfauna.

 

3. Height. The taller it is, the more sand and water it will hold for a given footprint. Also, it means more total water volume both for the sump's usual water level and for the overflow capacity. You need to leave the sump empty enough (water level during normal operation) so that if your return pump stops for some reason (e.g. power outage), then the backflow from the main tank will fill up the sump but not overflow it. THere are calculators on reef central to help you figure this out.

 

4. Equipment. The larger the space, the more equipment you can pack in there (e.g. skimmer, heaters, monitor/controller probes, calcium reactor, fans, chiller, dosers, etc.) Don't forget to factor in space for your hands to clean and operate the equipment, including electrical panel and plumbing valves.

 

5. Algae growth. If you are using a compartment of your sump as a refugium with algae turf scrubber, you'll want a lot of space for macro-algae to grow out. Otherwise you're pruning too often.

 

The only reason to limit the size of the sump is the physical space available to you. If your display tank is 30" high off the ground and your sump has to fit underneath, then you need to leave room for the sump tank as well as stuff hanging off/above the sump tank. So an 18" high sump is ok, but gives you 12" or less space above it for your hands, skimmer column, etc. Could get cramped. Similarly, people often are limited in that the sump has to fit inside the footprint of the display tank so it can be hidden inside a cabinet underneath. Check cabinet door clearance and well as support posts. You have to be able to get the sump in and out and to get your hands and equipment in there too.

 

If room aesthetics don't matter, or your sump is remote (basement or separate fishroom) then you have more flexibility.

 

Good luck.