I have an issue. Please help!

T

trueirishfan616

Reefing newb
I have my 75 gallon salt tank all set up in our new home. I had it set up temporarily in our old house to test to see if I could handle a salt tank. I had a 20 gallon long tank set up next to my display tank on the floor as a sump. I bought a skimmer, return pump, Overflow, etc. It was working great. However, upon moving the tanks to my new home, I noticed that the 20 gallon long will NOT fit underneath my display tank. There is NO way to get it in there. So my question, can I use a 10 gallon sump on my 75 gallon display tank? I just feel that with the mag drive 9 and my eshopps overflow, the water will be ROLLIN through that little ten gallon sump. Any suggestions? Thanks everyone.

:frustrat:
 
It being a 20 gallon long keeps it from fitting through the door on my aquarium stand. I can get about half of it in, but that's it. If I could get in through the door completely, I'd have plenty of space. I figured the 10 gallon would be too small, I was just hoping someone would come on this thread and say, "Hell yeah a 10 would work!" Lol. I'll have a look at that link you posted when I'm not on a government computer. Thanks, Ted.
 
Been there and it totally sucks! Does your stand have a center bracket that is preventing it from going in? If so, you can drain most of the water from the tank, remove the center bracket, slide your sump in, and then replace the bracket. I hired a company to do it for me last year when I ran into the same problem. Mine was the back bracket and didn't bear much weight, but if its the front center bracket and bears a lot of weight, then I would suggest adding a piece of wood off to a side to support the tank temporarily while you remove the bracket, add the sump, and replace the bracket. My sump has seriously been the bane of my existance, and I will never put a sump in after setting up the tank again! Worse case senario, yes you can use a 10g and it will be just fine, just make sure all of your equipment fits in it first (another mistake I made!)
 
It is a lot easier to put the sump in before you put the tank on top. For a already set up tank, many people have removed the center brace temporarily to get it in then put it back. It is a pain in the ass this way but it can be done. You would need to add some temporary supports so you dont get a big crash. Another option is to cut out the side of the stand and make it a door. as long as you dont cut a support that can work as well. Not that hard to do if you have a little knowledge with wood working tools.
 
Fishyreef: Thanks for the response. I do not have a center bracket that is causing this problem. When i open the door of my stand, it's just the size of the opening of the door that is the problem. It's just too damn small. No way to fit a 20 gallon long into the stand. Even if I take the display tank off and try to go in from the top or the back...it's still too small(I tried that by pumping out ALL of my water and removing my live rock and tank...IRRITATING!!!!)

My other issue is, I have a reef octopus 150 that worked great in the 20 gallon long. I wonder if there is enough square footage in a 10 gallon to support the skimmer? If I go with a 10 gallon, I can pretty much kiss my refugium part of the sump good bye!
 
Ted, thanks for the response. I dont know enough about wood working to know if the sides of the tank are gonna be okay to cut. I know that with the right tools, I can make an opening in the side of the stand for sure...whether or not thats structuraly sound, i'm not so sure. And I think my wife would lose her mind if she saw me sawing on the side of the stand. Lol.
 
Ok just brain storming here.....would two 10 gallon tanks fit in there? Could have a split sump design. One tank slightly higher then the other. so you could have a separate fuge then. Would need to drill the high tank and have it spill over to the second. No idea if your skimmer is going to work though.... Guess there isnt a way to remove a side of the stand.
 
that might work. I like the 2 tank sump idea. In fact, I think I just might go with that. I'll have to do some measuring and I'll have to buy a diamond tip drill bit, but I think that that might be the way to go. Thanks so much! If it works, I'm gonna put it on youtube and I'll title it "The Ted system"
 
There are a bunch of flow rate factors you will need to figure out. I cant really take all the credit...There is a lfs with a display tank that has the same idea...If I can I will try and go there in the next few days and snap a picture....
 
If a 20 long won't fit, then I doubt 2 10g's would fit - they'd be longer than the 20 long. What about a 20 high? For what its worth, you don't have to have a refugium area. I wasn't able to fit one in mine due to small space and my reef octopus sump taking up most of it. I deal with micro bubbles by putting sock filters or media bags on the skimmer output area and the bottom of the overflow drain pipe.
 
It would fit...if I could get it through the door. There's more than enough space under the display tank. Problem is that the door opening is too small for the 20 gallon long to squeeze through. however, 2 10 gallon tanks would absolutely fit underneath it. I'm just worried at this point about the water flow between the 2 tanks.
 
If you check out my 75 gallon build thread, within the first couple pages you can see the temp sump setup I did till I got my 20 long turned into a sump. I had a 10 gallon tank, and about a 10 gallon plastic tub. Just had a smaller pump going from the 10 gallon to the tub, and my return pump in the tub. That way I was able to do my fuge with hob skimmer on the 10 gallon.
 
I had the same problem as you. I can fit a 20, but I was so stupid that I already setup my DT before installing the tanks underneath. So I put two 10 gallon tanks underneath with 3 of those tubes that are in a "U" shape. The flow is pretty little, so you can add a small powerhead to each 10 gallon tank. And in case you didn't know, the tubes are to make sure that both tanks have relatively the same amount of water in it.
 
I've got a 20 gallon standard tank under my 75 gallon display tank. Not a whole lot of room under there now. The Reef Octopus 150 is HUGE! It didnt look that big when it was out in the open, but once placed in my 20 gallon...it takes up half of the sump. I decided to hard plumb the return line back to the tank with 3/4 inch PVC. Needless to say, I'm glad I installed a ball valve because my Mag Drive 9 was way more powerful than my Eshopps overflow. My overflow couldn't keep up. This setup was way more difficult than I anticipated. Anybody have an opinion on this type of setup? Suggestions, concerns, critiques, gripes, advice? Thanks!
 

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