thinking of building a sump/fuge
- Thread starter Sethtron
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dcantucson
Reef pro
project5k
Reef enthusiast
so i'm getting my act together to build a new stand for my tank, and inside this new stand i would like to incorperate a 30gal tank that i have sitting around. My plan is to build the 30g into a descent sump/fuge and replace the 10g one that i have now.
so, my question isnt really so much about the sump or the fuge itself other than i just need to know how much space to leave for a proteine skimmer. i dont know which one to get, so i dont know what dimentions to use...
money is tight, so i'd like to stay on the cheaper side, but i do want a skimmer thats gonna work and be worth having, cause the little red sea thing that i got with this tank is a joke.
main tank is appros 75 gallons, and then i'll be adding the 30gal sump, prolly about 1/2 to 3/4 full.
so ballparking it, lets just call it 95 gallons total system volume.
whats the footprint on most in sump skimmers? how tall are they?
can i just bring the water down from my overflow right into the skimmer or how exactly does all that get plumbed together?
so, my question isnt really so much about the sump or the fuge itself other than i just need to know how much space to leave for a proteine skimmer. i dont know which one to get, so i dont know what dimentions to use...
money is tight, so i'd like to stay on the cheaper side, but i do want a skimmer thats gonna work and be worth having, cause the little red sea thing that i got with this tank is a joke.
main tank is appros 75 gallons, and then i'll be adding the 30gal sump, prolly about 1/2 to 3/4 full.
so ballparking it, lets just call it 95 gallons total system volume.
whats the footprint on most in sump skimmers? how tall are they?
can i just bring the water down from my overflow right into the skimmer or how exactly does all that get plumbed together?
Bifferwine
I am a girl
You bring the water from the overflow, to the sump, and a pump pumps it back up. The water doesn't go straight to the skimmer. The skimmer sits in the sump and pulls water from the sump, and empties water back into the sump.
What's your budget for a skimmer?
What's your budget for a skimmer?
project5k
Reef enthusiast
well i'd like to stay under $200, the wife is starting her new job today and we're not sure when her first check is gonna come in, so i gotta try and stretch every penny till we know her paycycle.
oh, and i finally got around to testing the 2 30gal tanks that were candidates for the sump, and they both leak at the seams... so i guess i'll be spending some of my time sealing thoes up..
speaking of which, i guess i need to go do some searching and find any information i can on that, cause i've never tried to seal a tank before... if i can just cut away the old silicone, and put in new on the inside corners, then i can handle that, but if i have to sepperate the plates, then i'm not gonna try it.. i'll just break it.
oh, and i finally got around to testing the 2 30gal tanks that were candidates for the sump, and they both leak at the seams... so i guess i'll be spending some of my time sealing thoes up..
speaking of which, i guess i need to go do some searching and find any information i can on that, cause i've never tried to seal a tank before... if i can just cut away the old silicone, and put in new on the inside corners, then i can handle that, but if i have to sepperate the plates, then i'm not gonna try it.. i'll just break it.
daugherty
part time reefer
thats all i have done in the past is to run a new bead in the seams and the tanks have held up well. i just left the silicone a little thicker than when it was new.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
yea thats kinda what i was thinking, i went around and searched for atricles on how to do it, and thats basically what they all said, just use a razor and get all the silicon off the inside, then run a new bead, allow to cure, and test.. so it think thats what i'm gonna do.. at this point i cant loose any ground, so i might as well try it.. i called a couple of the lfs"s and they all wanted like $50 to fix one of my tanks.. and i have 2 of them to fix...
the great thing is that its gonna be a sump so if i make a real mess of the silicon, its not like anyone's gonna see it, so i can put it on good'n thick.
guess i'll work on that tonight, i can start stripping the silicone of the one that i think i'm gonna use as my new sump and try it out, i already have fish safe silicon, so all i gotta do is get off my keester and brave the heat.. man is it hot outside..
the great thing is that its gonna be a sump so if i make a real mess of the silicon, its not like anyone's gonna see it, so i can put it on good'n thick.
guess i'll work on that tonight, i can start stripping the silicone of the one that i think i'm gonna use as my new sump and try it out, i already have fish safe silicon, so all i gotta do is get off my keester and brave the heat.. man is it hot outside..
daugherty
part time reefer
the best way is to seperate the glass since there is a thin film of silicone inbetween the glass but if it is just a small leak than there will be no harm at running a new thicker bead along the seams.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
yea, well i have 2 tanks i was considering for my sump, a 30L and a 29 standard. I think i like the 29 standard just a little better cause it will leave more room inside the stand for storage of other supplies and stuff that goes with the tank...
oh yea, i totally understand pulling the glass off and re-working that thin layer between the glass, but i just dont think i have what it would take to do that...
getting it lined back up and holding it in place seems to be the scary part for me..
this is just a pin hole, and its above where the water line will be in the sump, but i dont want it to drip if the power ever goes out and is out long enough for the battery backups to fail.... so i'm gonna try and fix it now...
oh yea, i totally understand pulling the glass off and re-working that thin layer between the glass, but i just dont think i have what it would take to do that...
getting it lined back up and holding it in place seems to be the scary part for me..
this is just a pin hole, and its above where the water line will be in the sump, but i dont want it to drip if the power ever goes out and is out long enough for the battery backups to fail.... so i'm gonna try and fix it now...
dcantucson
Reef pro
IMO the bigger longer sump would give you more room for stuff in the sump, i.e. live rock, skimmer, fuge, etc...
You could always store supplies in another place away from the tank, but still close by. That's what I do.
You could always store supplies in another place away from the tank, but still close by. That's what I do.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
yea, i've thought about that, and i would agree, more space, more surface area and all that, but theres 2 things about using the longer tank that pushed me towards the taller one.. one, if i use the long, then i wont be able to put the 5 gallon top off water bucket under there.. and secondly, thats the tank that has the worst leaks, and at the bottom, where the taller one only has one pinhole a few inches from the top.
either way i'm hoping that by raising the bottom of the tank up to 43" i'll have enough room in there to have a small shelf along the back to put things... I've already gotten all the electrical supplies i'm gonna need to put plugs galore inside there, and spaced out enough for wallwarts and timers and stuff,
its also gonna have a couple light strips inside, so when you open the doors the lights come on... like a refridgerator... just for once in my life i wanna do something right from the start, rather than faking it later on...
the one thing that may get in my way is that i'm using 2x6's for the frame and not 2x4's, i know totally overkill, but, its what i have to work with that i dont have to pay for... and $$ is tight...
so where can i go and get my glass parts cut? michaels? hobby lobby? or should i just go to a real glass place like benswanger's in austin? what thickness glass should i use for the deviders in the fuge? should i spec tempered? or not tempered?
i thought about just using some plexy, but silicone dosent stick to that as well as it does glass, and i'm not as confident in my ability to cut it straight, and if they screw them up then at least i have someone other than myself to blame.. hehehe
either way i'm hoping that by raising the bottom of the tank up to 43" i'll have enough room in there to have a small shelf along the back to put things... I've already gotten all the electrical supplies i'm gonna need to put plugs galore inside there, and spaced out enough for wallwarts and timers and stuff,
its also gonna have a couple light strips inside, so when you open the doors the lights come on... like a refridgerator... just for once in my life i wanna do something right from the start, rather than faking it later on...
the one thing that may get in my way is that i'm using 2x6's for the frame and not 2x4's, i know totally overkill, but, its what i have to work with that i dont have to pay for... and $$ is tight...
so where can i go and get my glass parts cut? michaels? hobby lobby? or should i just go to a real glass place like benswanger's in austin? what thickness glass should i use for the deviders in the fuge? should i spec tempered? or not tempered?
i thought about just using some plexy, but silicone dosent stick to that as well as it does glass, and i'm not as confident in my ability to cut it straight, and if they screw them up then at least i have someone other than myself to blame.. hehehe
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daugherty
part time reefer
just go to a glass shop and get 1/4in glass.
dcantucson
Reef pro
+1 James
project5k
Reef enthusiast
ok so dont worrie about tempered or not or anything like that, just 1/4 inch thick.. wow that seems thick for this...
daugherty
part time reefer
well any smaller and you take the chance of it bowing and breaking better safer than sorry
project5k
Reef enthusiast
good advice! so i called the local glass shop that i've done business with for years and they quoted me 8.84+tax for a 12.5x12.5x.25...
i still need to make my final measurements and whatnot, but i wanted to see what kinda ballpark i was looking at...
oh and just for giggles i asked what accuracy standards they adheared to and the lady told me plus or minus 1/16" on the final cut dimentions.
i still need to make my final measurements and whatnot, but i wanted to see what kinda ballpark i was looking at...
oh and just for giggles i asked what accuracy standards they adheared to and the lady told me plus or minus 1/16" on the final cut dimentions.
project5k
Reef enthusiast
oh and i forgot to mention that last night i razored off the old silicon around the leaking area, and another area where i could clearly see that the silicon was turning loose, and put in a new bead.. so i guess i'll test it tonight and see if it holds.
its definately not pretty, i didnt tape off the edges or anything, i just hope it holds.
its definately not pretty, i didnt tape off the edges or anything, i just hope it holds.
bjohanson1234
.........
I had a 10 gal fuge and I used 1/8 inch glass. It didnt bow or break because there were pretty much equal amounts of water on both sides which equalized the preasure. Also just get it from any ACE hardware. They cut glass to size.
Brian
Brian
daugherty
part time reefer
but if there is a difference in the three chambers it will bow. when i first built mine i used acrylic because the tank is acrylic and as soon as i started adding water there went the baffles they blew out. because of the difference in pressures.i fixed it and figured i would just fill each section at the same time and that work for awhile until the return side got low on water while i was at work and the baffle let go. now they are held in with epoxy and are thicker they bow a little but that epoxy hold up well better than silicone wihich does hot hold good on acrylic. it better safer than sorry
project5k
Reef enthusiast
well i never did get around to testing my repair job last night, i stopped by one of the 2 lfs's that i actually like the people in, and got an education on skimmers, thier prices, and things that i can do to my tank to encourrage corraline algae growth.. that and how to keep the red slime away...
i really just wanted to stop and talk to them about the skimmers and what they had and get a price and figure out the dimentions that i would need to have in the skimmer section of my fuge...
the ones that he has, and that he promices that i will be happy with, will sit in a 6 inch by 7 inch space... but thats a medium sized unit, and no, i dont remember the brand right now...
so, i'm thinking i'll make my skimmer section something like 8-1/2 inches, i figure that should allow plenty of room should i ever decide to go to something bigger than what i looked at last night... he actually showed me 2 of these units in use in the store, in actuall tanks, and they had some shag-nasty brown skum bubbeling up out of them... so looks like they work, and he said thier easy to maintain, and set up and tune in, so.. for 115 bucks i think i'll go that route... after the wife gets her first paycheck at her new job, whenever that's gonna be.
so, my next question is about the sump/fuge design, and what to put in it...
i'm thinking some LR, some sand, some calurpa, maybe a mangrove or 2 down the road(ill have lots of height for it to grow) and a couple crabs and snails..
the way i'm looking at it, it would seem that all i really need is 3 sections, 1 is the input from the tank, and this is where the skimmer should go, and sould also be the deepest water section, then that goes through anti bubble baffels, into the fuge area, and i would think to make this be the largest section, and then lastly the return pump and ATO section. I would also like this to be fairly large, so that the level can fluctuate a little and not cause problems with running a pump dry or anything like that...
sound like a pretty safe design?
the other thing that i was thinking about was how to get the water to flow through the fuge area, and not just along the top, and then out into the return section, so i was actually thinking of instead of using a tripple baffel to stop the bubbles from the skimmer, to use a 4th baffell, thats not all the way at the top, and not all the way to the bottom of the fuge, but just somewhere in the middle, the theory is that when the water goes through the tripple baffels, it would hit this 4th one, and be partially directed down into the fuge, thus making sure that the fuge is getting new water throughout its entire depth, and not just along the top...
ideas thoughts pictures, all welcome...
i really just wanted to stop and talk to them about the skimmers and what they had and get a price and figure out the dimentions that i would need to have in the skimmer section of my fuge...
the ones that he has, and that he promices that i will be happy with, will sit in a 6 inch by 7 inch space... but thats a medium sized unit, and no, i dont remember the brand right now...
so, i'm thinking i'll make my skimmer section something like 8-1/2 inches, i figure that should allow plenty of room should i ever decide to go to something bigger than what i looked at last night... he actually showed me 2 of these units in use in the store, in actuall tanks, and they had some shag-nasty brown skum bubbeling up out of them... so looks like they work, and he said thier easy to maintain, and set up and tune in, so.. for 115 bucks i think i'll go that route... after the wife gets her first paycheck at her new job, whenever that's gonna be.
so, my next question is about the sump/fuge design, and what to put in it...
i'm thinking some LR, some sand, some calurpa, maybe a mangrove or 2 down the road(ill have lots of height for it to grow) and a couple crabs and snails..
the way i'm looking at it, it would seem that all i really need is 3 sections, 1 is the input from the tank, and this is where the skimmer should go, and sould also be the deepest water section, then that goes through anti bubble baffels, into the fuge area, and i would think to make this be the largest section, and then lastly the return pump and ATO section. I would also like this to be fairly large, so that the level can fluctuate a little and not cause problems with running a pump dry or anything like that...
sound like a pretty safe design?
the other thing that i was thinking about was how to get the water to flow through the fuge area, and not just along the top, and then out into the return section, so i was actually thinking of instead of using a tripple baffel to stop the bubbles from the skimmer, to use a 4th baffell, thats not all the way at the top, and not all the way to the bottom of the fuge, but just somewhere in the middle, the theory is that when the water goes through the tripple baffels, it would hit this 4th one, and be partially directed down into the fuge, thus making sure that the fuge is getting new water throughout its entire depth, and not just along the top...
ideas thoughts pictures, all welcome...
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