"davejnz" <davejnz@aol-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in message
news:dimad6$pf6$1@domitilla.aioe.org...
I have to say - I'm not getting all this "waste of precious real
estate"
stuff!


We're just reffering to the waste of space in the display tank.As
for acrylic,silicon doesn't bond well to plastics.Its best to use a
glue designed for acrylic.After it has cured,run a bead of silicon
over that.
If you plan on getting a 5' tank that has a large footprint (60" x
24"),it would give you alot more room for the in-tank-sump(12" x
24").With proper baffle design,a functional skimmer section/return
section could be made.One advantage to this deign is a small return
pump could be used as head pressure would be only 1'.

Just remember,you dont want a high volume of water flowing through
your
sump.Current/water flow should be in the display,not the sump.
How can you have a high water flow through the sump without an *identical*
flow blasting back to the display on the return line? If the sump flow is
high, the display flow is necessarily high also.

I never considered that one might want to restrict flow to the sump. One
could keep the sump flow low and install a few mini pumps to keep the
display side flow high. But - I sort of like the idea of hiding as much
hardware as possible in the sump.

Why *not* just keep the sump flow as high as possible and dispense with the
mini pumps in the display section?

A closed loop is the best way to achieve this and its inputs/outputs
can easily be drilled if you use acrylic for your partition.
Yes. Acrylic and pvc are the obvious ways to go for sump structures and
plumbing.
Thomas Bartkus