DIY Not Your Normal Sump... HELP!

[mutts]

I have an idea for a sump and i wanted to know what you all think about it.

First this would be for my 75 Gallon tank, that can't be drilled so here is the reason for making my own.

I plan on building a small stand behind my tank to put a 10 gal or 20 long on. I will have this tank divided up like all under the tank sumps are. But I wanted to have two pumps on putting water in the tank and one taking it out. Also I plan on building two little boxes out of glass to hide the pumps from veiw.

My question is what kind of pump would you recomend, have you ever tried this before or know someone who has (pictures would be nice), or any other little detail you could think of.

Thanks!

[dakar]

Using anything but gravity and water level of the display alone feed your sump could be disasterous....only water from a specified height can leave the tank so in the event of some sort of failure the tank doesn't get emptied out since the siphon would eventually be broken. Using a pump on the other hand would defeat the protection, even a power failure could empty the tank to the level of the pump.

There are some fairly easy to build overflows that can be constructed from PVC pipe and fittings, that or a hangon overflow box) would be a much better/safer choice.


Remember the primary goal should be to skim the display tank's upper 1/2 - 1" of water as that is where the majority of protiens collect so they can be removed in the sump/refuge/skimmer etc...

Hope this helps.... I've considered using a pump instead of an overflow many times, each time I've talked myself out of it.

[mutts]

The plan is to have the little box with the pump as close to the top as I can, this little box would also have some slits in in toward the top of that which would allow for water to go into the box, so if power or whatever did fail only a small amount of water would be on the floor...

I hope I can make myself clean, basicly what happened was I saw an ecosystem aquarium at my LFS knowing it was way to expensive for what I had in mind but still likeing the idea I am trying to rebuild it in a more cash friendly way.

Thanks for helping me dakar, I'm sorry if it takes me a little while to understand this!

[Fally]

Two pumps isn't something I would use. There is no way they will pump at the same rate. Just imagine if one died. Also, with evaporation your idea of having overflow boxes inside the tank isn't going to work well.

I would recommend that you use an overflow. That way you can only overflow as much as you pump into the tank and all your evaporation will show in the return section of your sump.

[carpenterwrasse]

why can you not drill the tank? Is it already set up? The overflow would work as long as you keep enough room in the sump for the sudden power failure.
I speak from experience here my first attempt was wet to say the least.

[mutts]

i am going to use an overflow, and the reason i can't drill the tank is because it is made out of tempered glass... i don't want to mess with that

[carpenterwrasse]

I might be wrong here but my 75 is a tempered tnk also but only the bottom is tempered..mine is drilled in the back

[mutts]

thats what i was thinking, but i really don't want to assume anything and mess up my tank

[carpenterwrasse]

they should be able to tell you at the lfs if thats where you were planning to have it drilled

[mutts]

i got it from someone who was selling it from someone and to my lfs doesn't do that kind of stuff... it would be something i would have to do on my own. so i think i am going to go with the overflow box. seems safer, lol