I am going to be in San Francisco for a couple days and will get this project going again this weekend. I have had some plumbing trouble and will, i hope have it corrected and do a show and tell about it, and the solution. There are some interesting aquarium stores in SF Percula Clowns for $5.99, corals 6 for $100, live rock $4.99 and $3.99 for 10 pounds or more.
started my simple sump for this project. It is a 30g aga 36 x 12 x 16 aga dimensions are not accurate it is 12.5 wide appx. I wish a 40 long was available as i wanted it to be 4' long but had no patience to order one.
I used Styrofoam box for first spacer because it was the size i wanted and it can be broken up if necessary. I use 3/4 inch pvc as a spacer because it has about a 1 inch od and it will come out most times.
I have glass cut a bit small 1/16 inch or so helps things to fit.
I am only going to use 3 baffles in this sump. one for skimmer and intake compartment. refugium in the center and 2 for the return with a bubble trap. should be all i need.
The last two pictures are of the usplastics float valve installed in a 5/8 inch hole in baffle. and the last picture is the sump with skimmer/overflow compartment. Note the broken box be careful that you can remove your spacers!!! this sump cost me $67 for new aga 30g $21 for cut glass and 10 bucks for silicone. It took fifteen min to silicone and drill first two baffles. and about 10 min to silicone last baffle. Not a bad sump for $108 and half hours work! Most people use more baffles than three so do your planning well as it is a pain to remove baffles especially if you have to take down your tank to do it!!!!!!
I did chip the glass on the inside of aquarium trying to seal a bulkhead. The fix was to remove bulkhead and place flange on the outside of tank. I did this so i would not have to use silicone to seal it, I was worried it would be hard to take apart if it was necessary. The pictures show water test of bulkhead, strainer with size reference, and strainer in box.
If things go well I hope to freshwater test tonight if all is well with test i will add some plain salt and run it for a day or two just to help get every thing clean drain and it will be ready for sea salt, sand, and live rock! Trash can with live rock tests well 0 am 0 nitrite yea!!!
I am running a fresh test and am happy for the most part. The capacity of the overflow is not as great as expected I am running a Rio 2500 at 590 gph at 3 foot head. it is more than enough flow for the sump. The noise level is ok. I did learn that some Teflon tape is better than others. I bought a roll of high quality tape and was glad i spent the extra dollar!! Tired more tomorrow.
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