bloodysafety

When I first decided to keep a reef tank I do my home work and am appalled at how expensive they are to set-up and maintain. I spent hours studying hydrodynamics and staring at the sumps in stores and came to the conclusion that I could easily build my own. My tank is a 55 gal. and uses two 10 gal. sumps, one canister, two skimmers(one is built into the tank) and a back mounted unit... any how this how I built my sumps:

Materials needed:

• old aquarium of appropriate size
• 4 sheets of glass cut to match internal width but 1-2 inches shorter than height
• aquarium sealant
• tank dividers
• a wooden block
• pump powerful enough to do the job (depends on what size tubing you plan on using and the distance between sump and tank (I use pond pumps)
• appropriate fillers

Directions:
1. Divide tank into three sections (the third need only be wide enough to accommodate the pump and unless you get thick glass each glass divider will be 2-ply).

2. The end of the tank where water will enter should have its glass dividers flush with the top of the tank. This is where the wooden blocks come in handy. Set your panes on the blocks to maintain position while you silicone them in and do not remove them until the seals have fully cured.

3. The second set of glass will sit on the bottom of the sump. Seal this and let it cure. you should now have a 1-2 inch gap on the bottom of one section and a 1-2 inch gap in top of the other.

4. After silicone cures cut your plastic tank divider in to strips that are about 1/2" wider than your gaps ( the bottom gap is the most important). you will want to silicone a strip on either side of the panes. let cure.

5. test your sump! don't put any media into it and run the pump to test water flow. Some tank dividers have holes too small to allow water to flow at the proper speed and can really screw you later. If too slow, you may need to widen divider holes. if that passes, add the media and test again. Ideally, water comes into the sump at the same rate that it is pumped out. if all is well, you just saved a few hundred dollars and have a working sump.

I hope this is useful and makes sense.