DIY 20 Gallon Long Sump...

[marrone]

It's not really hard to do, just place a thick layer of silcone on the glass, fit in the baffles and seal good. Use as much silcone as you need and press down with your finger or a round stick tp smooth it out and seal it. When you do the middle or raised baffle get a book to keep it off the bottom and leave it there for a day.

If you mess up you can always take it out and redo it, just don't break the glass.

 

[Deanos]

just don't break the glass.

Great advice, Mike :lol2:

 

[marrone]

Hey that should have been the first thing I told him but I think he figure that out already. :splitspin

 

[Tonyscoots84]

thanks marrone... yea i no not to break it thats what happened in my 29 gallon and my elbow almost went through the tank... lmao... anyways for my last and final question on the bracing over the top of the tank do we need the inner part that holds the hood.. could i just cut that off... so i can slide the baffles right in...

 

[marrone]

That bracing it important so you shouldn't cut it. You should be able to get the glass into the tank but if you can't you can always remover the bracing but make sure you place it back and silcone it into place.

 

[joseney21]

tony the glass should fit in the tank without removing the bracing, put it in diagonally and then straighten it out once its in the tank. smooth out the bead of silicone with your finger and once you're done with a baffle scrape away all the excess silicone with a credit card (makes it look nice and neat). being that youre only going with two compartments i would follow warrens advice and space the baffles two inches apart, this will slow down the flow through the baffles giving the bubbles more time and less resistance to rise up. post pics when you're done

 

[Astoria]

Tony it is easy. I know you can do it

Start by measuring from both ends and put a line, so the baffles be straight.

Start with the buffle in the middle.

for the side buffles put alot of silicone at the sides and the bottom of the tank and slide the baffle into the silicone.

Gary

 

[Tonyscoots84]

sump is done i will post pics tom.... approx. right side were skimmer is going to be has about 17" then the 3 baffles spaced about 1.5" apart then the rest is the return area....

 

[masterswimmer]

Grats T. Looking forward to pix.

swimmer

 

[Tonyscoots84]

ok heres the sump all done.. gonna do a wet run with reg. water to see how it hold up.. i put alot of silicone and im hoping everything works out good..

 

[marrone]

Looks good. :flower:

 

[Tonyscoots84]

thanks... i did a dumb a$$ move and glued the baffles in the wrong way the 1st time i did the opposite... :banghead: lmao... hahaha i felt so stupid after going over it so many times....

 

[Tonyscoots84]

thanks everyone for all the help and support on this lil DIY project... next in line is plumbing......

 

[joseney21]

did you need all that room for the skimmer???looks like you'll have little room to play with when it comes to water draining from your tank, plumbing and skimmer into that tiny return compartment.....will you be using auto top off??

 

[Tonyscoots84]

well yea cause i want to have a filter sock on the overflow to the sump and then i want the skimmer to have its room to do its thang and not be so tight in there... i usually hand pour the top off water once in the morning and once or twice at night...

 

[Tonyscoots84]

u think i should make the return compartment bigger... will it be that much of a big deal...

 

[masterswimmer]

T, I agree with Jose`.

The return compartment is where the evaporation is evident. It will not appear as evaporation in your tank or in your skimmer section. The evap will appear in the tiny compartment. In addition, the water level in the skimmer section is so high and using 3/4's of the sump there is no room for siphoning in a power outage.

The way you have it set up, I'd want to use the small section for my skimmer and the rest for the return, heater, carbon, etc.

Sorry to be so harsh bro. Better to hear it now than after your first flood, or after your return pump compartment runs dry.
swimmer

 

[jejton]

Why does the size of the return vs. skimmer comp. matter in regards to siphoning? Wouldn't water just flow from the pump comp. backwards into the skimmer comp?

 

[marrone]

The sump is actually setup correctly, outside of the baffles maybe being a little high. Until you must see how much water will flow back from his tank into the sump, if the pump stop, you don't know by just looking. This needs to be tested out and if it's not enough them either the baffles needs to be lower or the return or overflow need to be raised.

The return area looks large enough, specially if your using a ATO system, if not your going to have to top off probably every day or maybe every two days.

As for the large area, you really need to see the skimmer, heater and overflow pipe(with filter sock) from the tank in it before you can say that it's to large. Remember carbon, poly pads and stuff can also go into the area.

Put all the equipment in and check if your going to have overflow problem. Otherwise it looks good to go.

 

[masterswimmer]

i usually hand pour the top off water once in the morning and once or twice at night...

Tony, topping off your tank once or twice manually everyday will be a tedious task with a return chamber that small.

The concept of your design is correct. The practical application of it should be reworked. The way it is setup it leaves an incredibly small area for backflow in a power outage.

swimmer