DIY Sump Design ......

[ravi197699]

hey guys i was thinking of buying sump for my 120 gal reef tank. i always had issue with fine bubbles and floating stuff in the water and i always wished for clear water in dt. So i decided to put togather something simple and affordable that it won't break the bank. I bought 40 breeder from Petco last week and special thanks to John who gave me 2" bulkhead and his drill bit to drill hole in the tank and i got baffels and other acrylic parts for Canal street plastics. Total cost of the project and list of parts is below.

40 gal breeder - 40+tax
Acrylic pieces with cut charges -45+tax
Silicone Tube - 6.99+tax
Bulkhead by John 0.00
Total - 100.01

 

[tunicata]

nice work!!!
Hah, I wanted a sump with a similar design, but shorter and the prices were quadruple that!!! Even for a modified regular 36" tank!!!

I want to build my own sump but haven't the space.

Hm, maybe I can use the basement...

 

[saltwaterinbrooklyn]

Great work, I built mine to spec from a 29 gal tank and even have a thread on it on mr as well, and even after custom king built me an incredible sump, that is in my basement lol I'm still using my homemade one lol just can't fix what's not broken , please keep the pics rolling I want to see it full and rolling

 

[ravi197699]

Its up and running and I will post pics very soon right after some minor tweaks. thanks guys

 

[troywalkerphoto]

Looks cool! This hobby is always better when you DIY something!

 

[Imbarrie]

Assuming those holes are for filter socks you will only get half the efficiency from them. The baffles are so low the water level looks like it is half way up the filter socks and this effectively turns two filter socks into one. If you could increase the height on the middle baffle your entire filter sock will be utilized gaining 100% more filtration.

 

[duke62]

plus in the long run you will have issues with the acrylic and glass siliconed together. Eventually it will come apart. And i also agree with imbarrie,the water level looks real low

 

[Imbarrie]

Acrylic to glass also a problem.
Now I look at the design I see there is nothing to keep water going through the socks since it would simply flow over the ledge. That filter sock holder will also sag over a few months as acrylic is not as strong as glass. You could resolve both of these problems with a one inch piece of acrylic glued along the long edge so that is sticks up restricting that flow. This will force the water to flow into the socks instead yet when the socks get clogged it will still flow over the edge.
The adhesion of acrylic to glass is better with surface area. If you use silicone to adhere a large surface area you will have much better adhesion. The problem with and edge of acrylic is the lack of surface area. Your filter sock shelf looks like it is well supported but the baffles will fail very quickly.
Go with glass, it also cleans better.
You have a great idea with the socks, it will work, just needs some tweaking. Every sump you build will teach you something new. Im on my third.

 

[masterswimmer]

It could also be an optical illusion, however, from your first picture, it appears that your middle baffle is lower than the two outside baffles. It looks like the water will flow under>over>under the triple baffle. Like I said, it could be from the angle in the picture and I could be totally mistaken. However, if it is the way I just described it, that is a problem. The flow should be over>under>over the triple baffle.

I also agree with everyone else, you would have been better suited to use glass baffles, not acrylic. Thin 1/8" glass is all that is necessary to set the baffles. No need to go crazy with 1/4".

Russ

 

[duke62]

Wow didnt even notice that Russ. Yes it is going under,over,under

 

[duke62]

I will take a pic of my new sump. I used glass baffels for my sump but i did use acrylic for my sock holders. If that ever gives out on me its very simple to fix without shutting the whole sump down

 

[duke62]

Here is my new sump. I made the baffels high which is fine because this is going to drain into my fuge which the baffels are 2" shorter

 

[ravi197699]

sump

Acrylic to glass also a problem.
Now I look at the design I see there is nothing to keep water going through the socks since it would simply flow over the ledge. That filter sock holder will also sag over a few months as acrylic is not as strong as glass. You could resolve both of these problems with a one inch piece of acrylic glued along the long edge so that is sticks up restricting that flow. This will force the water to flow into the socks instead yet when the socks get clogged it will still flow over the edge.
The adhesion of acrylic to glass is better with surface area. If you use silicone to adhere a large surface area you will have much better adhesion. The problem with and edge of acrylic is the lack of surface area. Your filter sock shelf looks like it is well supported but the baffles will fail very quickly.
Go with glass, it also cleans better.
You have a great idea with the socks, it will work, just needs some tweaking. Every sump you build will teach you something new. Im on my third.

I will change the baffles with glass and raise the height of the baffles as well since water level is low i agree. and i saw they are bulginig from the middle due to water force. i am planning to put long pvc pipe to support filter sock holder due to if filter sock gets clogged then i dont want the weight of the filter socks pushing the holder down so i will add support for that as well.

thanks

 

[ravi197699]

I have done few changes and I have to agree glass to glass combination is best and yes these baffles are going under over and under again and I like it that way no issues with bubbles so far but I wish it would been glass and 3 inches higher but I will use this until I get few days off so that I can remove this and change these with glass. I have the glass pieces cut and ready to go. I will keep you guys posted. So far I am loving it open concept and easy to remove.

 

[lnevo]

Doing some research, it would seem both methods are OK and even some pros to under over under. As ling as you have one over under you can control the water levels. The big con to under over under is you cant have a fuge with a sandbed. But it looks like you just have a big skimmer section. If it works for you then thats what matters

 

[hclaveria]

Assuming those holes are for filter socks you will only get half the efficiency from them. The baffles are so low the water level looks like it is half way up the filter socks and this effectively turns two filter socks into one. If you could increase the height on the middle baffle your entire filter sock will be utilized gaining 100% more filtration.

Doesnt increasing the baffle in the middle raise the water level on both sides of the baffle?

I am having this problem with my design in that I only get a few days of use from my socks because my water level is too high. I can't lower my baffle because I have a refuge in the middle but I was thinking of raising the sock holder to above the sump to get more utility out of the sock.

 

[ravi197699]

Reason i went under over under is bubbles have very less chances to make over on the other side and i have no issue with water level droping and pump is working fine as well. i have 75 gal fuge that contains deep sand bed and some cheato but on the top of that i have 48"x13" horizontal algae scubber sitting with three 12x13" mesh that is was growing gha and keeping parameters and i had no plans to add any refugium in this sump since this is going to be used only for sump and one reactor that is going to be hard plumbed through manifold that is going to sit in that chamber. But over all performance i am happy i have 7" filter socks 100 micron and 25 micron that i use to polish the water and i don't use gfo.

 

[vio]

Reason i went under over under is bubbles have very less chances to make over on the other side and i have no issue with water level droping and pump is working fine as well. i have 75 gal fuge that contains deep sand bed and some cheato but on the top of that i have 48"x13" horizontal algae scubber sitting with three 12x13" mesh that is was growing gha and keeping parameters and i had no plans to add any refugium in this sump since this is going to be used only for sump and one reactor that is going to be hard plumbed through manifold that is going to sit in that chamber. But over all performance i am happy i have 7" filter socks 100 micron and 25 micron that i use to polish the water and i don't use gfo.

I use 200 micron, GFO is for PO4 control, when u gone use glass, next time try to use Aquavarium Silicone then extand the tip by using 1/4 hard tub (hose) help to use the Silicone gun much easy, u got more clearance around. Vio

 

[vio]

Here is my new sump. I made the baffels high which is fine because this is going to drain into my fuge which the baffels are 2" shorter

Duke, i think u make a mistake by using that sock bracket, u shut have the bottom open for avoiding the "detritus factory", let the small detritus go right into Protein Skimmer. Nice stand .

 

[ravi197699]

Thanks for the tip of using tube for silicone this way i can silicone the inner side of the baffle as well.