DIY Sump from an aquarium

[NathanBoy]

I've got a glass 29 gallon (30x12x18) aquarium that I would like to turn into a sump w/ refugium for a reef tank that I'm putting together, and I was wondering if anyone knew of any plans or had any recommendations for how best to go about this. Thanks in advance!

 

[Anonymous]

I would add some acylic baffles in that sump to help reduce micro-bubbles from entering your display tank. You can go to a plastics shop and have them cut it to size. You can also buy it at HD or Lowe's and cut it yourself.

Are you going to have the sump drilled or just go with submersible pumps?

Will you have an internal or external skimmer? And external skimmer will require drilled holes for the plumbing?

What other kinds of questions do you have?

Oh yeah, :welcome:

Louey

 

[NathanBoy]

Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for the help. =) How hard would it be to get an all glass aquarium drilled? I would certainly like to go with an external over a submersible pump, but I don't have the first clue as to what it would take to drill the necessary hole. I think that I will be going with an internal skimmer.

Anyone know any good online shops that would cut the acrylic baffles for me?

 

[Anonymous]

I had a hole drilled at a glass and mirror shop. I think it cost $20.

You should do it yourself with the proper drill bit and drilling technique. I understand it's not all that difficult. It may not be cost effective to buy the bit to drill one or two holes.

I'd call around to some glass shops for staters.

And I agree, external is better.

Louey

 

[bleedingthought]

I have a 29G tank as a sump. I have two glass baffles in there that divide my skimmer section, a fuge section, and my return pump section. My fuge section is on the left, the return section in the middle, and the skimmer section on the right of the tank. Water drains from the display and is tee'd off into the fuge and the skimmer sections and they both drain into the center and is pumped back up.

I just went to lowes and they cut the glass to size for me, which I think was 6 bucks total - the cutting is free , and used aquarium silicone to put them in place. I'd go for 1/4" glass because I've used 1/8" for baffles and the pump motion cracked it.

Also, one thing I would have done differently is made the return pump section wider because if I don't top off my almost 2 gallons of water every day, I start getting micro bubbles in the display because the water level is so low.

HTH! :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

You do not need to have the tank drilled. You could go up and over the lip with the suction line. Just make sure you prime the pump before you start it up the first time. If the tank is glass I would use glass for the baffles. The big two home improvement stors can cut you small glass to you size. When siliconing them in CD cases are good for making jigs.

 

[NathanBoy]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'm going to set mine up like bleedingthought's. Turns out I've got a glass shop right by my house that was willing to drill the hole for the pump and provide the glass pieces for very little, so everything has worked out well =). I'm going to post a picture once I get this thing finished.