im having trouble finding a sump for my system, none are large enough or too large to fit under my stand etc. mainly theyre too expensive. i thought about going to one of the local boat stores and seeing if they could build me one out of fiberglass etc. is this a safe chemical to use in and around aquariums?
Quick question about sumps
- Thread starter bhb1034
- Start date
djasper99,
You can use just about anything that holds water as a sump. It is pretty much just a body of water for you to put the stuff that you don't want people to see in your show tank, i.e. your protien skimmer, heater, pump, etc. I have seen people use 10g tanks, rubbermade containers, trashcans, 5 gallon buckets, a bunch of monkeys with pails (okay, maybe not that last one). The only thing you will need to worry about, is putting in some sort of bafold so that your pump does not suck up air bubbles from your protien skimmer or overflow. This just means siliconing a piece of acrylic to inside whatever you decide to use for a sump. I hope this helps.
Mike
You can use just about anything that holds water as a sump. It is pretty much just a body of water for you to put the stuff that you don't want people to see in your show tank, i.e. your protien skimmer, heater, pump, etc. I have seen people use 10g tanks, rubbermade containers, trashcans, 5 gallon buckets, a bunch of monkeys with pails (okay, maybe not that last one). The only thing you will need to worry about, is putting in some sort of bafold so that your pump does not suck up air bubbles from your protien skimmer or overflow. This just means siliconing a piece of acrylic to inside whatever you decide to use for a sump. I hope this helps.
Mike
If you are on a budget, look for those opaque containers like a Rubbermaid. If you hold a high water line in your sump, put a couple bungie cords w/ the hooks on the ends to keep it from bowing too bad. I used one for 1.5 years. Don't look like much, but for 7 $ you can't beat them for price.
Looks like you are going to use some caulerpa in that one. That's what one builds when he has the right tools. I like acrylic except for one thing. Paying for it!!
To the fellow asking about sumps. Unless you are going to set up a really big tank, a 20L works pretty good. Alot of folks, I one of them, will recommend that no matter what it is made of, glass tank, rubbermaid tub, acrylic sump, or a home custom job like we got the very nice photo of, get the largest sump container you can. I usually try for 1/2 the tank volume if I have the room. If you have a garage you can plumb to you could even match your display gal per gal or more. Most of the really nice tanks I have seen benefitted from a big ol' sump. I have seen nice tanks w/ small ones too. Like the beer commercial says,"small ones are okay, big ones just feel better."
To the fellow asking about sumps. Unless you are going to set up a really big tank, a 20L works pretty good. Alot of folks, I one of them, will recommend that no matter what it is made of, glass tank, rubbermaid tub, acrylic sump, or a home custom job like we got the very nice photo of, get the largest sump container you can. I usually try for 1/2 the tank volume if I have the room. If you have a garage you can plumb to you could even match your display gal per gal or more. Most of the really nice tanks I have seen benefitted from a big ol' sump. I have seen nice tanks w/ small ones too. Like the beer commercial says,"small ones are okay, big ones just feel better."
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