drilling established aquarium for sump?!

[paul87]

So I have a spare 10 gallon tank laying around and I've always wanted to make it a sump for my 35 gallon. Only thing that keeps me away from it I'd that is scares the **** outta me to drill my tank. I've watched s couple videos on YouTube that make it look so easy. I need some advice and suggestions on this. Size of hole and location and how to do an overflow box and everything. Is it just too risky?

 

[Mrc8858]

Honestly I think that's a really bad idea since you would have to bring the water level below the hole and then you have 24-48 hour cure time for the overflow box if you go that route but I guess if you went with just a stand pipe off the side or back glass it would be possible if extremely careful.

 

[paul87]

Is the overflow box necessary or not? What's a stand pipe? What if I drill the hole right at the water level surface that way if power goes out it wont drain much into the sump? I don't know much on the matter.

 

[Mrc8858]

The stand pipe would be pvc screwed into the bulk head that would have an opening with a type of caging around it that you could put at the height you want your water level but the you have an ugly pipe in your tank. The over flow box would be a box of glass/acrylic around the bulkhead with teeth cut into the top to allow water to flow into the box and the down your bulkhead.

 

[paul87]

Why would it be in my tank? Wouldn't it just be a hole with a pipe coming out of the back of my tank? I think I might would go for the over flow box though. Dunno just trying figure it out. All I would need is one hole drilled right? To the sump then one more pipe pumped back to the tank

 

[Mrc8858]

Ya just one hole but you would have to take a pipe from the bulkhead with a 90 degree elbow so you could turn it around its radius to adjust the water level. I guess technically you could just put a cage in front of the bulkhead with no pipe but I've never seen that done before.

 

[Phranque]

Me either. You do not want water flowing straight into an open bulkhead hole. If any kind of critter gets in there (snail, fish, hermit, etc) and plugs the line, you will then have a flooded main tank since your return pump is still returning water, but none is making back to the sump. As Mrc stated, you want to have a very short piece of pipe coming out of the bulkhead, then a 90 pointing straight up, and a pipe coming up out of that with a strainer on top (hence, "standpipe"). The height of the standpipe determines the water level in the tank.

 

[paul87]

Gotcha. That makes pretty good sense. What size PVC pipe would be sufficient?

 

[Mrc8858]

Double your return line so 1 1/2-2" should ge good

 

[paul87]

So 1 1/2" from tank to sump and 3/4" from sump to tank?

 

[Mrc8858]

I would go 1" return and 2" overflow personally.. less chance of clogging and possibility of more return flow

 

[paul87]

Anybody got some simple plans for a 10 gallon fuge? All I plan on having in it is a return pump, heater, penguin power filter and my HOB aqua c remora Skimmer. So the skimmer wont be in the sump it will be hanging off the sump and so will my power filter.

 

[paul87]

OK well where can I get an overflow box to hide the stand pipe. Ill I can find is hang over ones. Is it called something else?

 

[Mrc8858]

OK well where can I get an overflow box to hide the stand pipe. Ill I can find is hang over ones. Is it called something else?

I think you can buy them premade but a lot of people just build their own out of acrylic.. just 4 pieces of acrylic

 

[paul87]

How do you attach it to the tank. Silicone? Know of where some plans are?

 

[Ice Man]

Why don't you go with an overflow box in aquarium? Especially if you already have fish in it.
I have similar setup, 30g tank and 10 refugium.
First I had DIY PVC overflow 3/4in pipe. It worked great, never lost syphon, but it was not enough flow. Maybe with 1in pipe or 1.5in would be better. Anyway, I found used 600gallon overflow for $30 and now everything works great.
My fuge has 3 compartments. First, where water comes in, has uv sterilizer, heater. Second, the biggest, has chaeto and deep sand bed some rock ruble and few mangrove trees. Third, return pump and float valve for top off.
I will take some pictures and post it here later.

 

[Ice Man]

Here is a plan of my refugium. Initially I planed to have hob protein skimmer there. Unfortunately water returning from the skimmer splashed too much causing too much noise. Skimmer is in main tank now. I guess you can solve this by having first baffle going higher, 2in from top of the tank. That would raise water level in the first compartment. You could add sock filter to first compartment as well. Aquarium Filtration Supplies: Eshopps Micron Bag Holder and Bags
I still need to figure out how to install some kind of filter between center and return sections, so debris doesn't go thru a return pump.
Upgrades and alterations are like never ending story.
Hope this helps.

 

[paul87]

What would be a good size for the return pump? It'll only be pumped straight up 3 1/2 feet Max.

 

[Ice Man]

What would be a good size for the return pump? It'll only be pumped straight up 3 1/2 feet Max.

It depends what is your's overflow capability, how many gph max can be drained from a tank. My overflow is rated 600gph. I recently upgraded pump to Hydor Seltz L40, rated 750gph. Of course with 4 ft overhead it pumps much less. Flow is still very strong, but overflow has no problems draining the water.
Good idea is to have pump with adjustable flow, or ball valve on return line so flow can be adjusted if needed.
Well, I am not an expert, it my first tank with fuge, let's see what others say.

 

[paul87]

So I just got my sump sealed up. Tell me what u think. Also I need ideas on drilling my established display tank. Its a 35 gallon so the best way I'm thinking it to take all livestock and rock out only leaving the sand and a couple inches of water in it. Then packing t outside so I can hold a hose on it while I drill. Anybody know of a different way?