My DIY overflow/sump/wet-dry

[Morticus]

Blast! I had this whole post typed out, then clicked 'back' from the preview... so here I go again.

I took some pictures of the overflow, sump, and wet/dry filter my dad and I made. Not including the Mag 7 return pump, it costed us $25. It runs about 600 gph and is virtually silent except a small waterfall sound from the trickle filter.

Here is a front view, the sump is in the right cabinet and the overflow is in the top left corner.

Here is a close up of the overflow, we used 1-1/2 inch pvc for the syphon loop. The inside box is a container from the Container Store that is lightly glued to the tank with sealer. The outside box is two of the same box as the inside box glued together and cut down in the middle. We used a bulkhead fitting from the outside box to the pvc.

Another view. You can kind of see the piece of plastic glued over the top third of the pvc down to the sump, this made the gurgling sound silent.

Here is the sump, the larger slanted pvc is coming from the outside overflow, the smaller is the return pipe. We wrapped the Mag 7 in cloth to stop the vibration noise. The wet/dry is made of two tubberware containers. The bottom of one serves as the drip tray, while the top is the bottom section below the lr rubble. The second container is the middle section where the lr rubble is held.

A better view of the wet/dry.

When the power goes out the tank drains down about half an inch, raising the water level in the sump very slightly. What do you think?

 

[Morticus]

Bump.

 

[revhtree]

Looks great!! Good Job.

 

[Verbalkint]

I just got and setup the exact same tank you have there. I thought that stand looked familiar.


I would apperciate a bit of step by step on how you did this, as well as the sizes of the tupperware stuff underneath.

Looks good Man..,

 

[cougaran]

yes please tell, i'm kinda confused as to where the lr rubble goes. A litle better descriptions would help as far as sizes like KaiserSouse said i mean VerbalKint.

 

[Morticus]

Okay, the tubberware for the sump is 22-1/2" long, 16-1/4" wide, and 11-1/2" tall. The two containers for the wet/dry are 8" long, 6-1/4" wide, and 5-5/8" tall (this doesn't include the lip around the top).

Here's where the rubble goes:

I glued a piece of plastic in the middle of the sump so the area around the wet/dry can be a refuge, and my heaters, return pump, etc can go on the other side. I am planning to remove the tray on top of the wet/dry and just lay a sponge on top on the lr rubble to stop the trickling sound (note that the lr rubble will still be completely submerged.

*edit* Tell me if you need any more info verbalkint.

 

[Verbalkint]

I have a 10g spare laying around.. What i did lastnight was...

Went to Walmart, got 2 clear tupperware 'shoe box' sized containers with lids.

I cut the middle of one of the lids out. This lid goes on the bottom container.

The bottom container has about 3" of my old livesand in it, with a series of holes cut just above the sand level.

The Top box has no lid. In it, i have cut about 15 / 20 small holes in the bottom, and put some filter cloth in the bottom of it.

For the overflow, I am using an old powerfilter. The powerfilter pulls water from the tank, and fills itself up. there's a 1/2" pvc pipe running through it, down to the sump. The powerfilter pulls more water than the pvc will let pass, so the excess water flows back into the tank. The water then goes into the top box, which stays about 1/2 full. It 'trickles' down into the lower box, which again, stays about 3/4 full.

This drains out into the 10g, and a pond pump that my mother gave me returns the water to the tank.

It's what works, but I like the looks of your sump a bit better, and was curious about how you built your overflow.

So, that's what I'd like more info on.. The overflow, how its built (with pictures, if possible), and the sump itself, how the internals are setup, and what's in each 'section'

Thanks.

Dave Aka Verbal

 

[Morticus]

Okay here is the inside overflow box. I use a drop of sealer in each corner to hold it to the tank. The other side of the syphon goes into the outside overflow box.

This is the outside overflow, as I mentioned above it is 2 plastic containers from the container store, each box is 4-1/2" tall and 3-1/2" wide (two of the same boxes as the inside overflow above). The pvc is 1-1/2 inch attached to the box with a bulkhead fitting. The elbow is 45 degrees. The outside box is attached to the rim of the tank with two metal clamps (make sure they don't touch water).

Here is the sump, as you can see there is a place around the wet/dry for the refuge. The water will flow over the middle (which I am going to cut a little lower) into the area for the heaters, return pump etc.

Let me know if you need any more info.

 

[Verbalkint]

That's actually just what I was looking for.

Just a few more questions.

Whats the Gallon size of the whole bottom container?

Where did you get the boxes that you are using for the overflow?

And what goes in the two smaller boxes, in the refugium area?

Also, how HIGH is that divider, in the sump?

I am assuming that if it's higher than the 2 boxes, what ever function they are to provide, would not work correctly.?

Thanks for the pics and detailed info.

 

[Morticus]

Gallon size: approx 16 gallons, I am using probably 10-12 of it.

"Where did you get the boxes that you are using for the overflow?"
The Container Store.

"And what goes in the two smaller boxes, in the refugium area?"
That is the wet/dry featured in my first and second post where the lr rubble goes.

"Also, how HIGH is that divider, in the sump?"
It is about 8-/12 now, but I am going to cut it down to about 7". The height you need is just dependent on how high your wet/dry is. I'm thinking about adding some legs to the wet/dry so it will stand high enough for me to get a good 3-4" of live sand underneath it, if I decide to do this then I won't need to cut down the divider.

"I am assuming that if it's higher than the 2 boxes, what ever function they are to provide, would not work correctly.?"
That's true, which is why it needs to be cut down some.

 

[Verbalkint]

heh.. cool.

We don't have a container store around here, so I'll have to see if I can find some Lee's Specimem boxes, or something.

Thanks for all the info.

Let me see if I have this correct.

Sand goes in the bottom of the larger container, underneath the 'wet/dry' boxes, in the same 1/2 that they are in.

They should set a little bit above the sand, and the overflow should be about 7" or so high, for water to overflow into the heater/skimmer/return pump section?

The only thing left that I am confused about is the live rock rubble (Perhapse the whole wet/dry thing in general confuses me. )

There are 2 smaller containers, correct?
I guess filter media would go in the top one, and the live rock rubble in the bottom one? Then the water would flow out of the bottom one into the divided 1/2 of the whole thing?

Shouldn't they be completely above the water line? Sorry for the silly questions, just trying to get a grasp here of what exactly is going on with the 2 little boxes.


Again, Thanks.

 

[Morticus]

HTH.

 

[cougaran]

Have you been using it yet? Or are you not setup yet?

 

[Morticus]

I test ran it for a few days without a hitch, but it wasn't with livestock or anything.