New sump design

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huma-huma said:
I Just finished up my refugium a few days ago. Went to lowes, bought a 20 sheet of acrylic, had them make the cuts. All said and done, i spent $20 on acrylic
$5 on tube of GE silicone 1
$4 on caulking gun ( misplaced mine)
The single sheet of acrylic got me 2 9x12 baffles and 2 12x6 baffles.. This all went into a 55g (which i paid $55 for) so all said and done i spent $84 and ended with the same result that companies are charging hundreds of dollars for. I also scored a glass-holes sock-it kit for $20,

But def use acrylic, the strength isnt really what is important. Its flexibility thats key. Acrylic will bend and flex a lil to adjust, glass just cracks

Perfect thanks for the advice! I'm gonna go with the acrylic. How thick did you go?
 
huma-huma said:
1/4", you want some flex but if it bows too much it could pull away from the seams

I'm in lowes waiting on it right now so I should have it finished by this weekend (between work and school) ill also pick up a pump too
 
Make sure the baffles fit in as tight as possible without cracking or breaking. Then when you silicone them in, make certain all areas are 100% dry
 
huma-huma said:
Make sure the baffles fit in as tight as possible without cracking or breaking. Then when you silicone them in, make certain all areas are 100% dry

I'm getting them cut to 17.5 in and my tank is 17.75. I went tighter than the original 17 3/8 I was going with for that very reason. And im going to sand the edges anyways so i can make small adjustments there too. Thanks!
 
When I got the 17 1/2 in for the baffles it was too big I went with 3/8 and its snug. If I don't get called into work early tomorrow I should be able to set it up. I went with 5 baffles of 1/4 in acrylic. Came out to $80 for acrylic alone. I hope I don't have to get more silicone and add to the already too expensive project.
 
huma-huma said:
80 bucks?!? Where did you buy it?

Lowes. I knew I got overcharged and could have gotten it cheaper but I just want to get it done I'm tired of not having the tank up
 
huma-huma said:
Dont blame ya one bit. Thats the point im getting to on my tank

I went so far as buying all of my return assembly hosing and pump today so I can get water in it next week and ill just add sand/rock later.

I have a question on the bubble trap. I made my main bubble trap (3 baffles) on my drain/skimmer side. Did I mess up? Ill attach a picture. I made it to the footprint of the skimmer I'm gonna get just hoping I didn't attach a baffle on the wrong side.
 

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huma-huma said:
Dont blame ya one bit. Thats the point im getting to on my tank

My original. Basically I swapped the places of the skimmer and pump as well as made the pump section to the size of the pump, roughly 5 in. This making the baffles for them a different configuration. Will this be an issue? I know there are different setups just not if this one is operable
 

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