scottayy's cheap DIY sump thread

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Very interesting. So it looks like a 3/4" pipe would only be turning my 55 gallon tank over 3-5 times per hour. That is fine with me.. it is better than my single emperor 280 I have running.

I will have to do some math when getting my return pump. And a ball valve or two to control flows.

This should be interesting.
 
LOL, I gotta say I am lost. And for the record, I'm not a dumb girl, but I just don't get this gph and pipe diameter stuff. I'll keep reading along, who knows it may just click. :-D
 
Me neither carey, but as long as the return pump can handle the maximum this unit can drain it will be fine. And having some ball valves to control the flow is insurance.

I updated with pictures of the box that will be receiving water. I attached a small container to where the water will come in.

This way gravity will feed the water through the filter cartridge or sponge or whatever i decide to put in there to remove particles. Obviously it'll have to be cut to size.

The inside container has the bottom cut out so water will flow down into the big container. There is 2 3/4" bushings to make the DIY bulkhead, attached to a 3/4" pvc pipe and a pvc elbow to receive water from the overflow box.
 
For the small container that goes inside the bigger container, may use slits instead of just a big hole to hold the filter media up. Less chance of water pushing the media through and it'll prob provide more structural support
 
no a 1" pipe only does abour 300 gph if you want even 600 you need about a 3" pump look here Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sumps, Part III by Greg Taylor - Reefkeeping.com

scroll down to Drain Hole Placement Size

According to the link you posted a 3" pipe does 5500gph not 600

I use an eshopps 800 which handles 800gph with a 1" pipe

I use this site for pipe size/flow rates
GPM/GPH Flow based on PVC Pipe Size, ie, How much water can flow through Sch 40 Pvc Pipe Size 1/2" 3/4" 1" 1.5" 2" 2.5" 3" 4" 6"
 
OK, i made the skimmer, pics in original post.

I cut the lips off the container and lid and cut teeth. I had to silicone on the lid of the container for stability because it was quite flimsy. I will probably either get a clear tube or hide this with rocks as the red is quite ugly LOL.

Dont use a colour hose/tube,you need to be able to see if any bubbles are accumilating in it.
 
Thanks guys. Feel free to make suggestions or tell me if I'm doing anything wrong. I'm just doing what i think is right.

Added picture of overflow box. I made a DIY bulkhead with 2 3/4" bushings and silicone around the edges. Then there's a piece of pvc pipe with an elbow. I have a hole cut in the top for the siphon tubing and another hole for air relief.

These containers may be too small.. we'll have to see. I think as long as it is draining and I have the siphon flow adjusted right it will be ok.

I still don't have an idea for hanging the overflow box on the back of the tank. I could use suction cups but that will look awful cutting through the background.

I'm done until tomorrow... tiring day

As Henry has said,use some sort of clamp,dont use suction cups.Have you never seen a heater or air line or even a power head ever loose suction,I have.
 
Thanks for the tips guys.

I'll get a clear hose. Unfortunately I had that one cut so I won't be able to return it (that'll up my project cost).

I have an idea for holding the overflow box, but clamps just seem so much easier, lol. I'll probably get some of those. I could clamp the inside box and outside box together with the same clamps.

I will also probably use some clamps on the containers I'm gluing together right now. The silicone seals will be less likely to break if they're held together. The edges of the containers come together at a /\ shape.. kind of hard to let silicone alone hold that seal.
 
For the small container that goes inside the bigger container, may use slits instead of just a big hole to hold the filter media up. Less chance of water pushing the media through and it'll prob provide more structural support

I left a one inch.. lip? .. on the bottom of the smaller container, so the media won't get pushed through. If it does I could always get a hard plastic mesh to sit there. The structure is fine right there also because the smaller container is held in between the pipe fittings and sealed on both sides.

Slits would be a good idea. I wish I would've thought of that before I started gluing the containers together. I kind of don't want to cut hard plastic now because I'll risk having to re-glue them.
 
Very interesting. So it looks like a 3/4" pipe would only be turning my 55 gallon tank over 3-5 times per hour. That is fine with me.. it is better than my single emperor 280 I have running.

I will have to do some math when getting my return pump. And a ball valve or two to control flows.

This should be interesting.

only put a valve on the return,unless your drain pipe is going to run to a T piece then you can put a valve on one of the legs only(not before the T)
Also any valve needs to have a bore size the same or greater than the pipe.
 
only put a valve on the return,unless your drain pipe is going to run to a T piece then you can put a valve on one of the legs only(not before the T)
Also any valve needs to have a bore size the same or greater than the pipe.

I was thinking of cutting the hose and putting a valve in-between it, hooked on with some hose clamps :|

Stupid idea?

This would allow me to control the siphon flow
 
Don't most people paint their tube black anyways to avoid algae?

I was thinking the same exact thing as soon as I read the clear tube comment. I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen somebody say to not use a clear hose. Clear hoses allow light through, which then lets algea grow. I've seen some pretty nasty tubes... :nono:
 
What kind of clamps would you guys recommend? Spring clamps would be ugly and I can't find any plastic c-clamps unless I order them online, which I don't want to do cuz it would take a long time. :p
 
If you dont want clamps, a possible solution would be some kind of hook system. Kinda like the eshopps overflow
 
Do you already have an overflow? Also, I thought some HOB overflows are connected. Two boxes, one inside the tank, one outside, connected by some acrylic in between. Like so:
img_1325421_0_6ef1a688667a2b9c36dec3bf869331aa.png


Green is the tank glass/acrylic. Grey is the overflow. Red is the U-Tube.

That's just what I picture an overflow to be. Otherwise, I have no clue to the clamps. Sorry, wish I could help you out a little more =/
 
Ah, no worries. Off topic: No paint? Must not be windows then.

Anyways... just waiting for scottayy to tell us what he thinks. =) No rush though.
 
Yes hillage, that is how my overflow is going to be. The one on the inside is the one with teeth, and the one without will be on the outside. All of the pictures are in the original first post. :)

I have found some clamps that I am going to use.

I connected my sump containers. Had to do it in a U shape because of size restraints. It's still going to be really close to not fitting in my stand. That would suck.

I have the water coming in through filter media, then filling up box 1 and exiting to the right, then filling box 2 and exiting to the right (this was cut lower so the water would flow down), and then into box 3 and up through the pump.

Right now I just have them silicone'd together. Tomorrow I'm going to run another bead of silicone along the edges and then clamp them together.
 
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