Suggestion for 40 gallon breeder sump

[MikeWho]

I am new to this site and hope to receive some helpful feedback. I recently started a 40 gallon breeder saltwater tank. I have forty pounds of rock, 30 pounds of sand and it is just a predator tank right now. I am running a 75 gallon mechanical filter on it right now, because my friend had it laying around. I know i need better filtration and want to hide my heater, uv sterilizer, and get rid of the hang on the back filter. So, I am thinking of a DIY sump. I would like to want size tank would be best for the sump, supplies needed, and a diagram/instructions if you could provide them for me. I know I'm asking for a lot but I have researched it and find a lot of them expensive and not well discribed. If you could help it would be appricaited.

Thanks!

 

[goisles1]

I am new to this site and hope to receive some helpful feedback. I recently started a 40 gallon breeder saltwater tank. I have forty pounds of rock, 30 pounds of sand and it is just a predator tank right now. I am running a 75 gallon mechanical filter on it right now, because my friend had it laying around. I know i need better filtration and want to hide my heater, uv sterilizer, and get rid of the hang on the back filter. So, I am thinking of a DIY sump. I would like to want size tank would be best for the sump, supplies needed, and a diagram/instructions if you could provide them for me. I know I'm asking for a lot but I have researched it and find a lot of them expensive and not well discribed. If you could help it would be appricaited.

Thanks!

For the size of the sump, the common answer will be.. As big as you can get under your tank. I've got a 45Gal tank with a 10gal Sump. However, I'm already upgrading to a 20GL tank.

There is a great article about Sumps that gets posted everytime these questions come up. I'll find it and add it to my reply.

But basically.. As Sump can have MANY different configurations.. My new one will have a section for the water coming down from the tank, then a return section for the water pumped back to the tank and a refugium.

 

[MikeWho]

Thanks for the insight. I think I'm going with a 10 gallon for now. I was thinking of a three section sump. First part being water from tank going into a section with sand and some live rock, then to refugium (right?), and then a pump section to go back to tank. Does that sound like a good idea. Also i don't get how the siphon works in the overflow box. Do you need a regulator that only allows a certain amount of water to the sump? If you could explain that clearly that would be helpful.

 

[goisles1]

Might be tough to partition a 10gal like that.. But I'm sure it can be done.

My current 10Gal is not partitioned.

My 20 Gal will have the first section with Water from the tank and maybe some LR, Second section will be the return pump back to the Tank. On the return line back, I added a T and will let some of the return water into the 3rd section of the sump which will be my refugium. The refugium will overflow back into the middle section.

I already have the T and ball valves added and I'm just letting the water back into my current 10gal sump. I added this because my return pump is too powerful for my overflow and I didn't want to burn out the pump by limiting it's flow too much. It also makes Water changes a breeze. I just move the 2nd return line into a bucket and open the valve. I remove 5gals of sump water without ever needing to siphon from the main tank.

For the overflow, you need to get a pump that can handle the amount of water leaving the tank. My Overflow is a DIY one made out of 3/4'PVC and my return pump is a Mag-7. If I let that run full blast back to the tank, I would overflow the display tank. I had to play with it a bit to get it all in sync, but now it works great. I limit the retun flow back to the tank and use the second line to take the stress off the pump. I'll try to get a picture for you.

 

[austinsdad]

CAn you go bigger than a 10G? More water volume always means better system overall IMO. What's the biggest you can fit? At least try a 20g.

 

[MikeWho]

I can go with a 20g, I have yet to purchase the supplies. I would go with the long obviously. I think the 20g long would be about as big as i could go. Goisles1, you said in a previous post you had a good site to reference, do you think you could post that? Austinsdad, if you have any good diagrams or instructions that would be helpful. Right now I'm trying to find the best and most economical way to do this. Thanks!

 

[goisles1]

I bought my 20L at Petco last week. If your a PetPAL member, or whatever they call it, this tank is currently on sale. I think I paid $30 with tax. I saved like $9

Here are some good Sump pages...

This is a great site showing MANY different ways to do it. He fabs evertrhing himself from Acrylic which is NOT what we want. But, he discusses Sumps in detail.. Great site!
Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums

Here is another GREAT writeup on SUMPS:

Reefkeeping 101 – Sumps! by Marc Levenson - Reefkeeping.com


For my project, I'm having alot of trouble getting my local glass shop to cut me my baffles. I called yesterday, and the dude was all... Come on Down. So, I throw the tank in my truck, drive down, and the lady says they are aout to lunch for the next 3 hours... WHOA??

So I go back around 4pm, and she says they are too busy now.

I just called again today, and the guy said they are swamped..maybe tomorrow..I may just go down to HomeDepot and do them in Acrylic. I'd prefer glass though

EDIT:

Hey.. I also found a PIC of my current 10gal sump. Here it is.. No comments on the ghetto stand please. My wife actually sewed a really nice BLACK curtain that hides this (see the velcro).

-To the left is my HOB Skimmer (AquaC Remora Pro).. Lot's of good skim in the trap ey?
-The HOB filter in the back is an Old AC500. It's just loaded with LR rubble and a 100ml bag of Purigen(just added)
-Overflow from Tank has the Large Filter Sock on it. I'm thinking of ditching this when I go with the larger sump. I have to clean it weekly
-Mag-7 return pump is in that little Box. I bought it at Walmart for $.99. I initially was going to just throw in all the LR rubble into the 10g tank so I was protecting the pump. I ended up using the AC500 instead. On the return, you can see the two valves. One line goes back to the tank, and the other right back to the sump (has the block dot on it). I did NOT cement this part so I can move it around. When I do a water change, I just close the valve, point the line out of the sump into my pail, then open the valve. I empty 5gal and still have enough water in the sump to keep the two pumps going. I will use this line to fill/feed the refugium section of the new 20L sump.
- MAsking Tape is just my MAX Fill Line for when I top off. Youknow, so the Sump wont overflow if my Pump was to ever fail.

 

[austinsdad]

I went to the link above and did find a nice one for an in sump skimmer install.

Melevsreef.com - DIY Glass Sump & Refugium