Sump for 55g FOWLR

[Flaxon-Waxon]

A 10 gallon tank won't fit under my current stand... Would a 5 gallon be feasible/too small/even worth it?? Do I even really need a sump with FOWLR?

 

[aadair22]

On my 55g I wanted a 20g but wouldn't fit, and I wanted more water volume than the 10g would give me. So I bought a 13g trash can from Walmart, drilled a hole at the top and put a bulk head in there.. Tank empties into the trash can then my 10g refugium.. Maybe you can do something like that?

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Ok I may be able to tuck a 10 under there... Just a question about that, regardless of size. I have a HOB reef octopus BH-1000. If I can elevate the sump high enough to have clearance, can I use a HOB in a sump??

 

[aadair22]

Don't see why you couldn't.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

<---tagging along! My tank is 56 gallons and I've been researching sumps as well to build. That sounds like a great idea!

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Nice welcome aboard lol My plan is a 10 gallon, 2 chamber, and I'm going to be running a
pump line for a dual reactor from the return side. I'm still researching plans...

 

[nikki_kaiser]

Very nice! I'm building a new cabinet now for my aquarium now so I can have room for a nice size sump in the future. Eventually I want a bigger tank so went with that in mind but for now I was thinking a 20 gallon sump. I'm not drilling my tank though and while I'm decent with building things, I'm a little nervous about the sump for some reason. I think mainly because my tank is upstairs and an overflow would be VERY BAD! I'm still researching. how do you know what size return pump to buy?

 

[aadair22]

Well obviously depends on how fast your water is going to your sump lol. What are you using for an overflow? Usually if you buy an overflow box they are rated for so many gph. I built a PVC overflow so I just had to kind of guess.. I had a pump laying around from a while ago and I think with the head pressure it pumps around 500gph.. My overflow couldn't actually keep up with, so
I had to put a ball valve on the return.

I should not that I'm kind of just experimenting with this whole trash can thing.. My biggest concern right now is keeping it clean, so far haven't had any problems.

 

[aadair22]

Also, if you do it right and leave enough room in your sump, the only way you will overflow is if your overflow box loses its siphon.. I haven't had any problems with loss of siphon and have simulated power outages to test it

 

[rilesjr44]

Hey guys I would like to give my 2 cents lol I had the same questions as you did so after researching I found that for a lot of people hob or canister filters do work but I went with the sump and added a refugium I have a fowlr so I wanted a natural filter. To do that instead of spending tons of money on a new stand that will fit a sump and a tank that is reef ready I used my 60gal fresh water tank drilled a hole in the back for my over used an old 30gal for my sump/fuge and built a stand and canopy for 100$ total and it was fun also lol. Here's some pics.