10 gallon sump?

[first-timer89]

I have been reading over the forms and could not find any info on this type of a project. My question is, can I put a 10 gallon tank under my 20 and put my protean skimmer, filter, and heater in it? I cant drill my 20 gallon. The reason for the 10 gallon idea is to add water volume and hide my protean skimmer, filter, and heater. How would I get the water from the 20 to the 10 and then back in to the 20 again? This is my first sump-like project.

TIA

 

[BillyZ]

your reasons for a sump, are 90% of the thereoy behind having a sump at all (therefore a good idea )

What you want to find is a Hang On overflow. Its sort of a plastic box that hangs on the back of the tank and has a syphon line in it that drains water from box in the tank to a box outside the tank. The water then drains from that outside box down into your sump. To get the water back, you simply use a pump that will pump the water back up to your tank.

Take a look at this recent thread for a lot of answers to your questions:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=33440

 

[jaiden]

just be careful in sizing your baffles. you want to do calculations so that if the siphon breaks in your overflow, the pump in the sump will run dry before the main tank overflows. You also want enough spare volume in the tank so that if the pump fails, the sump won't overflow.

 

[first-timer89]

would the sump need to be divided or could it just be plain with the heater and filters in-between the pump and inlet?

 

[jaiden]

sumps never have to be divided, but the reasons to do so are as follows:

1) constant water level in a part of the sump. This can be important depending on what equipment you run

2) stable environment in said part to allow for the cunstruction of a fuge.

3) bubble blocking baffles to keep your tank looking pretty.

but any sump is better than none, since at least you get the additional volume and get the mess out of your tank.