Awesome idea -> Stand sump

[Sillyfishies]

So today I was thinking about plywood aquariums, when something hit me... what if you lined the inside of your stand with plywood, and make it about half the height of the stand. You seal it with the pond liner stuff, and you have your self a sump. You could have doors above the sump so you can still get to everything.

 

[Mebbid]

Not too shabby of an idea.

 

[Sillyfishies]

It would get you maximum use of space, also. Which would be nice with cube tanks and the like

 

[dylan p]

Pond liner doesn't work to good we had a pond liner in a plywood alligator pond at a pet store I used to work at and within a month it would leak. I had to re build It 4 times b4 we finally gave up on it I used a couple different pond liners and the outcome was always the same. If I were you I would fiber glass the hole inside and epoxy with the stuff they use for boats. You will also want to reinforce the stand because now you won't only have weight pushing down but on the sides also


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[Sillyfishies]

Pond liner doesn't work to good we had a pond liner in a plywood alligator pond at a pet store I used to work at and within a month it would leak. I had to re build It 4 times b4 we finally gave up on it I used a couple different pond liners and the outcome was always the same. If I were you I would fiber glass the hole inside and epoxy with the stuff they use for boats. You will also want to reinforce the stand because now you won't only have weight pushing down but on the sides also


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I was talking about the liquid pond liner that is commonly used in plywood aquariums

 

[Bktgifridays]

I was talking about the liquid pond liner that is commonly used in plywood aquariums

I don't want to sound like a ....jerk, but even if the OP was referring to rubber sheet pond liner, the wear and tear from an "alligator pond" vs a sump would be drastically different! Can't imagine any knowledgeable fish/and/or/reptile ceeper thinking that using a sheet of pond liner would suffice to house alligators!! ....claws/daggers!

 

[Bktgifridays]

By the way....I think your idea is awesome! Make it happen and post pics!!

 

[Brookster123]

Sounds good on paper! I'm listening. .

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[dylan p]

I actually found that to be pretty rude.. This was my old bosses decision not mine... That being said we also had a koi pond made of the same material that also had similar problems.. It was a rubber liner not a liquid liner and I'm not sure what difference it makes but I'm just telling my experience


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[Sniperhank]

Cool concept, but I'd be worried about not being able to access what was under the tank. Now, if one made a stand double the width of your tank for example...with what was under the tank empty for storing food, equipment, whatever and have a dividing wall between the two halves. You could then have the 'back half' set up as a plywood style sump setup if you wanted.
Personally, that is a ton more work that putting a plastic horse trough behind your tank.

 

[Bktgifridays]

I actually found that to be pretty rude.. This was my old bosses decision not mine... That being said we also had a koi pond made of the same material that also had similar problems.. It was a rubber liner not a liquid liner and I'm not sure what difference it makes but I'm just telling my experience

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Sorry you found my comment "rude". It is inconsequential. The OP is not thinking of using sheet pond liner. And I do agree that fiberglass and epoxy resin would be best. Liquid pond liner as far as I have researched is similar. All I was stating is that IMHO rubber pond liners and clawed aquatic reptiles spells DISASTER(no matter who's idea it is/was). Although it WOULD be quite possible to use this material under a stand as a sump.

 

[dylan p]

Thank you for the apology. I've never heard of liquid pond liner so I guess I'm not of much assistance. I can say that if this is going to be under a large aquarium your going to want to reinforce it with more then just plywood. If it were me I wouldn't want to risk the whole thing coming down


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[Sillyfishies]

Cool concept, but I'd be worried about not being able to access what was under the tank. Now, if one made a stand double the width of your tank for example...with what was under the tank empty for storing food, equipment, whatever and have a dividing wall between the two halves. You could then have the 'back half' set up as a plywood style sump setup if you wanted.
Personally, that is a ton more work that putting a plastic horse trough behind your tank.

I completely agree that it would be easier to just have a stock tank in another location. However, some of us don't have rooms nearby we can put one in.

I currently already have a sump on my saltwater, and I have another sump for my frag tank ill be setting up. I'm not planning on using it, but I thought it was a good idea and worth sharing.

 

[PB_Smith]

On paper it sounds good, but I fear in practice it wouldn't be as convenient.

What if you need to clean the sump? could be a hassle over just taking it outside to clean.
Then what if it does leak? Major hassle to fix and may be cause to take the tank down while repairs are made.

Then how many folks actually are 100% happy with their initial set-up?
We all end up tweaking this, moving that, etc. with the sump integrated into the stand, it will greatly limit future "tweaking".

In my years of experience keeping fish, I think the "all-in-one" solutions are usually not a good way to go.
Individual components that can easily be swapped out/cleaned/repaired are always better and more reliable than all-in-one setups.

 

[mr_X]

I do like my sumps off of the ground a bit so you can create a siphon to vacuum it out if need be. Hard to do when it's on the floor. This is why I always tried to get around a sump in the stand. I prefer a "display" sump beside the main display. The amazing amount of life in a refugium can be quite entertaining.