DIY easy sump

[dromo2189]

Hello I was looking at adding a sump for my 65 gallon tank. I was wondering what size i should go with? Is a 20 gallon a good size? Also what's the easiest way to doing it? Like do I need the pieces of glass inside? Thank you ahead of time

[Sniperhank]

The largest sump is the best size that you can get. In terms of easy, it can be whatever you want. It doesn't even have to be another glass aquarium, even the plastic reservoirs that are graded for holding water can work. When I upgrade my system, I want to use one of the plastic horse troughs you can find at trader supply and such in my sump setup.

[dromo2189]

And can I just hook up my protein skimmer and heater to it?

[Sniperhank]

You don't hook them up to it. A sump is simply an additional body of water aside from the display tank used to house any additional equipment you don't want in the display.

[dromo2189]

Okay so I can have them running in there though so my main tank looks cleaner

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, that is one of the main purposes of a sump.

[dromo2189]

Okay perfect is there a certain kind of pump I should be looking for to carry the water down to the sump and back to the main tank?

[Sniperhank]

You need to know how much gallons per hour your overflow is rated at to know how big of a pump you will need. Pumps need to be rated at a higher GPH than the overflow, so a gate valve can be plumbed after the pump and they can be matched perfectly.