diy sump

[waelaase]

dear all,
i'm going tomake a sump for my tank
i need the best and easy DIY sump
and what to put in
and the design for the overflow (has no hole in my tank)
thanx

[fishfreek]

i need the best and easy DIY sump

Clear rubbermaid tote from walmart. Find one that does not have any holes in it or if there are holes they are only in the handle area and make sure not to fill it above that point or to seal the holes with sylicon.

what to put in

What ever you want but it could include a skimmer, heater and any other accessories that woudl other wise hang on the tank.

the design for the overflow

You could DIY yourself an overflow. Check the DIY forum for that. Or you could look around your local stores for a "U" tube overflow. These would be overflows that use a round tube in the shape of a U to pull the water up out of the tank into the overflow unit.

Once water is in the sump you will need a powerful pump to push the water backup to your tank thru a return line.

[waelaase]

thanx for fast reply
i decided to DIY it cause here in egypt its hard to buy these things and its very expensive to ship it from other country
what i need now
1- a link to a simple but good DIY sump with pics and diagrams
2- i'm afraid of water if the power goes off and on again (if any links for diagrams to understand)
thanx anyway for help
bye

[fishfreek]

The trick to not have a flood when the power goes out is to properly size the sump and to not fill it beyond the 'safe fill level'.

A sump should not run at full water capacity but instead it should run at some level below full capacity so when power goes out any water that is still being drained out of the tank will be held and any water that back syphons down the return lines will be contained. To limit how much is back syphoned you can drill holes just below the normal water line in the return so as air can be introduced into the hose and the syphon will stop. The overflow will stop draining the tank once the water level is below the overflow lip.

If you go simple there is not much to it other than an overflow hanging on the tank. It drains into the sump on one end. a pump is on the other side of the sump to return water back. The plumbing is kind of up to you and how you want to run it. If you get more advanced then you can try to partion out the sump into seperate compartments, etc.

Check our DIY forum as there is alot of info on sumps and overflow there.

[waelaase]

thanx
but another question
sorry for bother
when the power goes back
what make the plumb from tank move water again to the sump as it filled with water
thanx again

[fishfreek]

The overflow will start the syphon up automaticly again if the U tube has remained full of water. This is accomplished by haveing the overflow designed so that both ends of the U tube stay submerged under the water even when the power it cut. When power comes back the pump in the sump will start pumping water back into the tank. The water level will rase until its at a point that the water starts flowing back into the overflow unit. FRom there the syphon will start up again and will flow the water back down to the sump compleating the circle.

[Brisc0]

If your building it yourself, consult this page its a wealth of information on building sumps, fuges, overflows.
http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html