Ideas for a tall rather than wide sump?

[MTWiley]

I picked up a couple of tanks off of craigslist yesterday for a bargain(a 150 gallon on top of a 50 gallon)


They came with a combined ~30 gallon sump/filter, but because of it's size and the design of the plumbing it has to go on the outside of the stand like this:



I'd like to make a new sump/filter with a different design that would allow us to keep everything in/under the stand, and there's a 12"w x 12"d x ~40"h space on each side of the 50 gallon tank that's currently going to waste. My idea was to use that space or a portion of it for a new custom built sump or two for either one or both of the tanks. We're going to try to keep discus in the top 150 and start a 50 gallon reef/sw tank in the 50. Do you guys think this will be possible? I can build a new stand if I need to, but it kind of seems like a waste not to use this one if I can build something that will work with it.

[BigJim]

Can you make a two-piece sump, maybe two 12"x12"x15" pieces, and stack them?

[MTWiley]

That might be a possibility.

[Fastfossil]

This is going to be a good one I here
Keep us updated

[mfdrookie516]

The logical thing, IMO, would be to use the bottom tank as a sump.

[MTWiley]

Convinced my girlfriend to do just that. I might be building an ATO for that space now though.

[SAAVE853]

Going salt?

[MTWiley]

Yep, FOWLR for a couple months while I save up another $700 for the lights to go reef.