10 gal sump for 30 gal tank

[bensoo00]

Hello! I have 2 aqueon tanks, 10 and 30 gal. I want to make a sump out of the 10 and use the 30. I have a sump kit so the construction of it is ok, but I am confused on the plumbing as well as where to drill a hole on the 30 gallon, and what supplies I will need for this to not explode. I have watched many videos but it’s a lot to digest so any advice would help!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Hi, I drilled my first tank in April, it was a 40 breeder, it worked out perfectly. Even though I have no DIY knowledge or experience, it was much easier than I thought it would be.

I suggest to get the overflow box as the first thing, and work it backwards.

Decide where you want your overflow (mine is in the back glass center of the tank) and thats where you drill the drain hole, then you can drill the return hole where you want (mine is about 8" to the side of the overflow). From the hole you can measure how much tubing you need to get to the sump and back up again.

The overflow should come with a drill guide, a drill bit, and the bulkhead, so you will need to buy another bulkhead for the return. Like I said, start with the overflow, its a good starting point.

 

[fishyjoes]

I have a 20 gallon long display with a 10 gallon sump. I got the fiji cube 600 gph overflow kit which came with the proper drill bit, bulkhead, and gaskets.
The main thing to know for the drilling is to use a guide of some sort, keep the area wet, and don't put a lot of pressure.
For the return I just use an inverted "U" shape hard plastic piece that hooks over the top so I only had to drill once.

 

[Shon]

Even with the kits that come with a drill template, it may not be where you want your water line. At least, that was the case with the eshopps mediums and small that I used.



This is a pair of 29g aqueons. The unpainted one on top was my first drill. The water line was lower below the trim than where I wanted it.



Turning the template sideways and the internal overflow would have been too high.



I had to adjust the template and that worked perfectly. Put the internal overflow in about where you want it, and use a marker to mark the lowest spot of the bulkhead on the glass. Line the template up and tape it. The template was on the trim and had a bit of an angle, but painters tape held it where it needed to be and drilling was easy.

 

[bensoo00]

I have a 20 gallon long display with a 10 gallon sump. I got the fiji cube 600 gph overflow kit which came with the proper drill bit, bulkhead, and gaskets.
The main thing to know for the drilling is to use a guide of some sort, keep the area wet, and don't put a lot of pressure.
For the return I just use an inverted "U" shape hard plastic piece that hooks over the top so I only had to drill once.

How do you know what size hole to drill and then what gph return pump to get? I’m planning to drill a hole on the bottom so I can let gravity do it’s thing, but I’m unsure how big of a hole to drill.

 

[fishyjoes]

How do you know what size hole to drill and then what gph return pump to get? I’m planning to drill a hole on the bottom so I can let gravity do it’s thing, but I’m unsure how big of a hole to drill.

The overflow I got came with the bulkhead and drill bit - search amazon for "fiji cube low profile external overflow box" to see what I mean (I tried putting a link but it didn't appear to work correctly). I got the 600 gph version because I wanted two drain pipes (one full siphon, one emergency - I forget the common name for that setup)

If you're just going to make your own overflow using regular plumbing parts you can probably use any size you want unless you want really high flow, then you might need larger pipes.

As for the return pump, I got a sicce 0.5 based on the "head height" (height difference between the bottom of my sump and top of my display) - I think I get about 60gph through the sump which is fine for me. I use wave makers to get flow in the display.

 

[bensoo00]

The overflow I got came with the bulkhead and drill bit - search amazon for "fiji cube low profile external overflow box" to see what I mean (I tried putting a link but it didn't appear to work correctly). I got the 600 gph version because I wanted two drain pipes (one full siphon, one emergency - I forget the common name for that setup)

If you're just going to make your own overflow using regular plumbing parts you can probably use any size you want unless you want really high flow, then you might need larger pipes.

As for the return pump, I got a sicce 0.5 based on the "head height" (height difference between the bottom of my sump and top of my display) - I think I get about 60gph through the sump which is fine for me. I use wave makers to get flow in the display.

Do you think it'd be a wise idea to just DIY the entire overflow box? I can get an acrylic box of the exact dimensions of the one I'm looking at, and I can also get the correct diamond drill bit and bulkhead fittings to emulate the entire thing. I am just unsure of how high the hole I'm drilling should be.

 

[fishyjoes]

Do you think it'd be a wise idea to just DIY the entire overflow box? I can get an acrylic box of the exact dimensions of the one I'm looking at, and I can also get the correct diamond drill bit and bulkhead fittings to emulate the entire thing. I am just unsure of how high the hole I'm drilling should be.

I personally wouldn't attempt it because I'm not confident I could make a nice looking end product. If you want to give it a shot I'd say go ahead though, that's a part of the hobby some people enjoy and there's nothing wrong with either decision.

As for how high to drill the hole - that depends on the placement of your weirs. If you're making your own overflow you can just drill wherever and size the overflow exactly the height you need to get the water level where you want it.

If you get an overflow kit you decide based on the distance from the bulkhead to the weirs. The water level will be a bit above the bottom of the weir (mine is about 1/4 inch above).

Here are a couple of pictures of my overflow showing the water level from above and below. You can see a little bit of the bulkhead in the second picture sticking out from behind the overflow.

 

[Reef By Steele Verified Sponsor]

My biggest issue with DIY is the weirs. Takes a fair amount of skill to carve (router) the weirs in to make them look perfect.

As for drilling the bottom, that is what I did on my Frag system. You can see it here. Under my personal account @HankstankXXL750

Frag Build - 200 gallon frag system

I recently decided to QT my corals. Tired of hitchhikers and concerned about bringing in disease. So I bought a 75g from petco 1/2 price and also converted 1 of my 20’s and 1 of my 40B. I have fragged my tank once and placed them in the sump compartment in my S1000, but they are hard to see and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bensoo00]

My biggest issue with DIY is the weirs. Takes a fair amount of skill to carve (router) the weirs in to make them look perfect.

As for drilling the bottom, that is what I did on my Frag system. You can see it here. Under my personal account @HankstankXXL750

Frag Build - 200 gallon frag system

I recently decided to QT my corals. Tired of hitchhikers and concerned about bringing in disease. So I bought a 75g from petco 1/2 price and also converted 1 of my 20’s and 1 of my 40B. I have fragged my tank once and placed them in the sump compartment in my S1000, but they are hard to see and...

www.reef2reef.com

I actually ended building the whole thing a day or two after this post and it’s been running awesome since then. I did have a problem with the weirs but thank god my pump is adjustable haha!