5 gallon sump challenge?

[MoshJosh]

Lets say you wanted to make a 5 gallon bucket sump. . . for no other reason than to say you did. . . how would you do it.

Obviously this wouldn't work on a tank of significant volume. . . but 20 gallons or less seems doable. . .

My idea would be filter sock holder on the rim, heater and skimmer in first "chamber", filter foam divider, then return pump and ATO float valve. . .

I feel like the ATO would need to be on point or you would want a solid baffle in the middle to ensure you didn't melt the bucket with the heater. . .

I saw a picture of one ounce. . . but It kinda looked more like a canister filter that sump. . . anyway. . . how would you do it?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

A 10g tank would be better but...
5 gallon bucket challenge it is.
1) don't over think it.
2) drain pipe into a sock, don't even need a sock holder, a large zip tie will do.
3) a short preset heater 100-150w Don't worry about melting the bucket, I throw a 100w to warm up the water in a bucket all the time.
4) Sicce 3.0 pump, high volume, small footprint, great head pressure will allow you to run through a chiller.
5) Eshopps Nano skimmer, it is really a great skimmer I am running them on two tanks right now.
6) Chunks of live rock rubble or ceramic media in the bottom.
7) No ATO, draw a line and hand fill

Cost:
Bucket $4
Sock $10
Heater $15
Sicce 3.0 $100
Skimmer $140
Rock or media $25
So just under $300 but for a extra $6 with the $1 gallon sale you can go to a 10g tank.
But if you are super lazy or "efficient " you can buy another bucket, mix your water in that ,and switch out buckets for your weekly water change.

 

[MoshJosh]

A 10g tank would be better but...
5 gallon bucket challenge it is.
1) don't over think it.
2) drain pipe into a sock, don't even need a sock holder, a large zip tie will do.
3) a short preset heater 100-150w
4) Sicce 3.0 pump, high volume, small footprint, great head pressure will allow you to run through a chiller.
5) Eshopps Nano skimmer, it is really a great skimmer I am running them on two tanks right now.
6) Chunks of live rock rubble or ceramic media in the bottom.
7) No ATO, draw a line and hand fill

Cost:
Bucket $4
Sock $10
Heater $15
Sicce 3.0 $100
Skimmer $140
Rock or media $25
So just under $300 but for a extra $6 with the $1 gallon sale you can go to a 10g tank.
But if you are super lazy or "efficient " you can buy another bucket, mix your water in that ,and switch out buckets for your weekly water change.

Very efficient!!!

 

[MoshJosh]

All right, so decided to go with a glass tank, then proceeded to break two of them (technically the glass shop broke one), then was going to go with an external overflow, THEN didn’t wanna waste the parts I had so here we are.

Will sit above tank and overflow back into the tank.

 

[Koh23]

so, you will have pump in tank, pumping water UP, then it will drain from "sump" back into tank?

disaster waiting to happen...

If your drain line clogged from any reason, there is flood

 

[MoshJosh]

Yeah, the pump will sit behind an overflow, and there will be 2 returns just in case. . . Fingers crossed haha

but in theory, in the event that both returns clogged, the overflow would run dry, killing the pump, but preventing a flood (well preventing a big flood).

 

[Koh23]

Ah, there is in tank owerflow to limit amount of water available to pump....

Then ok, its way safer than just pump sitting in the bottom of display tank

My bad....

 

[MoshJosh]

Yeah, not the most elegant of systems, but I don’t have to drill anymore glass, or buy any more tanks ha ha. I went with the above Tank route for a few reasons though, obviously the drilling, but also because it will let more pods into the tank, and it means I can fill the bucket higher and not worry about the heater going dry, as the buckets water level will stay consistent.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

There is nothing wrong with having a filter above your tank! This is a surge filter I built. Two chamber bell siphon, about 2 gallons each. A Sicce 3.0 runs down to a chiller then up over the filter. Tank was a clear for life 10g and I made the chambers out of scraps from a plastic store.

 

[Sean Clark]

There is nothing wrong with having a filter above your tank! This is a surge filter I built. Two chamber bell siphon, about 2 gallons each. A Sicce 3.0 runs down to a chiller then up over the filter. Tank was a clear for life 10g and I made the chambers out of scraps from a plastic store.

What is in the middle chamber? Kelp?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

What is in the middle chamber? Kelp?

Yes! The middle chamber is kinda a refugium in a way. I live close to the water, so once a week I will grab a few pieces, a bit goes into the display and the rest goes up top and I will take from there. Any Zooplankton or Phytoplankton will then incubate there and make their way down to the DT.

 

[sfin52]

What bucket did you use

 

[ChiCity]

What bucket did you use

 

[sfin52]

That's funny

 

[MoshJosh]

I started with the KFC bucket, the corals loved the leftover chicken crumbs and grew super fast. But after a while the bucket got a bit soggy. . .

But for real I just used a food safe bucket from Home Depot.

 

[sfin52]

I started with the KFC bucket, the corals loved the leftover chicken crumbs and grew super fast. But after a while the bucket got a bit soggy. . .

But for real I just used a food safe bucket from Home Depot.

Did you use bulkheads or uniseals?

 

[MoshJosh]

I used 3/4 Bulkheads.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

But if you are super lazy or "efficient " you can buy another bucket, mix your water in that ,and switch out buckets for your weekly water change.

Just reread the post... This last line here is genius! I say that because I spent a good part of the day doing water changes on my tanks...
Sometimes I even impress myself... LOL

 

[sfin52]

I used 3/4 Bulkheads.

Thanks.

 

[Troylee]

So the 10g tanks you drilled and broke were display tanks? Not sure why, you’d be drilling a sump tank.. either way it’s easy to do or just buy a hob overflow box and use a regular sump if you have problems drilling them. I mean the bucket works I guess but space is so limited it wouldn’t be worth my time lol.. but I’m the king of diy sooooo….