Sump design critique

CaCrimson · Jan 30, 2013

Thank you! :wink:

danka-cedium said:
I like it.

ReeferBob · Jan 31, 2013

This looks great now! Post pics when completed.

whixley101 · Jan 31, 2013

Looks very similar to mine, but..... 2.0! It should work like a jewel!!

CaCrimson · Jan 31, 2013

Thank you for all of your help ReeferBob! I will definitely post pictures of my build thread. I hope you'll be able to watch the progress. If I only knew what I was getting into ($$$$) when I started! haha

ReeferBob said:
This looks great now! Post pics when completed.

Thank you for your confidence in the design. I am so happy the design got to point that others have confidence in it as well!

whixley101 said:
Looks very similar to mine, but..... 2.0! It should work like a jewel!!

ReeferBob · Feb 1, 2013

Yeah I think ultimately you will have more $$ in this then just buying one. But you get the experience of the build and the exact measurements you want. I just hope it fits where you want to put it. I bought a sump once and almost couldn't get it under my stand. I did but it took some serious massaging.

CaCrimson · Feb 1, 2013

Yes, I got a quote for $275, for a standard polish. It just occurred to me that my dimensions are basically the same as a 20H, which they have at Petco. I was thinking of just getting the 20H and taking it to a glass shop and having them silicone in the baffles for me. It would not be as nice as a custom rimless sump, but for $50 total, I can't complain. It's out of sight anyway. I can always upgrade to a custom sump later... I can invest the savings into other equipment for the tank.

The 24" length will fit in my custom cabinet I had made. They made it reinforced but were able to do it without a center partition. Thanks for the heads-up.

Thanks for the filter sock info too. I went with a single pipe sock holder. For now, I am going to have the emergency Herbie drain directly into the tank. Hopefully I can set it up so there is no water coming down the drain, but even if there is a small trickle, I hope it doesn't bother things in the sump too much?

Thanks for all of your help! I will post my build thread shortly.

ReeferBob said:
Yeah I think ultimately you will have more $$ in this then just buying one. But you get the experience of the build and the exact measurements you want. I just hope it fits where you want to put it. I bought a sump once and almost couldn't get it under my stand. I did but it took some serious massaging.

CaCrimson · Feb 9, 2013

I placed an order for my custom sump last week. I did get a 20H tank from Petsmart and thought for a couple days that was the route I would take. But, I decided it was too much work to get the baffles cut and do it myself. Also, I just didn't like the black plastic trim and messy silicone job. I want to do this right the first time too. I didn't want to get the Petsmart tank in there and hate the way it looked.

However, having the 20H for a couple days gave me the opportunity to figure out the right size sump I need. My plans changed a little from the previous versions in the thread. I ended up also with a diamond polish on the sump (different than in the attached drawing). It is from Charlie at Fishtankfactory.com who has been the best dealer I could have ever come across. Such a nice guy with great communication. He only does local So Cal work. He has been so helpful and professional. I look forward to posting the link to my build thread here once I get everything together.

Comments welcome! Thanks again to everyone in this thread for their feedback. It was invaluable!

CaCrimson · Mar 16, 2013

I got my final product within the past few days. It was made by Aqua Aquarium in SoCal. I water tested it yesterday and seems fine.

The baffles are actually 1" apart, but otherwise as described in the previous post.

I am going to have the bottom and back and sides wrapped in white matte vinyl at a local sign shop.

I will update this thread once I get everything together and running.

Clownin Aroun · Mar 23, 2013

Take a look and let me know what you think! :thumbsup:

Dimensions are 44 x 18 x 20

A little video I made of the sump!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wHY09f_Cnbo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

BeardedReefer · Mar 24, 2013

ReeferBob said:
If you are having this built, why are you using acryic for the bubble trap? Acrylic was not designed to attach to glass. It will, but if you can avoid it, you should. Glass is cheaper anyway. Acrylic also expands when it is in the water, so your joints will be stressed and if the builder does not leave enough gap, it will bow the sides of the sump possibly cracking them. Stil not sure why the center piece of the bubble trap is taller.

FYI: Your baffles should have a water-tight seal - at least the one with the teeth.

Good call going with the pre-made sock holders!

Make sure you have enough room for your heater(s) and ATO floats.

I must ask where are you getting this info from? I use acrylic for baffles in every sump I have made or helped to make. And when attempting to research your statement, I can find nothing supporting your claim that acrylic dimensions change while being submerged in water except for a similar statement on reefs .org back in 09' which got shut down pretty quickly on talkingreef... If you have some supporting information to this I would love to see it as many others also I'm sure.

And on this theory of absorption and expansion how does any solid acrylic tank made of 5 separate sheets not bow out and crack?? food for thought

DerekFF · Mar 24, 2013

Acrylic does bow when exposed to water but I haven't heard of it expanding and swelling, just not holding its nice solid and straight original cut when using thing sheets like we use for baffles. The thicker the better, the smaller the better to prevent warping.

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BeardedReefer · Mar 24, 2013

DerekFF said:
Acrylic does bow when exposed to water but I haven't heard of it expanding and swelling, just not holding its nice solid and straight original cut when using thing sheets like we use for baffles. The thicker the better, the smaller the better to prevent warping.

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I can see it bowing, just from water weight pushing it, also I've never used thinner then 1/4".

DerekFF · Mar 24, 2013

BeardedReefer said:
I can see it bowing, just from water weight pushing it, also I've never used thinner then 1/4".

I used 1/4 acrylic once as an aquarium lid on my 110T and within a few weeks it was sagging a good 1/2 but this is on a 24x18" gap. Still no swelling though as stated before. Maybe he meant sagging/bowing and not swelling? I'm not sure but oh well.

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