Sump Questions for 60G Cube

kfoerster · Jan 17, 2015

My stand finally arrived and despite everyone's warnings I took my LFS advice and ordered a custom sump before the stand was here. I was told the stand inside dimensions were 24x24x24 in fact it is 23x23x23. So now I am sitting here with a 20G High sump will not fit. I can use this sump but only if I pull the tank away from the wall a bit, and let the sump hang out the back of the stand by a couple inches. My question is, since I am new to this and never done maintenance on a sump before, will I have enough room to work if I put the sump in sideways? Hope this makes sense. If I do this either my return pump or my skimmer will be at the back of the stand. I paid $45 for this sump so I won't be heart broken if I can't use it, but I also am disappointed in the cost of the cube sumps that I am seeing online (Eshopps, Trigger, etc).

If I buy a new sump I was looking at the Eshopps RS-75. It doesn't seem to be quite big enough for a 60 gallon cube. Thoughts? Loving the Trigger Systems Ruby Cube 20, but so expensive.

I welcome any advice you might have. Equipment I have so far is listed below:

Marineland 60 Gallon Rimless
BRS Reef Saver Rock
Reef Octopus Pinwheel In-Sump Skimmer (not purchased yet but plan to, include here for sump size recommendations)
ViaAqua Titanium Aquarium Heater, 300-Watt
Hydor Koralia Nano 425 Aquarium Circulation Pump 425 GPH
Jaebo DC-3000 Submersible Pump
BRS 4 Stage Value Plus RO/DI System - 75GPD

zesty · Jan 19, 2015

I think you'd be fine sideways. I see more working happening on the skimmer side of things vs the return side. So I would put the return pump towards the back, of the stand, and the skimmer up front. You can always test fit it and see if putting it in there sideways will allow you to get inside your stand and back to your return section.

You might even find that you can fit an ATO container in there now. There are a lot of nice acrylic ones out there.

kfoerster · Jan 19, 2015

Thanks Zesty, I went ahead and bit the bullet and purchased a Trigger Systems Crystal 18x18 Cube sump so that it would fit nicely in my stand. Since I went with a slightly smaller sump (still 20 gallons in water volume) I decided to buy the Reef Octopus 110 Super Saver skimmer rather than the Classic. Figured this way, despite the additional cost I didn't bargain for, I can now arrange everything the way I want. Thanks for the input!

I now have a 20G High sump for sale if anyone is interested and in the KC area. :bigsmile:

ohio reefer · Jan 19, 2015

You will be very happy with that skimmer. I bought one about 6 months ago and I loved it so much I bought another for my other tank. One of my tanks is the same water volume as yours and the sump is also 20 gallons, but the tank is 48x24x12. The skimmer is a beast. Pulls out all the gunk.