Undersized Sump

[paphater]

How long do think I can run with an undersized sump? Everything was going so well. Built the tank, built the stand, tank holds water, stand holds tank...but my sump won't fit in the stand. The tank is about 180g of water volume and the 40g breeder I was going to use is too big by a 1/2" to make it by my supports. Right now I'll be stuck using my 20g long in it's place. The skimmer is external so that won't be an issue but I'm worried about if effecting skimmer performance. I'm also worried I'll have trouble heating the tank as the heater will be heating 15-18 gallons at a time. When finances permit I'll be buying more acrylic to build a new sump.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Captmcfly]

For ever .. many nice functional tanks out there with no sump at all. Heating should not be an issue either as long as the flow through the system is right

 

[paphater]

Got it all set up. So far the big issue is that the return chamber is too small to keep up with the pump and ends up blowing a bunch of bubbles in the the display.

 

[WilRams]

My biggest concern would be if it can hold the amount that overflows after being powered off.