Want to build an Under-the-stand sump... 60g FW... Ideas?

[CptCrusty1]

Ok... Here goes.... First shot is from the "front". I based this off of a few plans/photos I saw. I still have to put a lid on the first chamber and a tray that will allow the water to drip through. I ran out of lexan so the last chamber where the pump will be doesn't have a piece yet. Total investment so far is $20. Lessons learned... if you use a caulking gun, start with the outer-most pieces as you'll run out of room for the gun.... LOL

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[eklikewhoa]

Sorry but if you're not wanting to add another canister cause of additional equipment inside the tank then you'll hate the look of the pvc overflow.

Just drill the tank.

[CptCrusty1]

I'm going to use them in conjunction with each other. The wife will probably complain a bit about the overflow.. but....

I have a plan... LOL just can't bring myself to cutting holes in the tank.. It's like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane or not sucking the heads on mudbugs... it just doesn't make sense to me. I posted a couple links above with some really good information that I'm going to follow.

[KhmerStyle]

Sorry but if you're not wanting to add another canister cause of additional equipment inside the tank then you'll hate the look of the pvc overflow.

Just drill the tank.

pcv overflow is kind of bulky IMO.... but good luck keep us updated on your progress

[CptCrusty1]

UPDATE.. Since I ran out of Lexan/Plexy, I sneaked over to Home Depot and picked up another one and started cutting as soon as I got home. Sharp/thick blades are a must for this.

In my pictured (above), on the left I decided I'm not going to use the "sock" to start off with. I'm going to fill that area with surface area stuff (technical term) and above that I'm going to have a sheet of Lexan with holes in it so the water dribbles down through it all over the place.... If that doesn't work out too well, I'll go to the "sock" or a protein skimmer. To make this happen I added 2- 1 inch "shelves" to hold the "dribble plate" so that I can pick it up and clean out the garbage as necessary. I also silicone'd in a couple pieces at the very top that I will punch a hole through to hold the down spout.

While working on the pieces for the down spout, I realized I was cutting the edges very straight so far so I might get reallo stupid and build my own overflow box. I don't have room behind the tank for a double setup, but I can do the single setup in the tank pretty easily. Using white plastic will look like garbage so I'm going to use the lexan. Maybe something thicker, but I don't see how it will be necesary.

QUESTION: How to you prime the pipe going from the over flow to the sump? I don't want to stick my lips on that thing as it's a great way to get sick.

No pump yet..... working on it.

[KhmerStyle]

To prime it drill a hole at the top connect air hose and suck it is this a saltwater tank? Because you said your going to add protein skimmer

[KhmerStyle]

Ok just re read the title there is no use for protein skimmer with fresh water tanks

[CptCrusty1]

I could eventually go SW; however, I'd read a couple times that people sometimes put skimmers on FW as well as an added measure.

I'm probably not going make a PVC overflow, rather, a box-style overflow with the grooves and a U-pipe headed down to the sump. I had an idea. I could fill the sump about half-way, enough for the pump to push water. I could have a cross over pipe going form the sump return line to the down-line from the tank. If it's high enough, I could have 3 ball valves, 1 for each pipe. Shut the valve (above the cross over) on the return line which would force water through the cross over. Open the valve on the cross over allowing water to go to the down-line. Shut a valve below the cross over on the down-line which would force water up the down-line filling it with water. Next step is turn it on until water comes out of the down-line's inlet. The pipe would then have water in it and then just close the cross-over and open the down line and return line ball valves. All the lines would then be primed and ready to run.... sounds complicated when I type it out, but feels like it would easy in my head....

[CptCrusty1]

I realized I made the 2nd baffle wall too high and had to make some changes... oh well.. .live and learn. If this one works out... I might go to a 20L sump instead of the 10g.

[eklikewhoa]

Skimmers would be hard to maintain adequate water level and skimmate in a small tank.

Not saying its undoable but it isn't something worthwhile on a small tank.

[CptCrusty1]

Anyone have any idea what type of glue I should use for the PVC piping?

[eklikewhoa]

The two part they sell for pvc.

[CptCrusty1]

The two part they sell for pvc.

Uh... could you elaborate a little more?

[mnemenoi]

They have a Cleaner and PVC glue/cement, all the stores will sell it. Most plumbing is for resediential usage, so should be fine for use in aquariums as well. Just let it dry well and be liberal with the cement.

[CptCrusty1]

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Ok.. Here's an update...



In the first picture, you can see the plumbing for the intake sitting on top. It's not completely anchored, just at the part where it fits through a piece of plexi on top right. The reason for this was so that I could disconnect the intake line and swing the whole thing out of the way. The water drains out and flows over a piece of plexy with holes drilled in it so the water will trickle down over any media I decide to put underneath. The bottom is open about 3/4 inch with a baffle immediatly after to force the water down the media and up over the next wall. If the pipes were glued/siliconed in place, I wouldn't be able to get anything out. This way I can.

You'll see 2 ball valves. The first one on the right is to set my flow from the tank, either totally open, or shut, or somewhere in between. I did this because I wasn't sure of the flow rate of the return pump, and this enables me to raise or lower the water level in the sump as needed. The ball valves don't move so smoothly but they are better than others I tried. Getting the setting just right is tricky.

The 2nd ball valve sitting a 90 degrees serves 2 purposes.
1st, I'd read that people were putting check valves at the apex of the u-pipe on top. I figured I'd be sucking fish water for a while so I put in this valve to help prime the system. All I have to do is close the valve going to the sump and open the valve to the suction line. Give a little suck and gravity does the rest. Once I have a little water coming down, I just close the valve and the suction will fill the pipe all the way up. Then I open the valve to the sump and off she goes. I never swallowed any fish water.
2nd, I can siphon off water for water changes, as well as add water here too. I tried it and it works great.

On the far left of the piping structure is the barb where the 3/4 ID hose connects.

The 2nd picture shows the setup under the tank, no substrate or media in there yet, just testing the flow. I'm certain I'm going to have to change things a bit because the flow rate will change as things are added.


Overflow/flood protection.
I've seen many setups for the overflow going down to the sump.. I didn't have the room behind the tank and it would be a pain to move it further. What I did was connect the 3/4 hose with a barb adapter to some 3/4 ID PVC to a riser up the wall, then to 2 90's, and 15" line going into the tank and capped at the bottom. I used my dremmel and a cutting disk to cut grooves in the cap, then a couple grooves in alternating locations on the riser pipe in the tank. To protect from flooding, I cut 2 large slices in the riser pipe at slight angles. I measured the max water lever, took the inside dimensions of the tank, and calculated that a drop f 1 inch of water will fill the sump by about 3 gallons. Since the sump is a 10g tank, I determined that I should never keep it more than half full, leaving me a 2 gallon buffer. I tested this by priming the intake line and letting it run after a couple minutes, I heard the suction from the cuts, and watched as the water slowly trickled to a stop. I might make the holes bigger to speed that up. Oh. the holes aren't at the same level. One is slightly higher. If the first one starts sucking air it makes lots of noise. That would be a warning, or just a notice that I need to make some adjustments, or add water.

The output line is just a piece of 3/4 ID hose going to your typical black u-shaped output. I drilled a small hole just below the water line on that as well to make sure in an outage it doesn't also become a drain.

I don't trust it yet, but so far, it seems like it works well. Yes, it's ugly, but I'm not an artist. Total spent:

$14 - 10g tank.
$6 = Tube of GE5000 series silicone - food safe.
$25 = 2 12"x24" pieces of polycarbonate/Plexy (whatever).
$50 = PVC pipes, etc.
$20 = 540gph pump from another HFB-er.

The same setup would have been much more expensive, albiet prettier. I'll take the more than $200 saved and go for pretty later. If this works well, I'm going to change up to a 20g Long, or something generally larger. The only thing I'll have to by other than the tank is two more pieces of plexy....

Thoughts anyone?