Wet/ Dry Sump 20L

Hey everyone,
I wanted to try some new type of filtration other than a over the back filter. So I decided that I wanted to experiment with a sump.
I recently bought a 65 gallon tank with a stand and canopy for 110$ locally. I am upgrading from a 20L and the only fish I have in there is my Buttikoferi. I read up that a sump will add to the total volume of the tank thus diluting down toxins in the tank such as ammonia and nitrates. I searched for weeks through the different web pages to find out how to do my design. I ended up finding a simplistic design that I want to go with, that has a refugium that will eat up nitrates as well as put oxygen into my tank. I also plan on ordering Asian freshwater clams, but i've heard mixed reviews on these. I was planning on putting them in the refugium to help eat up nitrates as well. I am going to use a eshopps 300 overflow box or possibly the largest I can get with a single bulkhead if possible so i don't have to run two PVC pipes down to my bio-balls.

I have a album on my profile that will show my progress throughout the next month.

I finished my baffles and got a pondmaster 700 for free. I will post pictures tomorrow. it's looking amazing.

FishKeepingNoob;4524356; said:

I thought about sand in my refuge part too but decided against. I didn't want the possibility of it getting into the pump. How do you plan on protecting against that?

Click to expand...

Im gonna have a baffle between the pump and the refugium. So there shouldnt be any and getting in. My baffle between the refugium and pump is about 6 inches and i only plan on getting about a inch of substrate and using floating elodea in my refugium. There is going to be a 18in gap between baffles too so the sand that gets stirred up would settle before it hits the second baffle thus avoiding sand on that side. This is how im assuming its going to go, but the sand could also stay suspended longer and get in. But maybe a sponge around the pump intake will help also.

I was gonna use a double U tube 700 GPH pump. I forgot what its called. But when i buy it I will show it off. It has a cross as its logo i think.

Here my girlfriend and I are finally starting to get my sump going. We cleaned the glass with rubbing alcohol to make sure the surface is going to be clean which will help create a better seal.


Here we used some dvds and other random things we didn't mind getting silicone on. These are holding up our acrylic so we have the 2 in gap underneath to allow a space for the water to pass out of.

I taped off the glass a centimeter or so away from the acrylic being siliconed to try to limit the amount of silicone on the glass (Honestly this only matters if you are going for a attractive looking sump. Silicone all over you glass isnt going to inhibit the functionality of your sump, but it wont look AMAZING.

Here we started to add the silicone, and we are using a spatula/spade to create a nice seal on the corners/edges. I cut the handle of the spatula so that I could get it into my compartments.