93g cube SW - DIY Sump

[Danh]

Just now getting in to SW. I couldn't find a reasonably priced sump for the square stand, so I made it. Cut and welded the acrylic. Refugium chamber, skimmer chamber, algae scrubber and pump chamber where my controller probes will go too. Surprisingly easy. A little more DIY than I'm used to with FW, but I did some DIY with my FW sumps as well.




















Yes, that's Jurassic Park 3 in the background

 

[fishguy306]

Nicely done! I had a 93 cube for a while, man that thing was a pain to figure out a sump for!

 

[Danh]

It came with a 20g long that the skimmer would fit in but it wasn't enough. I found an Emerald something or another that retails for like $350. This one was less than $100 in parts and I got the algea scrubber built in now.

 

[fishguy306]

I used a 20 long in mine. I hated it. It stuck out the back of the stand, it wasn't very deep so my pump would suck air if the water got too low, just all sorts of issues. Glad you got yours figured out!

 

[Danh]

I've got an ATO on it too... and my new model Apex controller will be here this week.

 

[fishguy306]

Those are some fun toys! I had a reefkeeper, it controlled my ATO, definitely a must being open top and such a small sump. Are you going with the full Apex?

 

[Danh]

Yes. The new version. I had the classic for a few weeks but didn't set it all the way up. I wanted to add the Salinity module. It is cheap. Then I realized the probe cost 3 times as much as the module. I will probably add a second energy bar and a break out box pretty soon. The smart ATO works well with an optical sensor. It replaces a gallon or two a day. I'll have the Apex put some redundancy on that.

 

[fishguy306]

Very cool! Be sure to post some pics once you get it set up!

 

[carbene]

nice algae scrubber. what lighting are you using for it?

 

[Danh]

It's a cheap LED off of Amazon. There was a decent amount of diatoms in the display when I added it. I wasn't running a sump at all at that point the tank had been up about 2 months. 6 weeks of dry rock cure then a few weeks with it scaped and I added a RBTA and a pair of spotcinclus clowns. Very low load for a 93g. Just being filtered by the live rock that was also cycled during the cure. Two days of the sump, skimmer and scrubber running and there's no more diatoms in the display and the scrubber is already starting to grow. I need to add another LED to the other side of the scubber. I don't know how official it is but I have read in several places that a scubber lit on both sides is like 4x more efficient at removing nutrients than being lit on one side.

Apex is out for delivery. This is where I started with the classic model I had for a few weeks. I made a board to match the barn doors I made for my wife. Power wires and probe wires run seprately through the wall to the board.