DIY sump advice?!

[FLESHY]

Good points, especially the table saw. If I didn't have one, I would never try to accurately cut acrylic. It is just too hard to do it evenly without a table saw. I just cut acrylic baffles and siliconed them into an old glass tank, which is a pretty cheap and easy method. It's effective too.

Im jealous...a table saw is definitely on my wish list.

Interesting that you got silicone to hold to acrylic...that isnt supposed to be too fun.

I wish I had that saw to build my own...you could do so many crazy things that would be a total PIA in a glass tank w/baffles.

I like the K.I.S.S principal applied here!

I built a biotube tower onto a smaller tank, but you can fill whatever you decide with scrubbies, again simple yet effective!

scrubbies

KISS is important...I got a little fancy my first time, and now my sump is just all one level. Works for me with a filter sock, and a media reactor.

Scrubbies are good, but unless you are certain that no detritus is getting into that area, you should remove the sponge part because it hold crap (and therefore nitrates) like crazy.

Even then you will have to wash the detritus out of your scrubbie area if there is nothing to stop it from getting in there in the first place.

Built a filter last summer that was over 150g of h2o inside of it...I have a fair amount of experience with scrubbies.

 

[importracer]

Hey everyone again... been lookin an tons and tons of info on diy sumps and there is sooo much info.. can anyone recomend the most simple an most effective plan or idea out there?? need something that would do a good job for tanks between 200 an 300 gallon range.. i just cant decide or figure out which is explained easily!

My 125g is filter4ed by a DIY sump........I am using a 55g plastic storage container bought from TARGET..........I am using a 3-Drawer system that I filled with bio-media, also bought from TARGET/OFFICE DEPOT.......The whole setup saved me lots of money............The pump, a RIO, cost me the most, $80...........

 

[dangerhack]

i just cant decide what to do .. been reading for days an have a headache!!! wich i could just figure out the easiest way to do this!

 

[brich999]

I like my sump for a few reasons, it's simple just a 100g tank with water dumping in at each end, one end has filter socks, other end just goes back to pump. I have my heaters in there with a ton of sachem matrix in laundry bags. Flow is great, there is plenty of room to work on stuff and add more when i want, also, i think with as much flow as i have there are some spots that get the slower flow necessary. I plan on adding some live plants probably pothos, and bamboo and all in all I'm happy

 

[xrayjeeper83]

Birch can you post a link or pics of yours

 

[pshtex]

for my sump i used those little stackable drawers u can get at target or wall-mart or something the top layer is my mechanical filtration and the bottom layers are my wet/dry secton then empties into my sump all i have to do to clean the mechanical part is pull out the drawer clean the media and replace it really simple and works really well. if u want to see a pic just let me know.