Questions About First Time Sump Build for My 125 Gallon Tank

[wesbailey87]

Hey Guys,

I am on my way to my local Goodwill to pick up a 29 Gallon tank that caught my eye, for a sump. This will be my first sump build. I have a design drawn out on where i want my baffles. I'd like to get some glass cut tomorrow and was wondering if anyone could tell me how much shorter they usually cut the glass from the actual width inside the aquarium?

I will be posting pictures as I go.

P.S. I really, really want to go with a 55 gallon sump, but highly doubt that I will be able to fit it under the cabinet.

 

[millerkid519]

1/16 of an inch will be enough. All you want is to be able to set the baffle in without pushing against the glass.
What type of sump are you building?

 

[wesbailey87]

1/16 of an inch will be enough. All you want is to be able to set the baffle in without pushing against the glass.
What type of sump are you building?

Well I'm not 100% on the type, but it's fairly simple. I will have a baffle for the intake from the overflow that pours over to the media. Then have the water flow over to a refugium, then flow into the output. I've attached a picture of what I have so far. Please give me some constructive criticism if needed.


I appreciate your response. So I will now go with 1/16 less than the entire measurement.

 

[millerkid519]

No need for carbon fill it right up with bio media with a drip plate on top so it evenly distributes your water over the emerged media as you will have your refugium water level lower then the media. Might want to think of a filter sock to pre filter so it doesn't ruin your bio media aswell.
What type of overflow will you be using? I'll grab some pictures of my sumps tomorrow to give you some ideas

 

[wesbailey87]

No need for carbon fill it right up with bio media with a drip plate on top so it evenly distributes your water over the emerged media as you will have your refugium water level lower then the media. Might want to think of a filter sock to pre filter so it doesn't ruin your bio media aswell.
What type of overflow will you be using? I'll grab some pictures of my sumps tomorrow to give you some ideas

I would greatly appreciate that. I appreciate the advice. These are pictures of my current sump running. I plan on using the current overflow that is running now since my tank isn't drilled. I can't stand acrylic. This sump has cracks throughout. I plan on taking out the bio balls and transferring them over to my new setup.

Instead of using a drip plate should I keep all of the baffles the same size to keep the water even throughout the sump? So that way the media is submerged completely?

 

[millerkid519]

No you don't want to fill your sump right up the the rim you should have enough room to over 12.5 gallons of space in your tank for overflow incase of a power outage.
The only reason you would been your first little chamber in your drawing would be for a full syphon style overflow if you are running an overflow box I wouldn't do it that way you get alot of gurgling from the overflow pulling air threw.

 

[millerkid519]

Those are my sumps. I just keep it simple

 

[wesbailey87]

View attachment 1136883 View attachment 1136884
Those are my sumps. I just keep it simple

Thank you for your input. I really appreciate it!

 

[wesbailey87]

Well I didn't do a step by step mainly because this was my first time doing this and I had no idea what I was doing.

I went to my local goodwill and purchased a 45 gallon tank for my sump. I then went to a local glass shop and had four baffles cut to 11 3/4 x 16 inches. This is where the fun began. I placed and siliconed one baffle with no problem. After drying, I had to fill the tank with water to place the others because the space was too tight. I siliconed everything in place last night and it seems to be running fine. I ended up only using three of the baffles, mainly because I didn't see a need for the fourth and it gave me more room in the refugoum.

I used a magnum 350 filter sleeve as my "sock" and bio balls as my media. I went with gravel in the bottom to encourage more bacteria growth.

My cons were that the sump tank is huge and I had to cut out and reinforce my stand to get it to fit. I also don't have any room to dig around in the sump.

The pros are that I have successfully added about 35 gallons of water to my tank and realized building a sump isn't as daunting of a task as I imagined. Please feel free for any input or tips.

 

[wesbailey87]

Here are some pictures...