Dang! Hard work is going to pay off for you. Great job and keep it up!
Time to try a wooden aquarium
Three 1.5" bulk heads. I hope I placed them high enough to keep the water level above the frame. It well be close. 
Hope I didn't make a mistake by sealing with silicone. It is an extremely solid structure, fingers crossed!
Over all sealing the sump was pretty easy and strait forward. I sealed the seams, skrew holes first. Then used my finger to smooth out. I then applied silicone for the glass. I set the glass in and the tipped the sump over. The hardest part was having to hold my breath while I squeezed in between the "rafters to put finishing touches around the glass. Silicone is nasty in closed spaces! I will have some silicone to clean up tomorrow. A lot of silicone smashed out that will also need to be cleaned. Eyes are still watering.
Using the ends of the aquarium as baffling for the sump. They are not quite tall enough so I am using PVC molding to frame them. I will have to use plexyglass to add about 1.25" to the overflow.
I painted the pvc molding with blue epoxy. The cut and sanded portions took the epoxy well. I forgot to sand the edges. They will be covered with a sponge anyway.
The pvc siliconed to the glass will be covered with birch.
I really wanted to build in a wet dry filter. I may add that later. The two tanks on the bottom will be filtered with 3 fluval 406s.
I painted the pvc molding with blue epoxy. The cut and sanded portions took the epoxy well. I forgot to sand the edges. They will be covered with a sponge anyway.
The pvc siliconed to the glass will be covered with birch.
I really wanted to build in a wet dry filter. I may add that later. The two tanks on the bottom will be filtered with 3 fluval 406s.
