Anyone have instructions on a 20L Sump?
- Thread starter dtd87
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Here is my 20L set up that I will be using under a 65H.
I have a 1" drain that flows into the sump on the left side (Section 1) and into the skimmer chamber. I also have a 1" drain that feeds a refugium on the rightside(Section 3). The return will be placed into the middle section (Section 2). The wood blocks are just rough drafts if you may in these photos. Plumbing will include gate valves on both inlets as well as a gate valve on the return to fine tune the system. I feel and have read numerous reports that if you can feed the refugium with a seperate unfiltered water that this will help with pod growth and populations.
All depends on what your end goal is. Mine is for excellent water clarity with massive pods for natural feeding of fish and corals. Of course I'll be feeding the tank in addition to the pods.
Also 1/4" acrylic will work great. Only problem I had with doing acrylic attached to glass with silicone is the acrylic later decided to loosen up a bit and pull away from the glass. I've since learned you need to wipe the glass down with rubbing alcohol and make sure no oily finger prints are on the glass or acrylic before siliconed into place.
Cheers,
Alex
I have a 1" drain that flows into the sump on the left side (Section 1) and into the skimmer chamber. I also have a 1" drain that feeds a refugium on the rightside(Section 3). The return will be placed into the middle section (Section 2). The wood blocks are just rough drafts if you may in these photos. Plumbing will include gate valves on both inlets as well as a gate valve on the return to fine tune the system. I feel and have read numerous reports that if you can feed the refugium with a seperate unfiltered water that this will help with pod growth and populations.
All depends on what your end goal is. Mine is for excellent water clarity with massive pods for natural feeding of fish and corals. Of course I'll be feeding the tank in addition to the pods.
Also 1/4" acrylic will work great. Only problem I had with doing acrylic attached to glass with silicone is the acrylic later decided to loosen up a bit and pull away from the glass. I've since learned you need to wipe the glass down with rubbing alcohol and make sure no oily finger prints are on the glass or acrylic before siliconed into place.
Cheers,
Alex
rainydave
Chimp in Space......
The last baffle before the return on my sump is 8".
One thing I did was run a few tests on what the max water level in return pump section can be and not overflow the sump when you shut off the return pump. Then I used a sharpie to make a line on the glass. That way I can be sure to not overfill when I add makeup water.
If you were asking me about that, I made mine 12". My sump tank is a 29 so that worked for me. In a 20, I would go about 10". Depends on the amount of back siphon you expect when the return pump is off.
I just went today to Lowes and got some 1/4 inch acrylic cut 4 baffles. I asked for 11x11 3/4 which I figure would fit.. Or that's what my tape measure said. anyways looks like they cut them 11x12 and one 9x12 so Hopefully they will fix it tomorrow.. Acrylic isn't cheap @ all haha
E
eww
Guest
It is if you go to Tap or the like and look through their scrap bins
I think it's $1.50 a pound. You need small enough pieces so it shouldn't be a problem finding them. Also if you use the E6000 glue they sell it will hold acrylic to glass with no problems, no silicone needed. IMHO acrylic is a better material for baffles for lots of reasons... accidental breakage while messing around in the sump, the risk of cuts if the edges are not ground totally smooth just to name a couple. Just my .02EWW is correct. I pick up a lot of scrap acrylic from TAP Plastics. I usually pick up about 5 pounds of the stuff both large and small and never pay over $8.00.
And one thing with the acrylic from TAP versus Home Depot and Lowes, The acrylic from TAP is almost all cell cast acrylic and most if not all HD and Lowes stuff is cheap non cell cast lucite plexiglas.
Just my 2¢ but you'd get a better deal and better material from TAP even if you paid retail for it. Better quality stuff from a company that specializes in plastics.
It's also nice to have some smaller pieces of nice acrylic around to make frag racks, fan holders and probe holders. You never know what you might be able to make with the stuff.
Just an FYI for 1/4" thick acrylic it is best to cut with a table saw with a 60-90 tooth blade and then after the final cut you could maybe take a router mounted in a table to it to clean the edges.
And one thing with the acrylic from TAP versus Home Depot and Lowes, The acrylic from TAP is almost all cell cast acrylic and most if not all HD and Lowes stuff is cheap non cell cast lucite plexiglas.
Just my 2¢ but you'd get a better deal and better material from TAP even if you paid retail for it. Better quality stuff from a company that specializes in plastics.
It's also nice to have some smaller pieces of nice acrylic around to make frag racks, fan holders and probe holders. You never know what you might be able to make with the stuff.
Just an FYI for 1/4" thick acrylic it is best to cut with a table saw with a 60-90 tooth blade and then after the final cut you could maybe take a router mounted in a table to it to clean the edges.
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I just checked TAP website and found that for 4 10"x10" square cut is around $22.00 and that is with them cutting them for you and not the scrap prices. This would be the nice cell cast stuff and with a nice clean edge too. They have all the special tooling necessary to get great results with plastics.
Here are some price ideas from TAP Plastics website.
Color Clear
Size 1/4" Thick, 10" Wide, 10" Long
Quantity 4
Cost $21.53
Color Clear
Size 1/4" Thick, 12" Wide, 12" Long
Quantity 4
Cost $31.00
Here is the TAP closest to your area,
710 9th Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
Free Parking across the street!
Please note: 9th Avenue closed due to construction
Call store for parking direction.
Open: Mon-Fri 8:30 to 6, Sat 9 to 5.
Here are some price ideas from TAP Plastics website.
Color Clear
Size 1/4" Thick, 10" Wide, 10" Long
Quantity 4
Cost $21.53
Color Clear
Size 1/4" Thick, 12" Wide, 12" Long
Quantity 4
Cost $31.00
Here is the TAP closest to your area,
710 9th Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109
Free Parking across the street!
Please note: 9th Avenue closed due to construction
Call store for parking direction.
Open: Mon-Fri 8:30 to 6, Sat 9 to 5.
