Sump VS Sump

[07FocusST]

For anyone following my chaos of building up a 180 Gallon Aquarium please help out with this question.

So... I have built a very large and tall stand to accomedate this 180 Gallon Tank. The tank itself is 6'x2'x2'. The stand is 6'x2'x4' which gives alot of interior space.

Now... I have 2 choices. I can go with the original plan and use my 100 Gallon tank (5'x16"x2') as the sump which gives me more room inside the tank for extra water capacity and sump contents. The down side is that it is non-tempered glass and I will NOT drill it.

On the other hand I just got an acrylic sump that is 40"x12"x16" (33 Gallons) and has 2x bubble traps built in and 3 chambers total. At the end is a 3/4" Bulkhead already installed. Now, using this would completely defeat the purpose of the stand build as I already have a shorter stand that I could use instead. The Good part being that using this sump would leave me a ton of interior space for other equipment and would help prevent micro bubbles from getting back into the DT. On the down side it is 33 Gallons compared to 100 Gallons.

My intention is to make the sump a combo sump/fuge. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Krish]

Well IMO, when you are dealing with a sump, not very many people ever have to drill them so it being tempered shouldn't be an issue. Only on rare occasions you see a sump drilled and it is usually only for a return pump that is being used that isn't a submersible type pump. If you aren't in that boat, then if it were me, I'd definately choose the 100 gal and add in my own baffles where I wanted them to fit things properly and make my own fuge section at the same time etc. The 33 gal probably won't allow you to do this as easily especially with it already having baffles installed.

Just my personal opinion.

 

[thatguy559]

why wont you drill it?? i got a 100g acrylic if you want that as a sump??? if not im turning it into my new fuge

 

[Krish]

why wont you drill it?? i got a 100g acrylic if you want that as a sump??? if not im turning it into my new fuge

Your post made me go back and re-read the first post. For some odd reason I thought he said the 100 gal was tempered . Yea, if it isn't tempered then you can drill away although I still don't see much reasons why you would need to drill a sump other than for an external pump as suggested or did you have another idea in mind??

 

[thatguy559]

Well I was thinking for a return pump a mag 18 puts out a lot of heat. I think he said he wanted to use that as his return pump. I personally wouldn't use it.

 

[07FocusST]

Final Answer: 33G sump. External Pump possible for return pump

 

[mojoreef]

Hey good idea!!!!!!!!!

 

[07FocusST]

Thanks Mojo... Don't know where the inspiration came from!? Thinking of using the PCX-40 (1200gph) as return pump since 2x 1" Overflows is 1200GPH. This was the overflows aren't maxxed out and gurgling. Still winning the Hammerhead 5800GPH on ebay.

Since we talked I decided that since I am going with the 33G sump I might as well use my other shorter stand and other tank. Now, since I am done buffing the other tank with the pre drilled closed loop, I can sell the stand and tank and make some $$$$$ back for some lighting.

 

[mojoreef]

No I think using that pump for the return is perfect, and with the smaller sump you got room for it and the other pump/ballast and so on. Your on it


Mojo

 

[Krish]

So it's the 33gal huh?? Well, as suggested, you will have more room for other equipment in the stand going that route and seeing you have a 180 gal tank already, then I guess it makes more sense as really, you are working with a pretty nice sized water volume from the get go. I understand what it is like to not have room in a stand . Take a look at the 2 pictures I added below. I needed the extra water volume in my case to help with the back siphon when the return pump was turned off so my sump ended up taking up my entire stand underneath when I added in an extra chamber to it. So what happened then was my ballast had to sit on the outside of the stand which you can see on the right of the tank and on the left, my chiller had to sit outside the stand there too! I really wished it all could fit under the stand but the sump made it impossible...





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