Saint's 75g

rostervandross

Active Member
Nice man, have fun putting it together. I've got all my essentials up and running smoothly now and almost want to set up another !
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Ok guys, need some help. I have a 20 gallon long tank that I will be using for my sump. I bought four glass panels and will be making the cuts this weekend and sealing them in place. I am going to use a design similar to these I found online. But how do j know how high to make the glass???? I want max water volume in here for a healthy system. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1454027076.515323.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1454027145.966566.jpg

Images stolen. But plan is one side for skimmer. Two baffles between that and the refuge. One baffle for refuge to pump section. Can't decide on two or three baffles for first divider. Have no idea how to gauge the hight requirements.


Thoughts???


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I'm no expert, but from what I gather, if you're placing your skimmer in the first section of the sump you'll want to set your water height for that first section around about the recommended water level height for the skimmer. From what I've read so far it's around about 9 inch?

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Yeh, you can do that. If anything it is a bit better to have the water level a little higher. It's easier to put the skimmer on a stand than it is to raise a baffle if you need the extra volume. The only thing to watch out for is that you have enough left over volume for any back syphon if your return pump powers out etc.

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StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
How's it going, get it done?
20g is tough to make space for stuff, hopefully you chose two baffles between sections. Especially at the return , bubbles in return would be bad. Three baffles is overkill, but fine if you have plenty of room to use.
How much will drain from DT when return goes off? I think leaving at least 5g worth of buffer space in sump that size.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
I have a 20g (not a 20 long) tank converted into a sump. It can work well, but takes some time to get it right. I did a small trick to reduce back siphon by drilling a 1/8" hole into each of my returns a very short distance from the water line in the display tank. When the pump is running, very little is direct out of the hole, but when the pump stops, it gurgles air and quickly breaks siphon. There will always be a few gallons of water that run through your overflow and down the drains. It is imperative that you set volumes so that in a power outage you do not overflow.

As @StirCrayzy says, there is not a lot of room. The 20 long has less depth, but more area. If your equipment has enough depth in your partitioned areas then you are good to go.

Test time and time again, to be sure that your floor stays dry when power goes out AND that it works when power comes back on. Either scenario can cause catastrophe with floors, electronics, carpets and wives. I have not had the joy of soaking a carpet yet, but I can only imagine that the smell within a few days would be ripe.

Good luck with the glass cutting. If you have never done it before, take your time and practice a few times. WEAR GLOVES AT ALL TIMES. The more times you use the "tapper" thing on the glass, the more scallops your edge will get. That thin picture glass should be simple to just score and break. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES also. Make sure you measure multiple places inside the tank to make sure the tank is square.....Mine was not, and the first piece I cut was cut for the top of the tank, and the bottom was 1/16th more narrow. However I used plex for mine, and have had no issues.

I had cut a few pieces of glass for tank lids before converting to eggcrate, and it is a good idea to smooth all cut edges with a coarse grit sand paper. Them edges are sharp.


Good luck and keep us posted.
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Thank you all for the feedback and comments. Long story short, with the move being I. Two days I didn't make the progress on the sumo I wanted to. And now as I read more about it, I am debating just sucking it up and looking for another tank that will fit in the stand. The 40 was to wide :(


Maybe I should measure my 30g and just move my fish over to the 20 when we move.... Anyway I will post up as soon as something exciting happens. Thank you all for the advice


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saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Move is "done" and I ended up using my 30g again for my display. So I will be shooing around before I commit to the 20 g sump.
I have thought about using the 20g sump going to an external return pump and hob skimmer, thoughts?


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saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Just bought my rodi system today for the new tank [emoji1] I am hoping to build the plumbing next weekend and start playing with the 20g. I still haven't gotten over the desire to buy a bigger tank, so I will keep searching to see if I can find a good deal for the refugium before I cut glass


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saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
How did you all decide which return pump to go with!? So many options and such major price differences


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Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
How did you all decide which return pump to go with!? So many options and such major price differences


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Think of the flow rate you want and need and move on from there. Price is the first hurdle you need to decide on. Once you know budget and requirements then you can think about the other aspects, DC controllable, set flow rate, whizz bangs and bits and bobs and the works :)
 
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