Adding sump to nano

[bullet_buddy]

I have a 12gal jbj nano cube I want to add a sump to it .iI was thinking about drilling the plastic in the back and adding some threaded bulkheads to feed a 20 gal sump.My question is if anyone has done this and how it works out .Also was wondering where i should drill the line in and out..at the top or bottom and also what kind of flow to expect to the sump so i can figure out the gph back to the tank.The reason i want the sump is this tank crashed hard from heat and i think it would be more stable with 32 gals instead of just 12 ..thanks in advance..eric

[Travis]

You'll be drilling it at the top unless you want to put in an overflow box, which would eat up a lotta space from a 12G. What kind of flow depends on the size of the hole you drill.

Thought about a HOB overflow box?

[hooterhead]

that'd be hard on a nanocube. they have a lid built on

[bullet_buddy]

I was wondering if i could use the filter in the back as an overflow?and run the line out from there..is this possible

[mps9506]

You best bet will be to drill a hole in the side of the cube and build a durso pipe on the side. The reason you don't want to just drill a hole anywhere in the side is because it will drain all the water out of the tank, and if you just use a bulkhead on the side you will have noise issues and it starts sucking air and water down the drain (think toliet).
As far as flow, it depends on the size of your drain line. Assuming you use a 3/4" or 1" drain I would say 200-300 gph is all you would want for that size tank. The flow to the sump will only be as fast as your return pump pumps water back into the tank.

[bullet_buddy]

Originally Posted by mps9506

You best bet will be to drill a hole in the side of the cube and build a durso pipe on the side. The reason you don't want to just drill a hole anywhere in the side is because it will drain all the water out of the tank, and if you just use a bulkhead on the side you will have noise issues and it starts sucking air and water down the drain (think toliet).
As far as flow, it depends on the size of your drain line. Assuming you use a 3/4" or 1" drain I would say 200-300 gph is all you would want for that size tank. The flow to the sump will only be as fast as your return pump pumps water back into the tank.

Thanks for the info ..Looks like I have a new project for this weekend..

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by bullet_buddy

I have a 12gal jbj nano cube I want to add a sump to it ...

My question would be "Why?" What do you hope to gain by adding a sump?

You'd spend a lot of time and money to do this, and while there would be some advantages, you'll end up with a lot more stuff, yet a tank that can't support more livstock.

Put the time, effort and money into a much larger tank for yourself, or maybe a second nano.

Now if you were talking about a 75gal tank or larger then there would be a lot of advantages, since you can put the sump inside the tank stand, and it would be large enough to do a lot of functions.

I could also see this if you had a large tank, and wanted to plumb the nano into the same system so it would benifit from the larger tanks filtration system. This would allow you to keep somethingin the nano that you couldn't put in the main tank.

[Kalkbreath]

The back of a JBJ Nano is not only plastic , but there is glass with a plastic coating. You can use the existing over flow filter and drill the hole in the back of the tank slightly lower then the top of the over flow inside .Make sure you can get the bulk head into the over flow compartment you can cut 1/2 the threads of the bulkhead if needed. I use an over sized bulkhead and then run the return inside the over flow pipeand attatch to the existing return ! That way its one less hole to drill and less tubes coming out the back of the tank. Nano sumps are nice because you can go longer with out top off and do 50% water exchanges with out leaving the corals High and dry. ( if your sump is equal to the tank in volume.)

[mps9506]

Originally Posted by Kalkbreath

The back of a JBJ Nano is not only plastic , but there is glass with a plastic coating. You can use the existing over flow filter and drill the hole in the back of the tank slightly lower then the top of the over flow inside .Make sure you can get the bulk head into the over flow compartment you can cut 1/2 the threads of the bulkhead if needed. I use an over sized bulkhead and then run the return inside the over flow pipeand attatch to the existing return ! That way its one less hole to drill and less tubes coming out the back of the tank. Nano sumps are nice because you can go longer with out top off and do 50% water exchanges with out leaving the corals High and dry. ( if your sump is equal to the tank in volume.)

Good info...

[SP Aquatics]

i did a 15 gal refugium on my 10 gal tank, withing a week my parameters all dropped, now 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, plus less top offs. I could never get my parameters to 0 before, it was well worth it