DIY Sump

[fyrfytr]

Once I get my tank up and cycling I want to build my own sump. I went to Lowes and found some 0.220 inch thick acrylic. Is this going to be think enough for a sump?

 

[revsgirl]

:bump2:

 

[sprinklerdudes]

how big are you going to make it? that is not very thick . there is a pet store chain sell glass fish tanks this weekend fo a doller a gallonI.E. 10 gallon tank for 10 dollers hard to build one for that price, can't rember if it was petco or petsmart saw another thread on that last night

 

[redfishbluefish]

Are you talking about building the entire sump out of acrylic or just using it for baffles?

It also depends on the size of the sump/baffles, but for a decent size sump, I’d say that it is NOT thick enough.

 

[sprinklerdudes]

cheap durable sump

heres one I built for 12 dollers started with a 10 gal yardsell tank for 5 dollers, measured the inside width, went to a hardware store had them cut a few pieces of window pane {less than 1.00Each}type glass 1/8" smaller than the inside dim. on the tank, than laid them out were I wanted them and silconed them in place worked really well, used this tank untilI upgraded to a 40 gal sump, built almost the same way but had a larger refugium area

 

[fyrfytr]

It is PetCo that is doing it. Actually called a local PetCo looking for a larger tank since I dont have one yet at the $1 per gallon price, sadly none of my local PetCos had anything bigger then a 30gal tank....although one close to my work offered to order me a 55gal at the price (55 gal is the biggest that they do at $1 per gal).

The one guy at a local store said that the computer was reading wrong on the 10gal tanks and instead of the regular price of $13.99 they were priced at $0.12 a gal and not $1......so $1.20 for a 10 gal tank. I went out and got 2, one for my 3yr old to have in his room and another just because. Wife was contamplating making that one into a Christmas present from my 3yr old to his 8month younger cousin.

I got the second with the thought of making it into a sump/fuge, but I wasnt sure that 10gal sump/fuge would be enough for a 55gal tank, that is why I had been looking at the acrylic DIY sump. No idea what the size of the sheet would be, but I was thinking it would be enough for 18-25 gal and I thought that 0.22inch would be enough to hold that amount

 

[Nemoose]

You are proabably right the 10 gallon would not be enough sump for a 55. Remember, the water from the overflow has to go somewhere it your power goes out and if the sump is too small it goes on the floor. You can use a siphon hole in the overflow to stop this, but it is still safer to have enough volume cause those holes can get plugged up. I would look at a least a 20 gallon and probably 30 would be better. And ,the bigger the sump, the more total system water and the more stable it becomes. You can find used tanks cheap on a lot of sites.