Budget Sump/Refugium Suggestions

[drubatuba]

I'm piecing together my tank 100 gal reef tank and I'm now looking into getting a sump/refugium. I've got a 20 gallon thats just sitting around that I've considered converting but I'm concerned about screwing up baffle heights and flooding my house. Is building your own sump a good idea? If not are there any good budget options out there? Thanks in advance.

 

[legionofdoon]

It's really easy just take your time and use painters tape to clean up the silicone seals. I cheated on my last one and ordered the baffles pre cut.

 

[legionofdoon]

Here is a picture of mine I can post more tomorrow when I get home from work if you want.

 

[legionofdoon]

You really only need 3 baffles for your Chambers.

 

[drubatuba]

I'm not so much worried about building it as I am I guess getting the right dimensions so that when the tank drains in that it doesn't over flow. Is there some sort of equation to help me figure that out?

 

[legionofdoon]

I'm not sure aware of any specific equation for that but I know that you can find out how many gallons of water in a specific dimension using tank water volume calculator on reef central. Find out the lowest siphon point on your display then use the same tank water calculator and find the volume above the highest baffle in Your sump as a worst case scenario if the worst case scenario is a less than the volume of the water in your display lower your baffles till they don't. Hopefully that helps. That being said I've never done that before and have built my own baffles by eye balling it with no issues. Just think is this space in my sump above my highest baffle bigger than the space below my lowest shyphon point in my display.

 

[Katrina71]

@ReeferMadness80G has a beautiful sump. Check out his thread.

 

[dhof]

I'm piecing together my tank 100 gal reef tank and I'm now looking into getting a sump/refugium. I've got a 20 gallon thats just sitting around that I've considered converting but I'm concerned about screwing up baffle heights and flooding my house. Is building your own sump a good idea? If not are there any good budget options out there? Thanks in advance.

I built a 29 gallon sump using a baffle kit from ebay. Here is the thread: ( https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/29-gallon-diy-sump-project.426155/#post-4940511 ). I'd have to say it was incredibly easy to do. I initially played around with taping it for clean silicone lines, but that became complicated and frustrating quickly. In the end, I free-handed the silicone and it turned out wonderfully.

I did have some dreams about using this 29 gallon for a sump on an 80 gallon tank, but my LFS guy advised against it. I did do the calculations on the volume, and it seemed to me like it would have worked OK, but he is correct that it would have been very close (calculations were off of 11" water level in the sump). Based on my calculations, the 29 would have barely been enough (or not enough) for an 80 gallon display, so I would suspect that at 20 gallon would not do well for 100 gallon tank. 40 breeders are so darned inexpensive, if I were you I might consider buying a 40 gallon breeder baffle kit and siliconing that in yourself on a 40 breeder.

 

[legionofdoon]

That's my latest build. 40 B up top, 40 B sump and a self built stand. I used a pre built baffle kit from eBay just because it was cheaper and I'm done with bloody fingers. I've done glass and plexi numerous times. I've used 10 gallon fueges on 75s with no guidance but pictures. However if way back in 2001 if I could have purchased a pre built baffle system I would have