Custom 20G Long Sump: Design Feedback Wanted

[caas1496]

Time to get started on the build! Step 1, peel lots of paper off acrylic....

 

[caas1496]

Making progress. Will have some more updates later, but for now a couple pictures of the completed media cup.

 

[Kyl]

Did you cut that? Looks like a fun assembly.

 

[caas1496]

Did you cut that? Looks like a fun assembly.

Yes, it was done on a laser cutter. It has been a lot of fun doing the assembly. I have also learned some lessons the hard way about working with this stuff. I will have photos to upload shortly of some more assembly I did this weekend.

 

[caas1496]

Made a good amount of progress this weekend on building up parts for the sump. I still have a few pieces to build/rebuild. Then I will start siliconing everything into the tank.

Does anyone have advice for getting nice clean seams with the silicone? Im worried I'll make a complete mess of it...

 

[asting]

Made a good amount of progress this weekend on building up parts for the sump. I still have a few pieces to build/rebuild. Then I will start siliconing everything into the tank.

Does anyone have advice for getting nice clean seams with the silicone? Im worried I'll make a complete mess of it...

You can put tape on the glass and on the inserts, and pull as soon as it's siliconed. It's a pain when tolerances/space are tight.

Personally, i just spread with a finger, and start light, add as needed. It will look cleaner than the stock tank seams if you are patient, and no tape needed.

 

[OutsideBrian]

Just clear silicone sparingly and you won’t notice much.

 

[mrjoev]

Amazing Work!!!

 

[caas1496]

Amazing Work!!!

Thank you mrjoev! The sump is 95% complete so I thought I would share some photos. Here's hoping all the seams are solid.

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

interested in how this comes out!!! keep the motivation!

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

I don't know what happened with the link, but WOW!!! killer!

 

[Hemmdog]

Thank you mrjoev! The sump is 95% complete so I thought I would share some photos. Here's hoping all the seams are solid.

That turned out amazing! Good lord!

 

[Dubs83]

Wow. Great job! Where did you get these laser cut?

 

[caas1496]

Wow. Great job! Where did you get these laser cut?

Luckily I have access to a laser through work. I wanted to post some tools that I found very useful for siliconing in the baffles. Hopefully this will help other future sump builders. These tools were all in a package that I got on amazon. Click here to check out the amazon page.

 

[Kyl]

Far better than I could hope to do, looks so slick. So jealous!

 

[Rcpilot]

WOW! That is amazing. Very nicely done!

 

[caas1496]

Filled the sump tonight just to test it out. Overall I am happy with the results. I have a couple concerns that everyone here might have some ideas about.

I currently have the adjustment on the front of both sicce pumps turned all the way down.

The main return pump was creating a crazy amount of flow through the sock chamber and creating a lot of noise. I am thinking that it will be much different when the tank is actually plumbed and there are head losses from all the plumbing. Seem reasonable? Its a Syncra 2.0.

The pump that is feeding the frag/fuge section is pushing enough water that the drain pipe cant handle it all and some is flowing over the cutouts in the baffle. Not a huge issue but I would like to prevent it if I can. I am using a Syncra 1.0 for this. I may have gone overboard here...

I also think the drain pipe opening for the frag section isn't quite low enough to pull a full siphon so I am considering a right angle adapter to lower the drain entrance.

 

[Reef-junky]

What size is the DT? You are going to have a hard time getting a skimmer in a 20 long.

 

[caas1496]

What size is the DT? You are going to have a hard time getting a skimmer in a 20 long.

Its a 40 Breeder. There are some compact skimmer models that will fit in the space. At this point though I'm not sure that I am going to run one. I dont on my current tank.

 

[Dierks]

Did you ever get all this figured out? I am looking into building my Sump here in a bit and love what you did but hate when you don't know the ending