DIY 40g Breeder Sump/Refugium

[drstratton]

Hi, I would like to share the sump/refugium we made using a 40g breeder.

Besides the tank you will need:
100% Silicone - I used GE Window and door - Just make sure it's 100% Silicone

4 pieces of 3/16" glass cut to:

1 piece 14 5/8 x 17 1/2"
3 pieces 9 x 17 1/2"

We built this about 5 1/2 years ago, I just measured the glass because I couldn't remember what the dimensions were. Please check the measurement for the width of the glass to make sure that it will fit, too tight and it makes it difficult to fit in.

You need to decide how much room you want in each section of the sump. If I had it to do over I would make the equipment and refugium sides larger and the return smaller.

Here are my dimensions: Hard to get exact measurements with water flowing!
Equipment side: About 9" wide: it's 10-1/4" to center piece of glass, space between center & outside pieces is about 1-1/8"
Center return: about 11-1/4" wide
Refugium: 11"wide

First we installed the center piece of glass on the equipment side of the tank! The reason we installed this piece first is so that we could place silicone on both sides of the glass. You need more stability for this piece as it is not touching the bottom of the tank. Leave it at least 1" off the bottom, mine is about 1-1/8" off the bottom, do to the thickness of the piece of wood we set it on. Make sure everything is square and silicone it into place!


The two outside pieces sit on the bottom of the tank as does the refugium glass. Again square up and place a board in between to keep your spacing even! You will only be able to silicone the outside edges and bottom of the glass on the equipment side. You can also silicone in the refugium glass at this time.








Hope this helps anyone that wants to save some money. Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

[pdiehm]

i have that exact same light fixture over my new refugium. $8 at lowes. the 5000k LED spotlight was $40. crazy.

 

[drstratton]

i have that exact same light fixture over my new refugium. $8 at lowes. the 5000k LED spotlight was $40. crazy.

I just bought a 6500k led bulb for it from Amazon. The only thing I could find in stores was 5000k. This definitely works as well as a $40 fixture!

 

[steve&mari]

Nicely done it's a really nice clean set-up.

 

[drstratton]

Thank you! My husband does excellent work!

 

[Steve Maxwell]

Great! Thanks!!! So about how many gallons of water do you think is in there...30?

So...next set of questions...plumbing. Is your DT drilled? Mine isn't and I'm a little leery of doing it since doing so would void the warranty...so I have to get an overflow as well as a pump. Looks like you have water coming from your DT into the skimmer section...any idea what diameter PVC that is? Then it looks like you have water going from your pump to your fuge & DT...any idea what diameter that PVC is?

Finally, does the glass separating the fuge and pump area go all the way to the top? I know you have a gap underneath, but I was just curious if the water from the fuge drains both under and over the glass. Does the sand flow from under the glass? Are there enough nutrients getting into the fuge for pods?

 

[pdiehm]

Drilling is easy. I was intimidated at first. Go slow, get a drill guide and keep it wet.

I wouldn't get an HOB overflow because my luck is it would lose siphon and the floor gets soaked

 

[drstratton]

Great! Thanks!!! So about how many gallons of water do you think is in there...30?

Yes, it's right at about 30

So...next set of questions...plumbing. Is your DT drilled? Mine isn't and I'm a little leery of doing it since doing so would void the warranty...so I have to get an overflow as well as a pump. Looks like you have water coming from your DT into the skimmer section...any idea what diameter PVC that is? Then it looks like you have water going from your pump to your fuge & DT...any idea what diameter that PVC is?

Yes, the DT is drilled. I have a DIY that I can post that will show you how. I have a 700gph glass-holes overflow. The return line from the overflow is 1-1/2" and the line for the return pump is 3/4". I will post some pictures below to show what it looks like.

Finally, does the glass separating the fuge and pump area go all the way to the top? I know you have a gap underneath, but I was just curious if the water from the fuge drains both under and over the glass. Does the sand flow from under the glass? Are there enough nutrients getting into the fuge for pods?

There is no gap under the glass for the fuge it sits on the bottom of the tank, so it doesn't go all of the way to the top, you need to silicone the edges and bottom on both sides! The pods, snails and Chaeto in the fuge receive plenty of nutrients.

Back view! We don't have everything tightened yet so things look a little crooked.

Closer view of the return!

Back view

Front view

Hope this helps! Again, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them for you!

I'll post a link to the drilling when I get it posted!

 

[drstratton]

Here's the link for drilling the tank!


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/drilling-a-tank-for-a-glass-holes-700gph-overflow.216978/

 

[Josh Bayne]

Looks good. I just finished a 40 breeder as we. Just posted if up go check out out.

 

[drstratton]

Looks good. I just finished a 40 breeder as we. Just posted if up go check out out.

Thank you! I would love to see what you've built!

 

[Josh Bayne]

I was actualy about to do a center return myself, I have always liked them, you have any problems with yours? I actualy messed up the first time I orderd glass, got it cut 2 wide, and this time I almost got the acrylic cut 2 short. I swear these aquenon tanks vary so much in size lol. I would have loved to use the glass I had cut, I just think it's much stronger. I should have showed people in my post how I squared and spaced, so I am glad u did. I enjoyed your plumbing pics from behind as well give people a good idea of what's going on lol.

 

[drstratton]

No, I haven't had any problems. I've been really happy with my sump. You can't beat a 40g breeder for a sump, lot's of room. There is definitely a fine line between to long & to short to fit the baffles into this tank. We were lucky and the glass fit really well, but if it had been to tight, I do stained glass so I have the tools to make it fit. I like to show as much detail as I can. I'm a visual person and it makes it much easier for me to understand how something works, so that's how I want to share it with someone else. I did this post to help out someone who is very new to the hobby and didn't really know where to begin. Hopefully, it has helped him and will help others also.

 

[Josh Bayne]

Sweet. I wanted to do black(smoked) glass but it was so expensive. My new tank will be 36*36*20 so this sump will be a big part of it. I will be building the stand soon. I will be doing a 2in lip around the outside of the DT. Which will also alow me to put s sump tank just as long as my DT inside the stand. I enjoy woodworking, so I will probably do a very informative writeup for that. Currently sourcing my wood, as I want to do some exotic hardwood. But might have to scrap that and do red oak as 36*36 exotic wood is hard to find.

 

[drstratton]

I would also like to build a new tank, the size that will fit into my space is 48x40x20. I'm looking forward to see your build. My husband is also a woodworker. He built my stand, but we did it out of plywood and fir, my original build thread is on reefersparadise.com, sadly most of the people have moved on but it was an awesome forum. Back to the stand, he plans on making a façade for it out of whatever kind of wood I want, and I would like to make stained glass panels with a reef scene for the doors. My stand is really strong and it is much less expensive to do it this way.