LFS sump design! Help me brainstorm?

[UncommonSense]

Phew, home stretch!

— The grate has a welded knob, and the slides/stops are welded into the sump! (Pre-weld photos, parts are all clamped up and buried now)

I hand finished every part in this area to at least 220grit, rounding all exposed sharp edges and corners; given that it will likely have shrimp and all sorts of other livestock in it over time…

This build will have 23 custom made acrylic/polycarbonate pieces in total.

The final piece remaining inside the sump is this little bottom center guide for the 1/8” polycarbonate grate, which prevents it from flexing away from the “down” baffle (creating a gap between the two parts) when closed… it will go in tomorrow evening, along with the top braces, thus completing assembly!

 

[UncommonSense]

I swung by my LFS earlier to plan out the next phase of plumbing/sump installation, make a timeline, and make sure my next livestock order is logged… That gave me a chance to snag a few photos of the owner’s personal tank, and sump #1 at work!

The plumbing is a rough draft; finished in the hour before closing on sump install day… I have a round of adjustments to make it all fit better, and get it supported much more thoroughly… and yes, that electrical is next on the list!

(Haha the tank needs some love today… to be fair, though; the owner does maintain around 100 different aquariums and terrariums, more or less as a one-man-band!)

Time to trim that toadstool back again, by the look of it!

 

[Schulks]

powerstrip on the rim of the sump! omg! I hope he has a gfci :P

 

[UncommonSense]

powerstrip on the rim of the sump! omg! I hope he has a gfci :P

Hehe right?? I actually moved that for him shortly after getting that photo… I didn’t like it either!!!

But yes, all GFCI’d!

 

[UncommonSense]

All done! 23 pieces are accounted for and installed!

Weldon #16 worked phenomenally on this bowed-upward eurobrace; not a bubble to be seen once clamped flat to the new top braces!

I wish I had bothered to get some sooner; now I know!

— it also works great for acrylic:polycarbonate bonds, it seems… if that gives anyone any fun ideas?

And now we play the waiting game… pressure test starts Sunday!

 

[UncommonSense]

All finished… It looks surprisingly good! — clearly this has been an excellent learning experience for me!

The top brace welds are actually not terrible looking this time either! (Though I did still use too much solvent, and not enough fillet! — wood under welds for better camera focus)

The sliding livestock containment grate at the end of the refugium works exactly as intended, and will definitely be an addition my LFS quite likes when they start using the refuge as essentially a bonus tank!

Oh, and I made this just for you, @Schulks! — a heat bent acrylic drip shield for that questionably placed power strip, once it’s properly wall-mounted!

 

[Schulks]

All finished… It looks surprisingly good! — clearly this has been an excellent learning experience for me!

The top brace welds are actually not terrible looking this time either! (Though I did still use too much solvent, and not enough fillet! — wood under welds for better camera focus)

The sliding livestock containment grate at the end of the refugium works exactly as intended, and will definitely be an addition my LFS quite likes when they start using the refuge as essentially a bonus tank!

Oh, and I made this just for you, @Schulks! — a heat bent acrylic drip shield for that questionably placed power strip, once it’s properly wall-mounted!

You can never be too safe especially if it isn't too much effort.

The sump looks great to me! Anything made of colored acrylic looks neat.
It will be cool to see how they use it!

 

[UncommonSense]

You can never be too safe especially if it isn't too much effort.

The sump looks great to me! Anything made of colored acrylic looks neat to me.
It will be cool to see how they use it!

I agree! They’ve been slacking on tidy sump spaces for years, and I’ve got the go-ahead for creative freedom on this one (short of being able to drill the sump for a external pump like I wanted to)!

I’m doing as much as I can to improve without letting myself dive into feature creep and spend months on this project!

I’ll see about periodically posting photo updates of both sumps up and running in the real world!

 

[UncommonSense]

Pressure test day, and alarming discovery!

So far, so good on the FW sump! I just filled it up with not a leak to be seen past my parts from chamber to chamber!

Three days like this, then it is ready to install!

However; I was at my LFS again today, and spotted a rather alarming problem…

— their 180g FW tank’s stand has slowly, but surely started to lean over to the right… it’s currently 1/2” out of square…

Yikes, right?

so, the sump project is officially on the shelf, sitting being pressure tested until further notice, to let us address this mess next… well, c’est la vie!

 

[UncommonSense]

Well, it’s been a week, and I have an update finally!

— The sump is still sitting maxed out with water, one week into pressure testing and not a leak to speak of! — it’s ready to install asap!

— I made some time today to go by my LFS and build a pair of tension wire assemblies; the goal being to install them tomorrow in a X shape across the back of the leaning 180g tank stand, tensioning them to provide shear strength!

The tensions assemblies are 1/2” shank lag Eyes, 1/2” shank turnbuckles, and 5/16” steel cable. — more than sufficient for the task at hand!

I’ll also likely lag in a pair of plywood gussets inside the front of this stand once it’s straightened, just for bonus shear strength!

I’ve already got ~140g of water holding containers on-site, all the necessary lumber/hardware, and a plan in place for the livestock while the tank is drained down for the repair tomorrow!

 

[UncommonSense]

Another round of success!

The tank stand’s been straightened, and generally reinforced!

I’m going to add a pair of plywood front interior stand gussets tomorrow for a bit of extra shear strength, then proceed to install the second sump finally!

Here’s the old rear vertical center brace… It’s been doing the job for the past decade and a half… — yikes!!

 

[UncommonSense]

Well, life got busy… finally an update!

Sump #2 is in and running!

The left drains and return plumbing need a redo, I’m not pleased with how they look at all; I made do with the parts I had on hand… I’ll get to that, and pipe strapping in the upcoming week when I have free time!

I also want to fabricate an acrylic light support bracket for the refugium on both sumps at some point… they are technically display sumps in this application!

— the last 10% always eats all the time…

 

[Dom]

powerstrip on the rim of the sump! omg! I hope he has a gfci :P

Saw that. That's an accident waiting to happen.