Need help designing unique sump

[Sean W.]

Hey guys,


Long story short, I have a 55 gallon tank that I am currently using a canister filter on, and I wanted to switch to a sump. However my situation is a little unique because I live in a TINY 300sq/ft apartment. So I don't have space for a dedicated salt mix station and auto top off reservoir, so I kinda came up with a system that uses a 20gallon tank that serves as BOTH my freshwater top off reservoir AND my saltwater mix container.

Between water changes, it is full of fresh water and the day before I want to do a water change, I add salt to the reservoir, turn the mix pump on, 24 hours later I do my water change with all the water, then refill it with RODI water and its my fresh water container again until the next water change.

This has worked well, except for I am using a SunSun 704 canister as my filter and there are obvious and inherent draw backs with a canister filter that I would like solve with a sump...

This is the situation now under my tank, the canister filter is under the blanket to keep it absolutely silent and the 20 gallon to the right is my fresh water/ salt mix station.

So my idea is to get one large tank to replace both these under my tank into a single solution.

This is where I need help

I found a 45 gallon tall with the dimensions of 36"x12"x24" that will fit snuggly under my tank, I will silicone a piece of glass or acrylic about 1/3 on the side, leaving me with my fresh reservoir/ salt mix tank and the rest for a proper sump.

I just need help designing the sump part of the tank, noting that this tank is 24" tall and any unique challenges that may present. Obviously I don't have to have 24" of water, it can be like 3/8 full of water in the sump section, leaving the majority of it empty.

Here is a quick MS paint drawing I came up with to illustrate my thoughts.

I need my sump to house ideally a roller mat mechanical filter, bio media, a protein skimmer and a heater - all while being as SILENT as possible.

Thanks for any help! This is my first saltwater tank and my first sump, so I'm really not sure what I'm doing.

 

[HuduVudu]

Hey guys,


Long story short, I have a 55 gallon tank that I am currently using a canister filter on, and I wanted to switch to a sump. However my situation is a little unique because I live in a TINY 300sq/ft apartment. So I don't have space for a dedicated salt mix station and auto top off reservoir, so I kinda came up with a system that uses a 20gallon tank that serves as BOTH my freshwater top off reservoir AND my saltwater mix container.

Between water changes, it is full of fresh water and the day before I want to do a water change, I add salt to the reservoir, turn the mix pump on, 24 hours later I do my water change with all the water, then refill it with RODI water and its my fresh water container again until the next water change.

This has worked well, except for I am using a SunSun 704 canister as my filter and there are obvious and inherent draw backs with a canister filter that I would like solve with a sump...

This is the situation now under my tank, the canister filter is under the blanket to keep it absolutely silent and the 20 gallon to the right is my fresh water/ salt mix station.

So my idea is to get one large tank to replace both these under my tank into a single solution.

This is where I need help

I found a 45 gallon tall with the dimensions of 36"x12"x24" that will fit snuggly under my tank, I will silicone a piece of glass or acrylic about 1/3 on the side, leaving me with my fresh reservoir/ salt mix tank and the rest for a proper sump.

I just need help designing the sump part of the tank, noting that this tank is 24" tall and any unique challenges that may present. Obviously I don't have to have 24" of water, it can be like 3/8 full of water in the sump section, leaving the majority of it empty.

Here is a quick MS paint drawing I came up with to illustrate my thoughts.

I need my sump to house ideally a roller mat mechanical filter, bio media, a protein skimmer and a heater - all while being as SILENT as possible.

Thanks for any help! This is my first saltwater tank and my first sump, so I'm really not sure what I'm doing.

Hmmmm ... You are trying to stuff a lot of equipment into a VERY small area. I would reconsider the roller mat and the biofilter. Use live rock in your main display to replace these items. I would try to source the smallest foot print skimmer that you can. I think the skimmer will be pretty pivotal so it needs to take precedence. You also need to get some bubble traps in there and I would try to figure out what size return pump that you can fit. You don't need a large return pump so try to find smaller pumps that will provide enough head. Looks like you will on really get about two chambers on your sump.

You really want to have solid control over the return pump because you will need fine control over how much water will overflow into the sump with the pumps off. DO NOT use check valves you will be very sorry for that. They WILL fail it is only a matter of time.

You will be using glass because silicone sealer won't adhere to acrylic and the sandwich methods aren't water tight. That means you are going to need to custom cut glass. Put that on your list of things that you will need to do.

I have to say that this is a pretty ambitious project. Go slow and think about what you are doing along the way. If you try to speed through this you will miss something and that thing will usually cause you to start over. Once again I have to emphasize that this is very ambitious and it is going to be tricky to implement so be very patient and plan carefully.

If you really want to be safe use a 3D program like Blender to plan everything out and ensure it will all fit. Ophhhh.

Good luck with this.

 

[Chibils]

Agreed on the fleece roller. It'll take up your whole sump. You're better off using socks and just committing to changing them every few days. That'll free up room for a skimmer and heater(s), as well as some live rock rubble and/or ceramic bio balls.

 

[Sean W.]

hi guys,

Thank you for your input.

I found this automatic mechanical filter that only takes up the space of a 4" filter sock? What do you think?

Di-4 Drop-In Fleece Filter System

Months of Maintenance-Free Filtration! Klir Di-4 Filter Drop-In Fleece Filter System fits in most sumps with a 4" filter sock tray and will eliminate the need to replace filter socks. The 50-micron fleece roll will help eliminate free-floating particles and automatically advance when the fleece...

www.bulkreefsupply.com