Rubbermaid structural foam tank as sump?

[SaracensRugby]

Is anyone using these as a sump? I am moving soon, and have 127 and 80 gallon tanks that will be going right next to each other in the new house and I would like to plumb to the same sump. I need to buy the rubbermaid structural 150 to house all livestock and corals while I moved over a few days. But it has me thinking, can I ditch my two sumps in favor of using the rubbermaid as one big sump for both tanks?

Pros/Cons to that? The main thing I can think of is the flow of the water will not be linear like in my current sumps (going through each chamber), so all of the water may not be run through skimmer, heater, etc like now. But I think that is minimal issue. Am I off? What am I missing?

 

[Peace River]

I have seen plenty of setups like what you are describing, have done it in the past, and will likely have a set up like this in the future.

@WVNed - feel like chiming in on the question above?

 

[WVNed]

I do not have any baffles in my sump. I used 2 stock tanks. A small one that drains into a big one. The small one has a constant water depth for my skimmer. My UV is installed in the drain from the small tank (40 gallon) to the big one.
4 drains from the tank enter the bottom of the small stock tank. 2 larger drains handle the flow into the big stock tank (100 gallon) that sits under it. My 80 watt UV is installed in a 2 inch full siphon drain controlled with a valve. Beyond the UV I have a siphon break so the unit will hold water if the power goes out. A second 2 inch drain has a standpipe that controls the water depth in the small stock tank

My ATO uses a float switch to read the level of the large tank. The 2nd skimmer in the bottom is used as an ozone reactor. It does not require a constant water depth to work.

This comes up from time to time. Several people use stock tanks for sumps. The trick is getting around the fact it is one big single chamber. There are several ways people use to fix that.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/baffles-for-a-rubbermaid-stock-sump.796301/
I use a 100 gallon stock tank for 240, 75 gallon DTs and a 29 gallon fuge. I use 2 more for my water prep.
Assuming you have an adequate flow through your system the issue you mentioned isnt a problem. This sump has 900 watts of heaters in it and the tanks in the other room stay the correct temp.
Once it gets this involved have a generator on hand.

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[SaracensRugby]

Very nice, thanks to you both. Confirms that I am not crazy for thinking of doing this. From an ease of maintenance this seems to be most logical option as I started thinking it over. The house we are buying has a generator, so will just need to make sure we can hook this system into it. @WVNed if you could ever snap a closer pic or two of your plumbing for the stock tanks that would be much appreciated!

 

[Vette67]

I do everything external, so I don’t need to chamber my sump for anything. I just have a bunch of live rock in mine. My refugium is a 40 gallon tank that is external to my sump, my skimmer is external, as is my return pump. So if you do everything external, then there’s no need to section off the stock tank. But that depends if you have enough room for external equipment.

 

[WVNed]

Very nice, thanks to you both. Confirms that I am not crazy for thinking of doing this. From an ease of maintenance this seems to be most logical option as I started thinking it over. The house we are buying has a generator, so will just need to make sure we can hook this system into it. @WVNed if you could ever snap a closer pic or two of your plumbing for the stock tanks that would be much appreciated!

The large tank is just a tank. There are no holes or plumbing through it. I have 4 x 1.5 inch drains that come through the wall. They go in the bottom of the small stock tank. There are 2 x 2 inch drains for the small tank to drain into the large one. I used flex PVC.

This small tank sits half way over the big one. The table has holes to pass the pipes.

I looked into a large external pump but chose to use several smaller submersible pumps.

My UV runs in the 2 inch drain between the small and large tubs

 

[Trey]

I use one of these for my turtle. Awesome tubs. The one downside that I have read, is they (anecdotally of course) can leach high levels of phosphate. So I suppose it depends on what you plan on keeping.

 

[burningmime]

I do everything external, so I don’t need to chamber my sump for anything. I just have a bunch of live rock in mine. My refugium is a 40 gallon tank that is external to my sump, my skimmer is external, as is my return pump. So if you do everything external, then there’s no need to section off the stock tank. But that depends if you have enough room for external equipment.

UV is the only worry I had with this (why I'm probably going to end up with 2 of them). You don't want UV on a closed loop, right? I guess it's not a big deal if you have very directional flow.

 

[Captain K'nuckles]

Is anyone using these as a sump? I am moving soon, and have 127 and 80 gallon tanks that will be going right next to each other in the new house and I would like to plumb to the same sump. I need to buy the rubbermaid structural 150 to house all livestock and corals while I moved over a few days. But it has me thinking, can I ditch my two sumps in favor of using the rubbermaid as one big sump for both tanks?

Pros/Cons to that? The main thing I can think of is the flow of the water will not be linear like in my current sumps (going through each chamber), so all of the water may not be run through skimmer, heater, etc like now. But I think that is minimal issue. Am I off? What am I missing?

Hi. I put my skimmer in a food safe tub just the right height for the skimmer water level. Placed it in open sump. This acted as a first chamber. Heaters placed in same tub and inlet filled directly into this before cascading into sump. If you have a deep plastic sump just raise skimmer tub. Hope.this helps. Lots of uses for those realy useful boxes

 

[Vette67]

UV is the only worry I had with this (why I'm probably going to end up with 2 of them). You don't want UV on a closed loop, right? I guess it's not a big deal if you have very directional flow.

At that time, I was running 2 UV sterilizers although I’m not anymore. The 2 light blue reactors in that pic are Lifegard 40 watt UV sterilizers, one on the left of the pic and one behind the sump on the right. And those were fed from my recirculation pump, and not closed loop. So they dumped into my 2 tanks. Like I said, I do everything external. But that is personal preference. Although it seems like everything is designed for in sump use anymore, but that’s not me.

 

[ca1ore]

Even if you don't use it as a sump, most useful to have laying around. Plan to replace the bulkhead, the one tha comes with the stock tank is pretty low quality.

 

[Peace River]

Even if you don't use it as a sump, most useful to have laying around. Plan to replace the bulkhead, the one tha comes with the stock tank is pretty low quality.

Is there a recommendation for what bulkhead to use? I plan to do this soon with one of my stock tanks. I wasn't sure if I should use an industrial one or if the standard bulkhead for aquariums would be okay.

 

[ca1ore]

I just used a standard ABS bulkhead like you would buy from BRS. I think my 150 gallon tub took a 2" bulkhead. I'd go check except the tank is outside and snowed in.

 

[BaysEndReef]

There's soooo much good info in this thread!! I'm currently using one of the 50 gallon tubs for seeding a bunch of rock. Eventually, I will be tying it into my frag system. These tubs are SUPER useful. Initially, I was using a cheap tuff box type thing to cure my rock. That didn't work out so well. I only went with that because it fit the space so well. I was a new reefer and didn't know any better. I learned my lesson and spent a couple more bucks on the good tubs. Best. decision. ever. You guys have some great ideas. Definitely makes me think about things for my next build.

 

[Vette67]

Is there a recommendation for what bulkhead to use? I plan to do this soon with one of my stock tanks. I wasn't sure if I should use an industrial one or if the standard bulkhead for aquariums would be okay.

This is the bulkhead I used. It is an absolute beast and at 3", it is gigantic. So it depends on what size bulkhead you want to use. The included bulkhead is a 1.25" threaded fitting. I used the included bulkhead and tied that into my skimmer output. The bulkhead on the front of the Rubbermaid tank on mine is the 3" one below. So if you replace the factory bulkhead (at least on the 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank) then you'll probably have to go bigger than 1.25", probably 1.5". But as Ca1ore said, you can use just about any of them. I prefer the Schedule 80 bulkeheads, because they have thicker gaskets on them, and I used a 1" schedule 80 and put it in the rounded corner of my sump for my Refugium overflow, and it sealed fine.

Banjo TF300 Polypropylene Bulkhead Tank Fitting, ...

 

[SaracensRugby]

I have a Trigger44 sump on each of my tanks, love the things, but looking at functionality and cost, these seem to be a no brainer in hindsight. That is, if you can hide the stock tank somewhere appropriately. Evaporation might be an issue to somewhat.

 

[jft]

Honestly used many sumps wasted lots of money learning the HARD way. Knowledge and Husbandry saved me More than FANCY sumps. Use your money on Good skimmer and LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Good Luck!!!

 

[SaracensRugby]

Even if you don't use it as a sump, most useful to have laying around. Plan to replace the bulkhead, the one tha comes with the stock tank is pretty low quality.

@ca1ore where did you get the replacement bulkhead? BRS? I bought the 100 gallon rubbermaid, tested it and of course it leaks....

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, BRS. Different tubs have different sized bulkheads so just measure the diameter of the hole to ensure you get the right one.

 

[mehaffydr]

I did exactly what you are doing I just finished building a 1100 gallon plywood tank but I had to break down my 225 last September to start the new build. I bought the Rubbermaid 150 and it housed all of my rock and livestock for the past 6 months. It's now my sump. Mine is still a work in progress but I will have a separate Refugium and I have an external skimmer so my sump will have some rock and heaters in it.