Show me some DIY sump plumbing

[NY_Caveman]

Here’s mine... (not quite finished yet, still have to glue and paint the return).

Love the black @samnaz ! Looks like a spider!

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

My tank has a 1.5" return and bean animal drains. I used a heat gun, in a well ventilated space, to bend the pipes instead of using tons of elbows. I also made a manifold off the return pump to run the skimmer and some reactors etc.

Here is a poorly made video from when I was still putting it together in the garage.

 

[Reef-junky]

I highly recommend having some of the flex PVC on hand in case you end up with pieces that dont quite line up. The plumbing here is for a bean animal drain and dual returns from a single return pump

Check valve not a good idea

 

[Reef-junky]

Mine

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Need to do some serious cable maintenance so I wont show you what it look like now... but this is freshly plumbed on my SCA 90 "cube" with Trigger sapphire cube sump.

 

[Katrina71]

Red you say? I just happen to be tripping over some yesterday ;)
I liked the manifold idea, If you can find a molded one. I built a three outlet manifold and the tees eat up space, then I only ever used one. Also, you have to position the tees up or down or the ball or needle valve with a barb will end up over the middle of your sump and interfere with the skimmer or reactor. I ended up plugging 2 off.

I appreciate the heads up!

 

[Katrina71]

Wow! There are some beautiful sumps and plumbing here!

 

[Silent]

i dont know a single reefer that don't like to see "under the hood" so might as well make it look good.

 

[kidrobotny]

following~~~

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

I took a couple more pictures today. I've added an algae scrubber to the output of my skimmer and a 2 part dosing pump since the last photo. I'm also actually using the reactor manifold now, to hang the media bag of carbon from... ;) I also dumped the clip on CFL light in favor of a regular light bulb socket mounted to the stand. That eliminates the chance of the clip on light falling into the sump, again. (GFCI outlets, use them!)

The one major change I did make from the original was the return. Originally I had put threaded outside corner elbows around the center brace with 4 lock lines as returns. With the elbows, thread adapters, lock line Y's, and lock line, the return stuck out half way into the tank. It looked really unnatural and only made worse by the white pvc on my black background. So the fix was to buy a 1" black pvc pipe with black elbow and a T. I then drilled a 1/4" hole every 1/2" to make a spray bar, and put 1 lock line in the T to get water to the corner opposite the drain. I like this setup way better and would do it again. Though, coraline algae is making pretty visible 2 years in.

 

[Reef-junky]

My guess is that chaeto is going to die because of the ATS. It looks like you have two red LED strips under water and a regular bulb plus a grow light. I think you way over killed it. I would just run the ATS. Because of the ATS you may even be able to get rid of the skimmer.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

I agree that an ATS and refugium don't always work together. My algae scrubber has been running for over a year now and the cheato does still grow, granted much slower and darker than before the scrubber. I do have lots of lights, but I have a 500 watt 24v power supply that runs most of my pumps and lights. So I don't care if 100 watts goes into the cheato. I can run the lights all year for less than the cost of one water change. If it keeps the display free from hair algae and my fish + coral alive, its a winner in my book. I also have a mandarin that wont touch anything that I feed. So I really can't drop the chaeto and keep the mandarin.

 

[Reef-junky]

The ATS may be under sized if the chaeto can still grow. You can also grow pods in your ATS.

 

[madweazl]

I have to haul buckets for the 75g...

but the 150g is just a matter of turning a couple valves to complete a water change (still have to tidy a few things up but I've been lazy).

 

[NancyFish]

Just finished my first attempt at aquarium plumbing..... A 120 with a 40b sump and a beananimal exotic marine overflow.

I ran out of red at the end. :confused:

Use unions where ever you can! Also, get some solid mounting clamps to hold the pvc in place and take some strain off of the bulkheads/glass.

Do you have to use thread slip to attach the pipe to the overflow bulkheads?

 

[KStatefan]

Do you have to use thread slip to attach the pipe to the overflow bulkheads?

You can get bulkheads in different configuration depending on what you want to do. Slip-Slip, Slip-NPT, NPT-Slip, NPT-NPT.

My tank came with slip-slip but I switched to slip-npt so i could use a threaded nipple to connect to my union.

 

[NancyFish]

You can get bulkheads in different configuration depending on what you want to do. Slip-Slip, Slip-NPT, NPT-Slip, NPT-NPT.

My tank came with slip-slip but I switched to slip-npt so i could use a threaded nipple to connect to my union.

Okay, I’ll have to look it up. All the bulkheads I’ve seen I thought looked male threaded and assumed slip internal. I think I just commented on your other tank about flex pvc lol

 

[MDAquatics]

I highly recommend having some of the flex PVC on hand in case you end up with pieces that dont quite line up. The plumbing here is for a bean animal drain and dual returns from a single return pump

that looks awesome!!!!!

 

[MDAquatics]

Need to do some serious cable maintenance so I wont show you what it look like now... but this is freshly plumbed on my SCA 90 "cube" with Trigger sapphire cube sump.

very nice

 

[KStatefan]

Okay, I’ll have to look it up. All the bulkheads I’ve seen I thought looked male threaded and assumed slip internal. I think I just commented on your other tank about flex pvc lol

The male threads on standard bulkheads are not for plumbing they are for attaching to tank.