Sump or wet/dry filter

Hooked on Corals · Apr 26, 2026

Hello, so I recently bought a freshwater 250 gallon setup used from someone and it came with a sump. But it was really dirty and have like media balls and stuff in it. I think it is a eshoops wet/dry system. I had to re-silicone it and realize it didn’t look the way a sump looked with the baffling. Can I use this for my reef tank? Or can I somehow turn it into a sump “ DIY”. I’m pretty good at that.lol or what do I do? I attached one pic of before and two after I fix/cleaned it. Any and all advice will help.

UncommonSense · Apr 26, 2026

This could definitely be converted, assuming it’s well built, and actually designed to hold water up to the rim!

I’ve seen a few brands of trickle filter which have an indicated max water line around 1/4 of the way up, which can definitely split open if overfilled!

Hooked on Corals · Apr 27, 2026

UncommonSense said:
This could definitely be converted, assuming it’s well built, and actually designed to hold water up to the rim!

I’ve seen a few brands of trickle filter which have an indicated max water line around 1/4 of the way up, which can definitely split open if overfilled!

Oh yes it has a water line about 1/4th of the way as well

UncommonSense · Apr 27, 2026

Hooked on Corals said:
Oh yes it has a water line about 1/4th of the way as well

Oof, I’d be cautious about using this as your sump, then!

I’ve seen some remarkably shoddy build quality on several examples, and have personally blown one out at a welded joint during a fully filled pressure test just to see what would happen…

What you could do is break it down for acrylic sheet to use as baffles for an off-the-shelf glass tank, making your own sump!

Hooked on Corals · Apr 27, 2026

UncommonSense said:
Oof, I’d be cautious about using this as your sump, then!

I’ve seen some remarkably shoddy build quality on several examples, and have personally blown one out at a welded joint during a fully filled pressure test just to see what would happen…

What you could do is break it down for acrylic sheet to use as baffles for an off-the-shelf glass tank, making your own sump!

That’s true! I wish I he knew that before I resealed everything