Rubbermaid sump

[M0oN]

So I'm going to be building my sump out of a 50 gallon rubbermaid bin and I'm wondering how folks get the acrylic or whatever it is they use on theirs for drip plates, overflow barriers etc. to stick...

[Lance_Krueger]

As far as I know, you can't, since they aren't made of a rigid material. Too much flex with varying water levels. So I made a homemade wet/dry with a Rubbermaid for my 135 gallon tank. I think my Rubbermaid is only 25 or 30 gallons. You just make a freestanding bio tower that sits inside the Rubbermaid. I made mine out of two old 5 gallon buckets. Drilled a bunch of big holes (smaller than my bio balls) in the bottom of the first bucket. Then I took the other bucket, and cut off the bottom of it, with about a 1" lip (which used to be the side of the second bucket) all around. Then I drilled a bunch of 1/4" holes in this other bottom, which became my drip plate. Don't throw away the rest of the now bottomless bucket, because you're going to cut off about another 6" ring from the bucket. Then you squeeze the bottom of the main bio tower bucket into this ring, which becomes your stand to keep the bio tower 5-6" off the bottom of the rubbermaid. I then took some tin snips (or a hacksaw would work), and made 1" square notches all around the bottom of this stand, to let the clean water that dripped out of the bio tower to get to the rubbermaid and to the pump. After you get your bio tower constructed, stick it into the rubbermaid, fill it with bioballs (or whatever media you decide to use) up to an inch or two from the top (thus you'll have about 5 gallons of bio balls, but you can use less depending on how many gallons you're going to filter), put the drip plate on top, then you're ready for the lid.
From my overflow box in my tank, I ran the flexible PVC hose down to the top of the bio tower. I attached it to a 90 degree 1" elbow threaded on one side (the side going into the drip plate). Cut a hole (about 1 1/4") in the middle of the bucket lid, then took a male threaded PVC Adapter inside the lid, and screwed the elbow into it from the outside, with the lid in between. The lid with the now tightened "bulkhead" allowed the water from the overflow box to land right on the drip plate (which I put a blue floss pad on, cut to size to catch the big stuff), and to drip down over the five gallons of bio balls. You can then take the handle of the bucket, and flip that over the top of the 90 degree elbow and hose, and it will help keep the lid from accidentally coming off.
I also used the exact same bio tower inside a 20 gallon aquarium (you can use any 12-13" wide tank) beneath another of my discus tanks. I didn't put the stand on the bottom of the bio tower, since the lip of the bucket rested on the top trim of the tank, and kept it off the bottom of the glass tank about 4". So this works even better, and requires less work. With either setup, you put your pump in the rubbermaid, and return the cleaned water back to the tank. Easy as pie.
If you're doing a really large tank, or want to use up more of your 55 gallon rubbermaid, you can do two bio towers, but would need two overflows, or split the drain someway.
Hope this helps. If you don't understand something I've described, then please ask. I don't have a digital camera, or I'd shoot photos to illustrate.
Lance Krueger

[slicksta]

There is no gluing in mine....
The smaller container that holds the media fits perfectly inside the sump and is resting on it's lip.
I notched a piece of 3/4" PVC for support...I will try to takes some pics over the week-end