75g Acrylic tank w/ 40g sump (Journal build thread)

[rickztahone]

It might actually be better that way. From what I understand you will eventually get tired of changing the socks and they become nasty traps. Might be worth a shot if you have the stuff anyway.

Yeah, I read that about changing the socks often. However, as you know, we change a lot of water in our tanks. Tank maintenance isn't a huge deal to me, which means I would not have minded changing out socks too often. With that being said, I will probably have to clean my filter floss more often now as well as the poret foam. So long as I have a sump to filter, I feel good about the idea. I will give it another shot some time this week.

[Discus-n00b]

Hence why I buy the 12ft rolls of the blue/white poly filter on Amazon at a time LOL

[rickztahone]

Hence why I buy the 12ft rolls of the blue/white poly filter on Amazon at a time LOL

got a link to the one you buy? I've kept saying I was going to start shopping around for poret foam. I need 2 different sizes though, the more porous one, and the more fine one like the pads you find in Rena filters. I really like those pads.

[Discus-n00b]

Well its not Poret foam, would double more as filter floss than anything. But I get these big rolls 12ft total and just cut them to fit whatever filter I am putting them into.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A1YTQUKKLAHTT7

[rickztahone]

Well its not Poret foam, would double more as filter floss than anything. But I get these big rolls 12ft total and just cut them to fit whatever filter I am putting them into.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A1YTQUKKLAHTT7

I suppose you are right, more like filter floss, but it still has a place in the filter section. Not too expensive either. I still have a whole bunch of filter floss as well. Do you know the material I am talking about though with the rena filters? I love those on my XP2/3

[rickztahone]

Bean Animal overflow on the way!
Bean Animal (1).jpgBean Animal (2).jpgBean Animal (3).jpgBean Animal (4).jpgBean Animal (5).jpgBean Animal (6).jpg

The process that was the most difficult was getting square cuts. Some areas are really lacking in precision, but it should all work ok in the end. I plan on making a triangle cut out for support for the external box. Before you ask why white, just know that I LOOKED for a clear acrylic, but the only 1/4" acrylic available was in white. I don't mind it though, I like white stuff on my tank. The internal overflow will be covered by a background anyways.

[rickztahone]

Measurements are

External box:

16"L x 8"H x 4"W

Internal box:
36"L x 4"H x 2"W

[Discus-n00b]

Why 8" H? Just curious if there is a specific reason associated with the Beananimal. I think mine is drawn up as 5W x 7H in sketchup right now so I'm fairly close. How far down inside the tank, really how far under the water line is your internal box going to be mounted? All you want is a paper thin skim over the top right?

Oh and lol White doesn't look bad though. At least pre-algae haha
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/p...o_size_plastic
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/def...arentcatid=443

[rickztahone]

Why 8" H? Just curious if there is a specific reason associated with the Beananimal. I think mine is drawn up as 5W x 7H in sketchup right now so I'm fairly close. How far down inside the tank, really how far under the water line is your internal box going to be mounted? All you want is a paper thin skim over the top right?

Oh and lol White doesn't look bad though. At least pre-algae haha
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/p...o_size_plastic
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/def...arentcatid=443

I will have a cover on the outside box so hopefully no algae. I have a whole bunch of scrap to make covers and all.

As far as the 8" height? If you check out the sketch, I gave myself 2" of safety zone at the top just in case. Some only run 1" but I wanted to be safe and I don't mind having the extra space.

[dprais1]

Well, good news and bad news situation.

The bad news, I completely failed at making the baffles for the sump, lol. I didn't have enough material to give it another try and I'm ditching the idea of making the sump out of acrylic. I am trading up my acrylic for a glass 40g breeder and I will have someone cut my pieces of glass locally to make the sump.

Seems like a lot of wasted effort to measure the baffles correctly. I would just drop the tank off and tell them what you want. They can measure much better....and if they cut it wrong they need to re-cut it without charging you to do it again.

[Mgus]

Yeah, I'm going to have to make sure that whoever cuts the glass will do it exactly to measurements. I thought I had measured correctly yesterday whem measuring from wall to wall to make a baffle yesterday, and it was 14.5", or so I thought. It ended up being 14 5/8" which of course was 1/8 longer than the piece I had just cut! At that point in the day, I was over trying to make my own sump baffles. I started drilling and experimenting on the left over acrylic pieces. Needless to say, I need another tank to make a sump.

I think I will be doing just one return on either side of the inner overflow box. Additionally, I was thinking of just shooting over the back of the tank and making a pvc spray bar the width of the 75g. I am still undecided though. I don't think I will split the line because many have warned me that with a BA setup, it is very difficult to get any type of even flow from both lines and I don't want to have to put gate valves on both returns at this point when I can just do a single one. We will see though. I would personally like to have 2 spray bars with less intensity but if it is a pain to regulate, not sure that I want to do it.

You should've seen the pile of broken glass I had when cutting my baffles. Luckily I got a bunch of free glass. It took me a few tries to get it right. The nice thing with the glass if it's a bit short you can just use some extra silicone. Thanks again for the help with the overflow. Looks like things here are coming along nicely.

[rickztahone]

Seems like a lot of wasted effort to measure the baffles correctly. I would just drop the tank off and tell them what you want. They can measure much better....and if they cut it wrong they need to re-cut it without charging you to do it again.

That was completely my fault and it was the end of a long day. I missed the mark by 1/16", lol. Luckily, I only ruined one panel, so I will move forward with the other 3 later this week and if that fails, THEN I will get someone to make me a sump or go glass.

You should've seen the pile of broken glass I had when cutting my baffles. Luckily I got a bunch of free glass. It took me a few tries to get it right. The nice thing with the glass if it's a bit short you can just use some extra silicone. Thanks again for the help with the overflow. Looks like things here are coming along nicely.

Yeah, that is why I wanted to give the glass a try, but I can't source free glass around me, or at least I haven't checked CL lately. No problem with the overflow help. Lately I have been looking at a lot of plumbing stuff and it just so happens that this type of problem comes up often on these type of set ups. Have you considered drilling your tank rear panel?

[Mgus]

I don't think I'll drill this tank. I've kind of been winging it with everything on this tank. The sump was the only thing I've put a lot of planning into so far. I got the tank for really cheap and set it up to close to the wall thinking I was only gonna use canisters. The tank has a few big scratches. So if things go smooth I might replace it with an acrylic tank in a year or two and use the old tank as a sump. The wall behind it is an unfinished closet that would make a great filter room. I've only been keeping discus since November and this is my first large tank. If all goes smooth hopefully il be upgrading to a new tank in a year or two. Iv already put way more planning into my future tank lol. Gonna try to do everything right the second time around.

[rickztahone]

I don't think I'll drill this tank. I've kind of been winging it with everything on this tank. The sump was the only thing I've put a lot of planning into so far. I got the tank for really cheap and set it up to close to the wall thinking I was only gonna use canisters. The tank has a few big scratches. So if things go smooth I might replace it with an acrylic tank in a year or two and use the old tank as a sump. The wall behind it is an unfinished closet that would make a great filter room. I've only been keeping discus since November and this is my first large tank. If all goes smooth hopefully il be upgrading to a new tank in a year or two. Iv already put way more planning into my future tank lol. Gonna try to do everything right the second time around.

And the discus bug bites again, lol. Do you happen to have any additional pics of your sump? I couldn't quite tell from your pics in your thread how they are set up

[Mgus]

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On top of the the bio balls I have a couple pieces of foam that the drain hose drains out on. The first baffle I left 3/4" short of the top of the tank incase the foam clogs. It then runs through the refugium and through the bio balls into the pump section.