lets see your diy sump setups

[spiffyfish]

hi all, i have been looking at building a sump, i do not have any holes drilled into my tank and would like to keep it this way. i have seen a few siphon setups, and a few with hang on overflows. there are good and bad comments on both of those setups. what i am looking for is if people can post pictures of their diy sump and maybe explain a little about it. thankyou all for any help.

Chris

[Chad Hughes]

Chris,

Are you looking for non drilled overflow systems or any sysem? I have both systems. The non drilled is a purchased setup. The Drilled is my hatchery setup. I'm in Ohio at the moment but would be happy to post some pics when I get back.

Best wishes!

[spiffyfish]

preferably non drilled as that is what i am looking to do, but others can be posted to give ideas, and maybe help others too.thanks chad

[Chad Hughes]

OK. I'll send you some shots when I get back.

Best wishes!

[spiffyfish]

I know there are alot of people on here who have built their own sumps, where is everyone?

[Chad Hughes]

Actually there may not be THAT many. The reefers are the sump folks. LOL! I promise I'll post up some pics this weekend. Just been a bit busy. Sorry about that.

[Larry Bugg]

I'll try to take some pics of mine this weekend also. Mine are drilled though.

[jcardona1]

Here's my 10g sump on my 57g planted tank. I will never again run a traditional wet/dry setup with pot scrubbies or bio balls. My setup eliminates the need for messy drip trays, dividers, or baffles, since you use submerged ceramic media.

This sump has a Quiet One 4000 1017gph pump and 2x 4" 25 micron filter socks (best mechanical filtration you can get, aside from a diatom filter). All you need is an old tank, filter socks on the inlet, ceramic media in the middle (either in a basket or mes laundry bags), and a pump on the other end. That's it! Cheapest and easiest sump you can build

[spiffyfish]

pretty cool setup how often do those filter bags clog up?

[jcardona1]

Thanks! I'd say I get 5-7 days use out of them. After that I just toss them in the washing machine, water only. If you add filter socks to an existing setup, they will clog quickly, maybe even after a few hours. It will take a few days of constantly swapping them out until all the crud gets filtered out of the system.

Oh and if you need a good place to order filter socks from for dirt cheap, get them here. They come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors

NOTE: there's 4 pages of filter socks, click the links up top http://www.mcmaster.com/#filter-bags/=a38uli

[spiffyfish]

if you dont mind me asking why do you not like using pot scrubbies or bio balls?

[jcardona1]

if you dont mind me asking why do you not like using pot scrubbies or bio balls?

Two main reasons:

1) They need to be exposed and have water dripping them, requiring more complicated setups with dividers and drip trays
2) They have poor surface area compared to highly porous ceramic media. Don't know the exact numbers, but you'd need a lot more room for bio balls/scrubbies than if you were using ceramic. Big issue if you don't have a lot of room to work with.

[spiffyfish]

i believe some bio balls you can get with ceramic media, i dont know wheather it is porous or not but would that still not be a large enough surface area of media to make a good filter system?

[jcardona1]

Well, I'm not saying that you can't make a good system with bio balls only and not using ceramic, because you most certainly can. And it's been done like that in the hobby for years. I just prefer a simpler sump that doesn't require a "wet/dry" setup where the water drips over the media. This is just to show you that you DO have options when building a sump, and aren't restricted to using only bio balls or scrubbies that have to be above the water level with water dripping over them. Whether you choose bio balls, pot scrubbers, japanese matting, plastic army men, hair curlers, ceramic media, lava rock, etc, etc, the end result is the same; and that is, surface area for bacteria to grow on to provide biological filtration. Each type of media will have its pros and cons. And for me, the pros of ceramic media (huge surface area/cubic ft and the ability to be used completely submerged) are reason enough for me to never use bio balls again

[jcardona1]

And it's not a new idea either, folks in Asia have been running sumps this way for years.

This was my 90g sump on my 400g tank





Some old photos from the web