Looking for diy sump designs

[Dumbfk88]

Hey everyone, hows it going? Been a member here for awhile but havent been very active, but trying to change that. I've have a pretty stock biocube 28g for about 5 years now. Have had an anemone the entire time that was part of the tank when I bought it. It was dying, bleach white and about the size of a half-dollar. Now after all these years its about the size of a dinner plate, and controls the placement of everything else in the tank. I pretty much have zoas and softies with the lighting I have, so Im looking forward to providing everything with increased space.

So I recently moved into a new house, and figured it was finally time to upgrade. I have the perfect space in between my living room and my kitchen for a corner tank. After several weeks of searching, I was able to find a clean 36g corner tank with stand for $200. I've been wanting to build a 10g sump out of a standard sized tank, with room for protien skimmer along with a cheato compartment. I've been dying to finally upgrading to led lighting, overall I just want to do this the right way the first time.

I have a middle compartment in my stand I was hoping to house the sump, but unfortunately a 10g is slightly to big. I have a space of 14.5'x10.75'x26' underneath my tank. Im honestly not sure where to start or what to do. Should I drill holes for the sump/return or use a gravity syphon flow on the back? Is there any way to maximize the larger headroom to accommodate the different stages for the sump? Should I be pieceing together something made out of glass or acylic? Really, any help here is greatly appreciated. I just want to know what my fellow reefers out there are thinking. Thanks guys for any insight or direction you can provide.

[RK_tek]

Drill it. Your life will be much easier with lower stress. 9/10 Doctors agree.

[Dumbfk88]

Alright, is there a special drill i should be using or best to find a shop and pay to get it done?

[Dumbfk88]

Damn i was really hoping to get some opinions or dialogue going, nobody?

[Marc.The.Shark]

That's going to be a small sump & really not much of a benefit other than hiding equipment. Even a 10g sump on a 36g tank won't do much, have to have at least a 20g to provide some use. You'd prob have to go with a cube & that only gives you a 10x10x10, pretty small. I run that size on my 8gal & it's debateable as to its effectiveness, but I have no powerheads, so it moves all my equip out of my display. You could prob get a heater & skimmer & reactor in something that size tho, but return pump would have to be small. I run a Tunze 1073.020, it's not huge, but has pretty good flow.