5 Gallon Bucket Sump DIY! Yes, a Bucket sump!

[Michael_Price]

On 4/20/2017 at 10:51 AM, oohnoo said:

I am so loving this idea. Going to make one for my new IM 30L. It's in my office at work so doing water changes can be a PITA especially with my 15gal nano I have now. Draining 5 gals exposes some corals which I know is no big deal but then added it back in sometimes can be messy with the water splashing and disturbing everything as it's so shallow. This way you just swap buckets and be done quickly. No mess. no fuss.

 

Like others mentioned I'll add quick disconnects to make swapping buckets easier. And so tempted to use with an old external Marineland Magnum 350 external canister filter I have for the pump.

I wish i used Quick Disconnects lol. Ill have to add some to make it easier.  

 

On 4/23/2017 at 9:51 PM, oohnoo said:

Can I ask where you got those valves? And what size pump you using?

I got everything except the Lids at Home Depot. Just get the Plastic Valves. And im using a 560GPH Pump. 

[oohnoo]

Well I got it all together and it did come out awesome as it's a great concept. BUT..........the Gamma Seals themselves leak ever so slightly where I don't feel safe using it as my tank is at my workplace and I can't afford to have a leak. No matter how I tried I couldn't get it to hold an air tight seal that I could depend on. I have two buckets with the lid and I'm using one now to transport mix salt to work and it leaks every so slightly.

I used bulk head fittings which worked great as you can adapt them to any fittings. And the Magnum quick-disconnects would of made swapping buckets a breeze. While running it worked great but once I stopped the pump you can hear the air leaking. Press down on the Gamma Seal and you can hear the hissing stop. Any ideas?

 

 

 

[Drewbedo]

This is a great idea, I think I'm going to have to steal it for my new tank.  

[graftobny142]

On 6/2/2017 at 7:26 PM, oohnoo said:

Magnum quick-disconnects

OP mentioned he put a ring of silicon around the rim of the bucket before putting the lid on, could that be it?

[oohnoo]

Not leaking from there. It's leaking from the actual screw on lid itself. You can hear it pissing air once you stop the pump and you can see the water rise. Press down on the lid and it stops. And this happens on both lids. Love love the idea but I can't take a chance on it overflowing at work.

[graftobny142]

10 hours ago, oohnoo said:

Not leaking from there. It's leaking from the actual screw on lid itself. You can hear it pissing air once you stop the pump and you can see the water rise. Press down on the lid and it stops. And this happens on both lids. Love love the idea but I can't take a chance on it overflowing at work.

 

Did you get a different brand perhaps. Could be a bad run too. 

 

Hopefully op responds 

[oohnoo]

13 hours ago, themummra said:

 

Did you get a different brand perhaps. Could be a bad run too. 

 

Hopefully op responds 

 

Same brand, GamaSeal2

These are not designed to be air tight unfortunately

 

[Friendly]

what about using a quick disconnect option like these? 

 

http://www.gardenindoorstoday.com/content-product_info/product_id-1893/siroflex_quick_disconnect_kit.html

 

[Friendly]

so i really like this idea...but am curious as to what larger buckets may be available for a higher capacity? 

 

I think it would be a pit of a pain to daisy chain buckets to get higher capacity.   

 

hmmm...Amazon had a listing fora  10 gal option with screw lid, but is 'currently unavailable'...so no idea on cost etc. but, with the screw lid, if it's got a seal, could make for an excellent option!  

[Friendly]

I'm bumping this and nominating it to be stickied!

[Nickosreef]

I’m racking my brain to understand this. So being airtight, there is no siphon right? The return pump just draws the water from the inlet? 

[Beer]

It basically functions like a canister filter.

 

Water flows from the display through the inlet tubing into the bucket due to the negative pressure from the pump pushing water to the display.

[flypenfly]

Exactly like a canister filter but more dangerous. 

 

You can can also get closed loop filters that are more sump like... or you know just get a Nuvo 30 EXT... to begin with 

[Friendly]

6 hours ago, flypenfly said:

Exactly like a canister filter but more dangerous. 

 

You can can also get closed loop filters that are more sump like... or you know just get a Nuvo 30 EXT... to begin with 

how is it more dangerous?

[flypenfly]

2 hours ago, Friendly said:

how is it more dangerous?

Messy diy solutions are always a bit more dangerous than a properly designed and mass tested professionally built device. 

[Friendly]

and yet so much of this hobby requires DIY so often...LoL!

[flypenfly]

20 minutes ago, Friendly said:

and yet so much of this hobby requires DIY so often...LoL!

Don't get me wrong, I've tried to save many dollars doing my own device.. .but I always end up regretting wasting time and energy on it and worst case I lose livestock or cause a small flood. 

[JurisReefer]

Very interested in adding this to my all-in-one as a refugium with cheato, but I'm confused on two points. First, to get the water flowing from the sump part of the tank to the bucket, is it just a regular siphon from sucking the air out of the end of the hose? Second, does anyone have any ideas for keeping the chaeto from getting sucked into the return pump in the bucket?

 

 

[Friendly]

you could do it the same way as a regular sump and use an overflow. or you could do a siphon...or two pumps of the same flow and have one pumping in while the other is a return.

 

might be simpler to get an AC70 or 110 and turn it into a refugium...likely cheaper too.

[JurisReefer]

8 minutes ago, Friendly said:

you could do it the same way as a regular sump and use an overflow. or you could do a siphon...or two pumps of the same flow and have one pumping in while the other is a return.

 

might be simpler to get an AC70 or 110 and turn it into a refugium...likely cheaper too.

I have an AC70 I used a fuge for a 10g as my first reef but it's just not enough cheato for worthwhile nutrient export. This has the added benefit of a big space for the chaeto, plus added water volume. I was thinking maybe using egg crate propped up with some legs of some sort to make something like two sections. I'd lay some or something with a wide enough weave that it wouldn't clog easily.

[Friendly]

well, you could always do it the right way and get a cheep rimmed 10 gal and cut some acrylic to size  🙂 

[flypenfly]

27 minutes ago, JurisReefer said:

Very interested in adding this to my all-in-one as a refugium with cheato, but I'm confused on two points. First, to get the water flowing from the sump part of the tank to the bucket, is it just a regular siphon from sucking the air out of the end of the hose? Second, does anyone have any ideas for keeping the chaeto from getting sucked into the return pump in the bucket?

 

 

Just get an external macro algae reactor kit from MarineDepot

[Beer]

You need the bucket mostly full of water to stat.

The pump shoud be connected to the return (not using it to suck water from the tank).

The infeed line should be submerged in the tank/chamber at the max level you want it to drain to if something were to fail.

 

When the pump is turned on, it will push water to the display, creating a negative pressure in the bucket. This will draw water into the inlet tube. Once the water gets up over the edge, it will start a siphon effect and allow the water to circulate as if it were a canister filter.

 

If the pump isn’t strong enough to pull water over the lip of the tank, you will need to prefill the inlet tubing. It will be quicker if you plug the end of the return tubing. That will allow you to fill only the inlet tubing. You will need to submerge the inlet line before uncovering the outlet and there cannot be any air in the inlet tubing.

 

If your inlet is submerged far enough into the bucket, you could blow into the return line to force water into the inlet tubing and forcing the water out. This does run a high risk of injesting water and making a mess if you run out of breath or mess up covering the end of the return when you are close to having all of the air out of the inlet.

[Beer]

I suppose you could try to start is as a siphon. It would be a little more difficult as you would also be sucking fluid up the return, against gravity. If you started with the bucket elevated and siphoned into a lower container it might go easier. Start standing up. Once you get enough water drawn up the return to get a bit past the rim of the bucket, it should start the siphon. 

[Friendly]

it would probably be simpler if one were to use an overflow and convert the bucket into a sump using some acrylic sheets to partition it into 4 chambers.

 

then you don't need to worry about pressure issues or leaks, etc.

 

edit - or, get a pail that's designed with a vacuum tight seal in mind. this is the Canadian site, but the US likely has something of this nature as well:

https://www.uline.ca/BL_1296/Liquid-Screw-Top-Pails?keywords=bucket