Building in Tank Sump, Help

[e12pilot]

Hey all,

One other question before I actually start this task :-)

 

The 10 gallon I will be using for my nano-reef is an AGA tank and will be placed in a location where both the front and the back of the tank will be viewed through. This makes placing heaters, etc. very difficult as I don't want them cluttering the tank up. So, I have decided to construct an in tank overflow/sump that looks a little like what I attached below.

 

 

My questions are:

1) What should I construct my faux wall out of? Acryllic? Glass?

2) I will be cutting slits in the top of my faux wall in order to allow water to reach the bottom of the overflow, and the pump. Is there a specific GPH out/GPH in, that needs to be followed in order to keep the water level in the overflow above the heater?

 

3) I would like to blacken out the front and the back of the tank where the overflow is, so you cannot view into the overflow. Any suggestions how to do this? Acryllic sides?

 

Thanks for all of the help everyone, your help is invaluable.

 

Peter

[harbingerofthefish]

I'm no whiz here just some practical outlook sort of stuff....here goes nothin'

 

 

1) What should I construct my faux wall out of? Acryllic? Glass?

 

I would use acryllic. Reason being...see you question #2

 

2) I will be cutting slits in the top of my faux wall in order to allow water to reach the bottom of the overflow, and the pump.

 

see question 1, if your going to be cutting up the faux wall yourself, acryllic is going to be a lot easier to do what I invision your doing.

 

* Is there a specific GPH out/GPH in, that needs to be followed in order to keep the water level in the overflow above the heater?

 

If the over flow is built in to the same tank then the water level of both the main tank and the overflow should be the same (unless I'm missing something) If I am, what you can do is make the sump area have 2 chambers. One side being the flow from the main tank and the other being the pump and return side. Just make the wall seperating the two higher between them than the...wait thats not right, if your forcing the return with a pump then it shouldn't happen that the heater is out of water. Not including evaporation, you should retain a fairly constant water level in the tank as a whole.

 

3) I would like to blacken out the front and the back of the tank where the overflow is, so you cannot view into the overflow. Any suggestions how to do this? Acryllic sides?

 

You cant get colored acryllic panels, where, I don't know but they are available. just don't use panit inside your tank.

 

maybe that helped, maybe it didn't. Got some (cue UB40) red red wine in me