Sump without Drilling

[Niger12]

I have a BC14 thats been set up for a couple of months and just ordered my LEDs and Reefkeeper. I would like to have a mostly SPS dominated tank.

 

I have been trying to figure out a way to plumb in a sump without drilling the back. I keep up on water changes every 5-7 days. Tank perams stay very stable just looking to add more volume and stability.

 

Tried searching and really only came up with drilled AIO tanks. If any of you have completed a sump without drilling how about a picture.

 

Thanks

 

[GreyFox]

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2727959

 

diy pvc overflow does the trick for me, great top skimming too

[chucktdbm321]

no picture but have you looked at a hang on overflow? they use the siphon method and can be cheap and for the return use an internal pump

http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/237622/product.web <--- This is def not your cheapest one out there but to give you an idea its def possible

[GreyFox]

personally id go with a pvc overflow, much more simple and less chance of losing siphon then the ones that use a tube. mine also only cost me 10 dollars so yea :/,

[Niger12]

I have been considering a PVC siphon tube pulling out of chamber 1. Returning in either 2 or 3. My other concern is water movement in the back chambers to prevent detritus build up. Do you think it would work if the siphon tube were to draw water from the bottom of the first chamber and return to the same chamber. Still leaving chamber 2 and 3 functional. Flow would not have to be that fast just enough to turn the tank over a few times per hour.

[chucktdbm321]

personally id go with a pvc overflow, much more simple and less chance of losing siphon then the ones that use a tube. mine also only cost me 10 dollars so yea :/,

Hey greyfox that looks pretty cool i saw the picture but not really sure how it works? could you post some pics of that and explain how it works and all im pretty interested and it looks very simple

[evodrgn@]

Hey greyfox that looks pretty cool i saw the picture but not really sure how it works? could you post some pics of that and explain how it works and all im pretty interested and it looks very simple

 

 

x2

[DaJMasta]

Just like an overflow box would, except it's made out of PVC. You have a line going into the tank - a U in the tank which will hold water will keep your weir primed - then it leads to a weir (upside down U shaped) that goes over the wall of your tank. Then there's a right side up U to keep the "u-tube" of the weir primed all the time. Then that U leads to a T with one going out the side and one in the same direction, the same direction one goes to a vented cap to kill the suction so it doesn't pull water out of your tank and air into your weir, and the side facing pipe is what goes to the sump. Some people do different variants, but I've found that for surface skimming, you want the top of the first U in the tank to be just below the water level, ideally with a couple holes to provide a little flow when the water level is below the top and to keep the suction low to keep from sucking things in, then you want the T placed so that the height of your tank will ultimately be the height of the water in the horizontal fitting going off of the T, including the flow of course.

 

 

It's tough to describe, but here's mine. If you unfolded it, it would essentially be a W sort of shape with a horizontally exiting T on the last leg of the W. The tank glass would be under the high point of the middle of the W.

 

 

 

PVC overflows are cheap and pretty easy to hide. There's quite a few people using them and quite a few variants on the forums, but there's a couple of illustrated diagrams too. If you look at the overflow box animated gif on melev's reef, the principal is exactly the same, just you're doing it with pvc pipe. I prefer ones without a check valve to prime it initially because that's one less place to form a leak and if you get a bubble in there you'll loose the priming and flood your floor - if you build it right (and it took me a couple tries) you can get a setup which will hold the weir through power outages and water changes and such, so after your prime it with airline hose the first time, you don't need to redo it.

[GreyFox]

its pretty much just a siphon. You need a check valve in the top of the elbow to pull out excess air to start the siphon then after that it just constantly pulls water over the wall and down to the sump. The height of the intake tube determines how high your water level is. It is really nice because in the event of a power outage it holds its siphon until the water flow starts again. When the water does stop flowing into the tube the water level in the tube drops down to the height of the out take part.

Mine hasn't lost siphon yet. The only point of the check valve is for priming then after that its just there to prime again if needed. I haven't had to prime mine since the day i installed it.

 

that's what mine looks like, mines just more ugly

personally i think its a much cheaper alternative for those who want to take the time, 10$>100$ And you get the satisfaction of building another piece for your aquarium