sumps

mollies

I was wanting some ideas on a 30 gallon sump.
First off i would like to see some of the sumps you all have built.

I was wanting to take my 30 gallon an turn it in to a sump. Now i was wondering what all i would need for it. And what i should use to glue the pvc pipeing together with.

I know i need a pro skim, heater, plexiglass, pump to pump the water back to the tank. What else will i need and what size of a skimer and pumps would i need. The main tank is going to be a 45 gallon.
and the sump is going to be a 30 gallon, with about 2o to 25 gallons of water.
thanks.

bearwithfish

look at my thread in my sig and you can see my sump made from a 20 long.. it fairly simple.... as for PVC they sell a 2 part compound for prim and basically weld it together its like $10 for them as a two pack...
as for the plexi when putting it in the tank i just used silicon 1 (its aquarium safe)

i would say when it comes to skimmers big is always better in my eyes... brands is a major debate any where you go so i would suggest looking them up on line and reading reviews and picking the one that suits your neeeds

mollies

could you get better pics?
looks good tho.
This is my first atempt at building a sump. So if any one else could post pics i Would like to see your ideas. thanks.

frothyspoon

For gluing the PVC together, you may want to use marine safe silicone so you know it won't harm any of your fish. You can buy it at any hardware store. You may also want to use unions on the return and drain lines so you can take the lines apart for cleaning if needed later on. You can also use the silicone with the baffles in the sump. Another really important thing is make sure about 10 times over you have the right measurements for the glass to use as your baffles. I messed up on mine and now all my baffles are slightly slanted but everything still works. Last thing you may want to consider adding another line coming off of your return line going back to where your drain line dumps into the sump. Add a ball valve to this so you can control the flow rate back into the aquarium from your pump if you need to.