DIY sump

[cmiller222]

Hi! I am brand new to this board, i will hopefully soon be starting an ostopus tank of my own, although im kind of confused on what I need to do this. And yes I have read "ceph care". I was wondering if I should buy a sump or just build my own. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I am going to buy a 55 gal. tank. Oh yes and by the way this board is awesome! Thank you for your input ahead of time.

 

[cthulhu77]

I use a 29 gallon tank as the sump for my 55...a 20 long would work also ! Waaaaaayyy easier than building your own ! Only needs a plexiglass top and a few struts glued in to retain the walls...your other best option is to hit a few lfs's and see if they don't have an old sump gathering dust somewhere that you could get for a nice low price...I know three of the stores near here have at least a couple of old sumps buried under storage boxes, etc...
One of my projects this month is building a small reef tank with a sump...will post some pics if you need clarification of what/where/how...also, be sure to pick Colin's brain...he builds a lot of this sort of stuff!!
greg

 

[cmiller222]

Thanks so much for the reply. I think I may try and stay away from a sump. It really sounds to hard and confusing to me. A guy at my LFS told me I would be better off with a canister filter, so I think that's the way im going to go. Any input on this? Thanks again for your help!

 

[DHyslop]

I think the guy at the pet shop wants to sell you a canister filter. Having said that, it is certainly an easier option and might be for you, especially since you don't have a monster-huge tank. Overall, the sump may cost you more since you would need an overflow, pump and would probably want to have a refugium section with live rock and/or a deep sand bed.

Having a sump does have advantages, though. Its the perfect place to put your protein skimmer and other equipment (in fact, most skimmers seem designed to be put into sumps). You can do water changes without disturbing your main tank at all. If you went the refugium direction your filtration could be all natural, other than the skimmer. Colin suggested that setup to me, and after doing some more research on it I think its very, very cool.

Dan

 

[cthulhu77]

D's advice is very, very good...once you have a sumped in system, it is hard to go back to just a canister...soooooooo much easier!