Hey folks, I'm back for round two. Technically an expansion to my original 8 gallon I was looking at doing something a bit more advanced just to see what I was capable of doing. The following is a short log of what's happened so far, my ideas and where I'm going with this.
At first, It started with an idea. My girlfriend picked up a pre-drilled tank with a rather large drill hole (I think it was 2 inches) from the now defunct SD Exotic Reefs. Originally we were going to use it to upgrade one of her freshwater tanks, but she ended up going for a 30 gallon freshwater setup that is currently up and running.
I started by ordering an overflow box. As you can see in the photo below. The cat oversees the work done to the tank and makes sure it's all water tight. I used some leftover black sealant and just put the box right near where the drill made its hole.
I obviously had a bunch of leftover tanks from other mini projects that I've had going on, so I decided I'd attempt a DIY sump. After a visit to the local glass shop. I had a few baffles that I could put together in a sump. Granted. I put it in rather sloppily. In retrospect I should have used painters tape for cleaner edges but I'm not losing sleep over it. They're sealed, water tight chambers and I figure it's working just fine.
At around the same time, I managed to pick up a Seaclone (yes I know) skimmer, rated at 100 Gallons. Being well aware of how awful they are, at the 30 dollar price tag, I figured I could make it function a little better. Below are the following experiments and progresses with it. I decided to go with the ever popular "bio-ball" mod for the maxi-jet 1200. A lot of people mentioned that the skimmer simply doesn't provide enough air for the application. Adding a needle-wheel style pump alleviates this. I went the cheap route and fashioned one from a bio ball. In the end, I trimmed up the impeller so that the needles were the only thing contacting the air as the venturi pulled air into the pump. The second mod is what I aptly named the "Dr. Pepper" mod only because I drink a lot of Dr. Pepper and it made sense at the time. One of the problems the skimmer has is that a lot of the bubbles don't properly get used for skimming, due to the inner chamber of the skimmer not being seated up to the neck of the cup. A lot of the bubbles end up back into the outside chamber and sometimes end up in the "return" it essentially allows the bubbles to start "further up" the neck of the seaclone, which is already too high to start with. A lot of people cut it, I just used the 20 oz bottle neck. I sealed up the leaky joints with some plumbers tape and finally I added a more precise valve.
Here's one of the tests (new valve not in this photo)
And the sump together.
A little bit of Krylon fusion...
A quick test fit. That long return ended up not working out. I re-elbowed it and used a 90* elbow to set the pvc nipple right above my return pump.
A picture of the system running clean water. The Downpipe is black Spa-Flex tubing, a much flexier and more manageable flex tubing, held together with a coupler and a valve (out of sight) so that I can close the system up for cleaning or replacement of the sock and sump. Note, It's not going to be on the carpet next to my LED TV, it was just the most convenient place to put it at the time, for testing purposes... I'm reckless but not THAT reckless. That and I finally got the Power strip properly suspended in a safer spot.
And that's it so far! I have it cycling at the moment, nothing else has been done so once I have better pictures of it on solid ground, I'll chime in with an update. There are a few things that I'd like to do differently, Like not rely on a single method for water delivery to my sump, The sump can handle a power outage just fine, as I break suction from both the return and the overflow really quickly. I just worry about the downpipe into the sump. Especially once I start getting a cleanup crew going. I'm currently contemplating methods of circumventing possible disasters other than to check it every time I clean the tank.
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Were did u find the sump? Did u build it your self.
