help me design/build a sump..

[fdokinawa]

ok.. here is what I got so far. I cut out a piece of cardboard to see what would fit into my stand.. messured my skimmer to see how big of an area I will need. if you have any ideas comments, please feel free to leave them. I dont have a hight for this yet.. need to messure that yet, but I will post that up tomorrow. I'm wanting to build this out of plexi. Jeff says he knows a place that sells it and will probably cut the pieces I need, so I need to get a final draft done by this weekend so I can get the material that I need. Jeff, if you have time this weekend to help me with this let me know, I will also not turn down anyone elses help. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Misc/sump.jpg

[TNTREEF]

IMO the baffles should be a little farther apart to slow down the venturie effect(gives the bubbles more time to rise and not get sucked over the wall). As for the refugium, swap the return area and the refug around. You'll get all the flow through it. Unless you were gonna pump water in there and have it go back to return. Either way will work. Other than that good plot. Sumps can be made simple or very complex. I like the easy approach, it works great.

[fdokinawa]

I've been using my chiller return line for the fuge.. and also the way my plumbing is set up, the return area has to be in the middle..

[vest0830]

Brett, you have seen my sump, its working awsome, I have -0- conplaints. You can come take measurements if you want. I also should add i have never seen any other sumps, so I dont know what could be better. from what I know, mine is working great.

Also, I have weld-on for when you need it.

[jeffb3t]

Bret,
Don't know if I will have a chance this weekend, But I have plenty of time after work next week if you feel like dropping by.

[fdokinawa]

im on days schedule(mon-fri 9-5) for the rest of this week and all of next. where can I get the plexi?? can probably have all the pieces I need cut and mabey me and frank can get together and get it built..

[fdokinawa]

ok.. here is what I got.. I googled all inches to mm and adjusted a tad bit. Jeff told me the acrilyc is 5mm thick, so had to take 10mm off the end pices for overlap.. hope everything fits ok. Let me know what you think..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Misc/sump-1.jpg

as for how its going to be set up.. should look something like this.. only thing.. I dont know where to put the skimmer pump. should I put it with the skimmer? or in the return area?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Misc/sump2.jpg

[vest0830]

Im a little confused with the chiller line. I thought you ran a totally seperate pump/return line for a chiller.

have a 'closed loop' for the chiller.

[fdokinawa]

nope.. have a tri-T off the return pump.. one line dosnt go to anything really though..

[vest0830]

Wouldnt it be more efficent to run a seperate pump for the chiller? I told Lindsay that I was planning on getting a chiller next summer, and thats how I was planning on running it.

IMO thats too many 't's'

[fdokinawa]

efficent? I have a mag 12 on there.. if I open the T to the tank up fully it overflows the tank.. so in my case its better to have mutiple T's so I dont burn out the pump.

[fdokinawa]

well went to kamahide(think thats the name) to get acrylic and have it cut.. well they have the acrylic, but cant cut it. does anyone know anywhere I can have it cut?

[fdokinawa]

think I might go see how much PPM will charge to build my sump..

[Donstuprich]

you can go to the base hobby shop to cut it

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8258010#post8258010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Donstuprich
you can go to the base hobby shop to cut it

yea, was already sujested by Jeff.. now your talking about the auto hobby shop right? with all the oil and dirt and **** like that right? or you talking about another hobby shop?

and me.. im lazy as ****. If I cant get one place to cut it, im not going to run around all day just to get this stuff cut. Im going to swing by PPM friday with my plans and see if they can do it for around 20,000 yennies.. if its any more than that, not sure what Im going to do.

[hot4teacher]

Most of the fun is doing it yourself! I'd just make goodies if someone was buying it. No time to look at the tank...must make more stuff for it!

Dana

[jasalmanza]

I spent a few hours at the WOOD hobby shop for my sump, loved every minute, they guys there are super cool, and they already have guides for most of the stuff you want to do (like the guide for the router, for the teeth from your fuge area). Have to have a cert to work in the shop though...

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8260367#post8260367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jasalmanza
Have to have a cert to work in the shop though...
tried to get that before.. guy didnt show up to give the class.. :( friggen military and there certs for everything. do they have an evening cert class?? Think I went on wednesday last time...

[hot4teacher]

It's the same no matter where you go! I was turned off several years ago when I tried to get my cert. The guy was more interested in working on his own project than acknowledging someone else was in the room.

Sears ships to APO!

Dana

[vest0830]

We can go this weekend if you would like Brett. I have all of the certs to work in the wood hobby shop. They have the blades we need as well.

everything we need to cut the plexi is in that shop. bring a cm tape measure, if all of your measurments are in CM.

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8260422#post8260422 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vest0830
We can go this weekend if you would like Brett. I have all of the certs to work in the wood hobby shop. They have the blades we need as well.

everything we need to cut the plexi is in that shop. bring a cm tape measure, if all of your measurments are in CM.

will let me in without a cert? and this weekend is a no-go.. going fishing saturday, and gotta work sunday. :(

[vest0830]

dang.
and yes, they will let you, you just cant touch any power tools. They let Lindsay work with me a few times before.

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8260443#post8260443 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vest0830
dang.
and yes, they will let you, you just cant touch any power tools. They let Lindsay work with me a few times before.

how late they open on weekdays? might be able to take care of the cutting in an afternoon...

[vest0830]

that could be an idea also. I think they are open until 7 or so. I usally leave "work" around 4- so I could go straight there and that would leave us with more than enough time to get everything cut.

get the acrylic, mark everything out, so that way all we have to do is walk in there and start hackin away.

[fdokinawa]

The piece of acrylic I got is not going to be big enough.. I need at least another 28 X 32 Inch piece. :(

[vest0830]

dam, well, I would say wait and we can go cut it all at the same time.

[vest0830]

Post the pictures Brett! :D

I resealed it all again, just got back from redoing the bracing for the top. Im about to put it on, and set back and stare at it for a few days.

[fdokinawa]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Fish%20tank/IMG_3344Medium.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Fish%20tank/IMG_3396Medium.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Fish%20tank/IMG_3400Medium.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/FDokinawa/Fish%20tank/IMG_3401Medium.jpg

[vest0830]

hey brett...you know we couldnt find the center brace, I found it yesterday when I cleaned up the mess. It was inside the cardboard. I already put the other center brace on, so we shouldnt need it, but thought it was funny cause we were ****ed...

looks good though.

[jeffb3t]

Looks good guys. I was wondering why Bret didn't call me lately to start building the thing...Now I know. Kinda fun to work with acrylic isn't it!

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8302554#post8302554 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffb3t
Looks good guys. I was wondering why Bret didn't call me lately to start building the thing...Now I know. Kinda fun to work with acrylic isn't it!

Yea, me and Frank really wanted to try and build one of these ourselves.. definatly learned a lot from this. should be able to do a lot better next time. :p

now everyone pray this thing holds water.. lol going to test it tonight.

[vest0830]

Acrylic is awsome to work with.

I recommend this to anyone who is about to be building sumps:

The wood hobby shop has awsome shop tools. Just about everything is there to do it all with (tool wise). The table saw is more than big enough to cut large sheets with, the blade isn't the best for the job though. I recommend getting a blade for the table saw that you can carry in there and put on yourself for the acrylic. 99% of the cuts can be made with the table saw. Glue, of course I have a little way of getting weld-on, we used weld-on 4, seemed to be awsome. The other thing that we had problems with was gluing everything together and what order to glue it all together so it is able to all be seamed. We tried to do a few fancy cuts with the router...I think we needed a smaller blade to do the fingers as we were tryin to do. I might pick one of those up just to have...but yeah. For the most part it went very well. We will see here in about 3 hours if the thing is going to hold water or not.

Brett needed this sump like last weekend, so were gonna attempt to speed up the process a little. Hopefully everything is good with it. (im very cofident with it, brett is holdin his breath) In the future I would like to assemble these things with time allotted for curing and "the proper" way to do this (time for assembly and time for curing)

I would be more than willing to help anyone out with building a sump at any time.

090-6770-3258

[vest0830]

We just threw some water in it (filled it to the top) and -0- leaks.

Gonna let it sit for 24hrs and then it will be put to use (pending results of course)

[jeffb3t]

Geat news then. Glad to hear it worked out. Hope it holds like it's supposed to. Did you use the pins method?

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8303987#post8303987 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffb3t
Geat news then. Glad to hear it worked out. Hope it holds like it's supposed to. Did you use the pins method?

no.. used the Frank Bret and Chris method..lol and a sh-it ton of weld on. were going to leave it full untill tomorrow night then I'll bring it home. :)

[Donstuprich]

Glad to see the foot in picture tradition continues :)

[fdokinawa]

yea, I was trying to get at least one in every shot. :P

[vest0830]

still has water in it this morning, no leaks.

[jeffb3t]

Cool, Great news! Does it bow much?

[fdokinawa]

nope.. not at all.

[jeffb3t]

Cool, When does it go into use?

[vest0830]

Bow, this thing is rock solid! The little stand we built for the skimmer...Brett stood on it.

I don't have any doubts in my mind at all, this thing will last him for years...

[fdokinawa]

Im setting it up tonight.. I have had a few problems though..

1. It was a tad to big.. I had to shave off about a 1/4 of an inch off of the stand.
2. the skimmer catch can dosnt fit inside the stand anymore.. was kinda worried about this. Im going to see if I can shave some of the base off and get it to fit.
3. the skimmer hose is kinda crimped from it being to long.
4. I had to da mn near remove all the hard pipeing in the stand to get it to fit.. but I got it.
5. this thing holds a lot more water than my old one.. so now im having to stay up late making water.. but I guess thats a good thing huh?

other good things.. that rolled lip we made on the bubble baffle is working great. ahh the skimmer fits, bearly..lol there is only about a 1/4 of an inch between it and the bubble baffle.

da mn cat decided to get into the sand bag that Frank gave me.. so I had a nice mess to clean up.. but I got sand in the fuge, and im just waiting on water. I'll post pics up within the next couple of days. I'm picking my car up from Scotts shop tomorrow night, so will be busy with that for the next few days.

[vest0830]

Well that kinda sucks. At least it all got put in there though.

I wish we would have rolled all of the lips...overflow on the bubble traps and the overflow for the 'fuge.

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8314457#post8314457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vest0830
Well that kinda sucks. At least it all got put in there though.

I wish we would have rolled all of the lips...overflow on the bubble traps and the overflow for the 'fuge.

yea, it was very very very close.. I think if we could have shaved that 1/8th of an inch off the lip it might have went right in.

[jeffb3t]

Well, Post some pics of this thing in the stand!!!

[fdokinawa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8317522#post8317522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffb3t
Well, Post some pics of this thing in the stand!!!

I'll try and get them up tomorrow.. or very late tonight. finally getting some days off.. friggen 1 day off out of 10 sucks ***.

[jeffb3t]

So, where are the pics?? It's been a couple days...