My Sump - DIY

[hfp75]

Well, I got a 20g long from Kijiji and took it apart, scraped the silicon off & put it all back together. Now, my silicone job was not a pretty as it could be but it will hold and it is a sump.

I then measured and had glass cut for the inside walls.

It is now siliconed together (Dap Blue 100% Silicone NO Anti-mold) & I'm waiting a day to make sure the Silicone is cured.
Silicone - http://www.wwhardware.com/media/cata...6e95/da864.jpg

Dimensions are:
Tank - 30L x 14T x 12W

Chambers (R -> L) (the T (tall) height is the drop/fall to the next chamber. Include 12W for all below dimensions)

#1 - Live Rock (8.5W x 7.75T)
#2 - Skimmer (8.75W x 6.75T)
#3 - Walls to trap bubbles (3/4 apart from each other & 1/2 inch clearance at the bottem. I plan to put filter floss in between the baffles and not run a sock.)
#4 - Chaeto (3W x 5/8 clearance at the bottom)
#5 - Pump (RIO 2100)

I have a Phosban 150 with Rowaphos and a V2 Skim 400. I need some Chaeto (hint, hint if your in SW Calgary). I have a UV sterilizer to hook up also.

My debate is in chamber 1 under the live rock should I add a few inches of sand for a sand bed?

My tank above is a 55g with internal over flow - has 1-1.5" of 1-2mm sand (Fiji Pink) and a large amount of rock.

I also have an external canister filter and will run Carbon, Purigen and Matrix.

Pic:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...75/photo-1.jpg

I am new to this so feedback is appreciated.

[kookie_guy]

I hope for your sake that silicone holds up. I'm sure others have used it with success, but that stuff is ment to be a sealant. It does not have the same shear rating/strength as a proper silicone adhesive. There's a reason all custom tank shops use construction silicone adhesive like GE1200. For the interior baffles, no problem, as they don't really need the kind of strength the outer glass needs.

[molotov]

as long as you didn't take apart the outside walls you'll be fine.

I would put your refugium in chamber #5, Pump in #4, Filter sock in #1 and skimmer in #2. I also would have made the last piece of glass a lot taller so you could have more water volume in your refugium for a deeper sand bed and cheato and some live rock.

shoot me a pm and come on by. I have some Cheato you can have.

[kookie_guy]

Originally Posted by molotov

as long as you didn't take apart the outside walls you'll be fine.

Agreed. If you just cut the old silicone from the corners, and left the structural silicone holding the glass together, and then just ran a new bead on the inside, you'll be fine. If you completely tore the tank down and re-assembled it (that's what I'm getting from the original post) then you're better off cutting it apart again, and using proper structural silicone.

[hfp75]

Yes I totally disassembled and reassembled the sump and internal walls using the DAP silicone. The Sump is only 1/2'ish full of water. So far it has not had one problem.

I will be rebuilding it down the road. Not right away though as I'm still figuring this out. It will need a new layout for next time. I have read that some people have used that silicone to make way larger tanks with total success. I figured for a 10g sump it should work fine. If it matters I have left a fair amount of extra silicone around the edges inside the tank.

Here is a pic:

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m79/hfp75/sump2.jpg

[kookie_guy]

The seal on the inside doesn't really provide much structural support. All the strength is between the 2 pieces of glass. Like I said, odds are you'll be ok, but for peace of mind, next time use the construction adhesive. The internal baffles are fine with the dap stuff, but for the structural use the GE1200. There's another one that a lot of people use (can't recall the number), but I've always used the GE1200.