A local vendor contacted me about building a new system to hold livestock as it arrived. They drew up the plans, purchased the materials and started cutting up the pieces. When I arrived, my job was to show them how to assemble the parts successfully. The project came out great in the end, but a lot of things were learned along the way. The top two sections hold 200 gallons each, the bottom on holds 250 gallons.
This was a sump I built for a LFS near me. The challenge was making a sump big enough to hold water from about 20 tanks draining into it, and be able to handle a new shipment of livestock that arrives. All those bagged items quickly increase the total system volume. And then throughout the day, water is taken as each piece of livestock is sold, dropping the total system volume.
Glenn, a member of DFWMAS contacted me about a 34 gallon hexagonal tank he wanted to modify, and incorporate a sump with a refugium.
I was asked to build a small sump to house a skimmer made by DAS. It's a self-contained skimmer that usually draws water in from the surrounding area. The rest of the available sump is purely the return zone.
This sump & refugium is designed to fit under a smaller tank. Dimensions are 26" x 18" x 16" and can also be made cube shaped (20" x 20" x 16" for example). What is nice about this sump is that the refugium spans the entire front so you can enjoy seeing the macro algae grow and the pods scurrying about.
Fragging corals is a big part of the hobby. Being able to acquire frags from others has benefits. Corals are shared rather than the constant harvesting of wild colonies in the ocean, and they are already accustomed to dwelling in a closed ecosystem. The giver prunes the colonies in their reef, allowing for better flow. They are able to 'bank' a coral with you in case theirs perishes for whatever reason. The receiver enjoys watching the little piece grow into something beautiful over time, and then will one day be a giver as well.
By special request, this sump was designed to fit under a 90g bowfront tank.
Dimensions: 32" x 12" x 16" (26g maximum volume)
This sump had to be a creative one, because #1) it was for someone new entering into the hobby and didn't have previous experience with any reef keeping, and #2) the design of the stand made things very difficult to fit anything in of decent size. Originally, it was to be a one-piece unit, but in mid-stream the skimmer was replaced with a different sized unit, and everything was reworked. The base unit holds the skimmer and the return area. Above it, a refugium drains diagonally into the return area.
David, a member of DFWMAS, requested a custom sump that he designed himself. Water flows through a small section filled with bioballs to break up the bubbles, then into the skimmer section. Next, it will flow through a refugium using Miracle Mud, and down through more bioballs into the return section. This sump is 48" x 16" x 16" and fit under a 125g reef. This is a single-flow sump system that moves the water from the left to the right.
Keith, a DFWMAS club member and customer of mine, ordered a frag tank and matching sump. He designed the steel stand and listed his desires, and I got busy building his dream setup.
The frag tank is 47.75" x 30" x 14" and holds 75g of water. The custom overflow has three Durso drains and two Locline returns, with room for pumps on either side of the overflow.
