DIY Acrylic Sump + Tank Stand + Tank Build

Patzig

welp, that didn't work..
Thought I would share by tank build. The idea was to build a 10g sump that matched the dimensions of my tank so it would look clean and matched. Wrote up some dimensions and got the acrylic cut to size.

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binswanger cut the acrylic...they did pretty good.

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Notice there are 1 inch slots under 2 of the baffles, so the water travels up and down several times in the sump.

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I ended up making one big chamber for the skimmer, then the other 3 were equally smaller.

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Used this bond to bond the acrylic together. Once it dried (30 seconds) there was no undoing it. crazy hard bond. Then used silicon to seal it.

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It holds water?!?!? It was kind of exciting...

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Built the stand out of 2x4's and cheapo plywood. Everything fit perfectly!

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Time to cycle

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Right side. Pump is attached at bottom of that 1/2" pvc pipe for water intake. Maxijet 1200.

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Water comes from skimmer, overflows into second half of sump.

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Left side. This was unexpected. After water starts pumping into sump, the out take pvc actually self creates a siphon and lowers the level on the left half. I thought it might be a problem, but it's been through power failures and still no mess yet.

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3 months later still holding water no leaks!!! It now holds a couple lbs of live rock, chaeto, dragons breath macro algae, thermometer, heater, and skimmer. (need to clean it)

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Whole view

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Almost time for more fish!
 
Thanks for the encouragement from everybody. I'm only at a year with this hobby and I feel like I'm just getting started. Ya the bonding was an experience. Couldn't really undo the "oh crap" parts of it though, that sucked. Oh ya I have Biff's chaeto in it too!! Nice and fluffy green, Thanks Biff!
 
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