Crazy setups

P

Portereef

Member
Ok everybody I am looking for crazy homemade ideas you have done to your tank. I was searching for a better way to filter my tank and can't afford a sump setup just yet. So what I did was take two of my canister filters"had an extra" and made myself a makeshift sump type setup. One filters water coming in then pumps it into a 5 gallon tank where I put my heater and what not. Then I have a pump that feeds my second canister filter from the 5 gallon tank and pumps it back to my tank. Do you guys think I'm crazy or is it a bad idea everything is stable and going great so far.
 
Portereef said:
Ok everybody I am looking for crazy homemade ideas you have done to your tank. I was searching for a better way to filter my tank and can't afford a sump setup just yet. So what I did was take two of my canister filters"had an extra" and made myself a makeshift sump type setup. One filters water coming in then pumps it into a 5 gallon tank where I put my heater and what not. Then I have a pump that feeds my second canister filter from the 5 gallon tank and pumps it back to my tank. Do you guys think I'm crazy or is it a bad idea everything is stable and going great so far.
Click to expand...

The only problem i can think of is if 1 pump fails then you got water all over the place. How big is your DT?
 
Sounds creative. Does your tank have an overflow, or is it drilled? Let's see some pics. Everyone likes DIY. However, depending on your setup and the amount of live rock, you might be better off without either of your canisters. Your canisters may actually be worse than nothing.

You could spend very minimal $ on a larger tank to use for a sump (I thinking $20 for a $/gallon sale). Then when you want to spend the cash, you'll have room for a skimmer, which I believe to be the most important part of a tank.

Let's see some pics of the tank. I'm sure you could get some good advice if you give everyone some more info.
 
epesehy5.jpg

This was when I first set it up its a 55 gallon that isn't drilled and doesn't have over flows

uvege7a8.jpg

This is the "masterpiece" Frankenstein experiment that I have going now.

I have a 20 long sitting around that I need to get glass baffling for then I guess I would a sump but I don't have anyone near me with a glass shop. Ideas are more than welcome I'm new and learn more everyday. This hobby helps tremendously with what I'm going to school for which is fisheries biology.
 
Yea one fails u might be screwed specially the return one . U can get glass cut at ace hardware usually. Although creative i can see that go bad fast
 
I drilled my 20G long for a 1" drain that goes to a 10G "sump". Its just a 10G that has LR, a PH, carbon, chaeto, a heater, ATO sensor and a return pump. I used to use a filter sock but not anymore. It's skimmerless also. This is an older pic of it.
View attachment 3607
 
Creative but way to risky. As others mentioned, when your pumps fail (which they will), you'll be in a world of hurt. If you can't drill, checkout this overflow when you have some cash: http://lifereef.com/siphon.html

You're better off with no sump at the moment.

Good luck!
 
So looks like I don't really need the baffling to have a sump just a tank where I can put stuff and guys it might be dumb but do you need carbon for filtration if you have the sump most look like it just has rock
 
I have the pvc to make the quick diy overflow how big of pump should I be looking at to push water back up to the tank? I'd the tank is on a regular stand that puts the top of the tank about 64 inches from the floor.
 
Yeah, it looks to me that if the electricity goes out both canisters would siphon the hell out of your tank and there would be a flood. Also... if the first canister gets plugged up it would lead to the sump drying up and the return canister to run dry, break, then another flood would happen. Cool idea though.
 
As you have kind of figured out you dont need the baffling in your sump. I just have a 20 long as a sump with my drains and skimmer at one end, followed by LR/chaeto/carbon/heater and my return at the opposite end. Nothing to divide them. You can build your own overflow out of PVC (Ive done it once but never trusted it) or you should be able to buy an overflow box for pretty cheap and even cheaper if you can find a used one. Also I just use cheap coiled sump pump tubing from mendards to get water from my overflow to my sump.
 
Ok everyone here is my next question I went out and I'm waiting for the silicone to dry on my newly made sump from my 20 gallon tank. Next step is the overflow I bought everything for the pvc homemade one who here has one and it works because it look simple enough and I have looked on YouTube and everywhere looking at what people are doing and I want local people's thoughts before it goes into production
 
Portereef said:
Ok everyone here is my next question I went out and I'm waiting for the silicone to dry on my newly made sump from my 20 gallon tank. Next step is the overflow I bought everything for the pvc homemade one who here has one and it works because it look simple enough and I have looked on YouTube and everywhere looking at what people are doing and I want local people's thoughts before it goes into production
Click to expand...
Like I said before had a bad experience with this. Made mine worked fine for like 2 months then one day it stopped siphoning and I emptied my sump onto my floor. Did this 3 times within a month. So I shut the tank down and did it the right way and drilled my tank
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top