Issues fitting a 10g sump under a 29g. Help/suggestions please?

[STiTCH87]

So I have been planning for quite some time now to put a 10g under my 29g in the stand for a sump. Well I tried to finally do so, but the door spacing on the front of the stand is too small for me to finagle a 10g into the stand no matter what ways I tilt it. The stand is up against a wall so coming in from the back is out of the question as I would rather not empty my tank and move it away from the wall for awhile just to put the tank back there.

So my question is, has anyone else had this issue and maybe found a special angle to fit it in through the front? Or maybe is there a different dimension sump you guys think will fit? I was thinking 2 5 gallons side by side with pvc piping runing between the two but idk if i wanna pay to have 2 5 gallon tanks drilled as thats kinda foolish pricing for such a small bunch of tanks. And I doubt building an acrylic sump inside the stand would be achievable either. I know they make external sumps and I may have to go that route, but the idea was that I could hide everything in the stand so itd look nicer and so that the skimmer wouldnt be as loud beside my bed.

Any ideas or suggestions are extremely appreciated.

 

[Bao]

No offense but you asked rather a difficult question..
The tank doesn't fit and you don't want to empty the display tank. How about lift the whole thing up using the car Jack?
5 gallons tank is very thin, I think you would be asking for trouble if you drill them or connect them together with pvc..
beside, connecting the two 5 gallons tanks together, they are so small, what are you going to do with them??

How about buy an acrylic sump from glass cage??

Bao

 

[tommy6905]

i saw somewhere that the tank wouldnt fit thru the front so they lined it up on the side, scribed it and cut an opening in slide the tank in and just turning the part they cut into a door

 

[STiTCH87]

That's not a half bad idea Tommy. And I was thinking an acrylic sump but idk if it'd fit thru that space still. And I don't want to use a car jack because that's immensely unstable and would also put a concentrated weight of the tank onto a footprint the size of the car jack on the second floor of my house and don't want to split the wood on the floor.

Essentially I wanted a sump to keep the tank clean so I can run some filter socks and phosphate pads and put some cheato in there too but maybe I could do better with a hang on refugium and some cheato and miracle mud? Anyone have experience with those? Or maybe a reactor or two? Do those need a sump or are they hard line?

 

[STiTCH87]

Well I managed to get the 10g under the stand lastnight. I ground down the lip at the base on the inside to add an extra half inch of wiggle room which turned out to be just enough to work with.

Now I have my next step which is designing the sump. Anyone ever seen any sump plans for a 10g sump that would have a HOB skimmer in it? I'm thinking put the skimmer at the beginning with the outlet of the skimmer draining into the same area, then through 2 or 3 plates toward the refugium area, then past 3 more plates and finally into the outlet area with the return pump. Possibly add a small area to add carbon and/or GFO unless I use a reactor somehow which I would need help with how to set that all up.

 

[cilyjr]

see what marc did to get his sump under a full 55 gallon. he supported it then removed the brace then re installed the brace.. just thought it was interesting

http://www.melevsreef.com/55g/55sump.html

 

[cilyjr]

keep in mind the chamber where the return pump is is where your water level will drop due to evaporation. i always make this chamber as large as possible.

 

[STiTCH87]

Well I did get the 10g in there now cilyjr but now I need a plan for building the sump. If I make the outlet area as big as possible wont that decrease the room available for my refugium? Cuz I wanna use miracle mud and chaeto and some LR and a few snails and try and keep my PO4 down because running sumpless is giving me quite the hair algae problem due to high nutrients even with cut backs on lighting and feeding. I feed every other day in such small amounts and only have my lights on 5 hours a day and still get huge hair algae blooms within a week of cleaning and a WC.

 

[Reef_Wizard]

http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/glass/

 

[STiTCH87]

Very good link Reef_Wizard. Thanks! Helps me out ALOT.

 

[cilyjr]

my opinion on a 10 gallon sump/fuge for a 30 gallon tank is you wont have enough room to grow enough chaeto to keep phosphates down. i mean ask around and see what others say though. personally now you will have extra room consider a GFO (granulated ferric oxcide) reactor.

 

[mordibv]

I know it would defeat the purpose of making the sump but it may be best to hang the skimmer on the back of the dt . U will have liitle room to work with . This skimmer has a small foot print and yes this is a 10 gallon tank . Not much wiggle room if u want refuge in there .

Good luck with it .

 

[STiTCH87]

I'd be hanging the HOB in the sump. Same skimmer. So no foot print inside the 10g sump i'm designing the sump in a very unique way ill draw up sometime soon so the skimmer fits under my tank along with the sump easily. Water will drop down on the right side of the tank where the skimmer intake is, then the outlet will drain into that same chamber since my outlet pipe is fully adjustable in any direction, and the skimmer will hang off the back of the 10g with it's body sitting between the tank and the stand. If the room is too cramped and I feel it would be difficult to remove my skimmer for routine maintenance then i'll make a different layout. I have a few ideas rolling around. Nice that expenses are being covered by my parents for the time being. Takes a lot of stress off me so I can focus on getting these projects completed.

It'll look just like this, but with a HOB filter on the right side, body hanging off the back which may also allow for a larger fuge area. Esp. if I place the outlet in the fuge but I dont want too high water movement: