• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

diy 180 and 120 sump

after doing some more reading because my sump is so long i thought i would add a qt tank in one end of the sump, with a small hob to filter it,what is a good size qt tank 10 20 gal tank or no,so here how the sump is gonna be layed out left to right ,first chamber socks ,skimmer/return pumps,heater/fuge/then 10 or 20 gal qt tank,please let me know if this sounds like a good idea.i got all the glass sections and glue if it sounds like a good idea then im gonna start building it this weekend thanks 18fisher
 
by ptuting a QT tank in your sump I assume you mean completely seperated off from the rest. I don't reccomend it as i like to keep my QT very far away from my DT so nothing transfers over. with it in your sump you may have the urge to use some of the same equipment because it's right there.. If I did do it like this, I would do at least 20g
 

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I agree with Ryan. A QT tank should be completely separate from your system in case you need to add any medicines or chemicals that you don't want spilling over or transferring to your main system.

Now, if you mean you just want a separate chamber that is connected to you system and just there in case you need to "give a fish a time out" or protect it from other fish temporarily... that's fine. You'll then want to have at least 20g size and I'd recommend keeping some live rock and or some PVC fittings in there to give that fish a hiding spot.

As far as the layout, there are many ways you can do it that will be successful. I prefer: socks, skimmer / refuge with macro algae / heater, return pump. This way, all water goes in one end with the skimmer which does the grunt of the impurity removal. Whatever passes the skimmer goes to the fuge where the macro algae should capture and eatup whatever is missed before it gets to the return section. This gives all the bad stuff 2 chances of getting removed before getting back to the return pump.

If you have the return in the middle, then you have all the water being split between skimmer and fuge... and each half only gets 1 chance of being removed. In either one, there's a greater chance to just bypass the "filter" portion of your sump entirely and just roll over into the return section.

Again, this is just my opinion and I'm sure other methods work. I just think this one is a better idea.
 
as far as the qt tank it would be a section of the sump with a glass peice all the way to the top rim of the sump so none of the sump water could get in even with the power off,it also would have a hob filter for the qt,i dont want to set up another tank in the room got way to many now 30 gal 220 gal 180 gal and about 10,000 gal koi pond,also that way i dont need to keep it running all the time just run a line from the return to the top of the qt tank,also as far as the fuge i read some where that if the water is to fast thru it it does nothing and the good stuff wont grow in it like cheato etc .because i did want to do it with the fuge in middle . i did not think of the meds pos mixing in and if i know me and my luck its a real pos lol. maybe i can come up with some kind of safety top to help with that ?,so im gonna go with the 20 gal idea but not shure where im gonna put it now in or out . thanks again guys :peaceful:you guys have been a big help and im shure im gonna have alot more ? 18fisher
 

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Convert the 10,000g koi pond into salt water, that would be my advice.
 
i cant my wife is in love with the koi pond also the kids,the boys like runing the train i got that goes all the way around it lgb, 18fisher
 

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Just take the train, mount a few LED units to it and you even have lighting ready to go. This would be really easy, we just need a few salt shakers.
 
fishtanks stands5.2012 012.jpgfishtanks stands5.2012 010.jpgfishtanks stands5.2012 011.jpglol just some pics of my pond,sorry a little green but it was the start of the season it real clear now,i just need a bunch of fish had big fish kill this winter:mad:
 
Top