skimmer/sump opinions

So last night I was taking some measurements to get started on a sump for my 55 gal. I measured the inside of the stand and was not happy. I only have 11 inchs of depth which is going to limit me to 10 gal. the back center support appears to be load bearing so there is no way to remove it.

At that size I dont see the ability to divide and baffle etc and still get skimmer, heater and return pump in with much water.

My question is it going to be of enough benefit to do a 10 gal sump other than getting all my equipment out of the displaytank to mess with.

I am trying to deside if i might get more benefit out of a hella skimmer like an aqua C remora HOB , and wait to build a sump if I choose to build a custom stand later( next spring or so).

Thanks for your help
Dan

 

I have no sump or fuge on my 55g. My skimmer is HOB. this has not hindered me in any way I've seen.


To me, it's worth it to get the hardware out of site if no other reason... I have no space for it though... or else I would.

 

I ran into a problem when trying to build a sump for my tank. How wide is the inside of your stand?? One of the fish stores in Vegas had no problems ordering me a custom size glass tank for my stand. It wasn't even expensive. Just because it is 11in deep doesn't mean they cant make it wider or taller.. don't give up on your sump. That is by far the best investment I made for my reef tank. All the equipment is hidden, my refugium is striving, macroalgae is growing, I keep my skimmer down there (I hate HOB skimmers) and when you start fragging, you have a place to let your corals recover.

 

I have a 10G tank as a sump under a 20G breeder tank. Theres no way I would have enough room to put a skimmer inside the tank so I used a HOB filter that hangs outside the tank to free up the tank room. You could do the same with an HOB skimmer. Even with the filter on the outside of the sump tank, the water level still has to be watched because of the size of the return pump compartment. That is where evaporation will show up as a lower water level. The smaller that compartment is, the quicker it will run the pump dry.

 

What about a 20g long tank. Ruffly the same height as a 10g but longer. Or connect 2 10g tanks. Use one for the skimmer and one for the return. Other wise I would advise doing a HOB skimmer and put a 10G refugium under neath. exactly how much room is there? what are the dementions? and post some pics.

 

I have a tight 11 inchs front to back inside the stand, length and height are not an issue. I am really leaning toward the HOB , prob a reef octopus, with the pump heads inside the unit it will help clean up the equipment in the tank. may go with the 10 gal fuge later on, then if I do build a custom stand later I may do somethign differant. Thansk for all the advice

 

Take a look at the Aqua Medic Turbo Flotor-1000 Multi SL. Powerful HOB skimmer.....

 

The 10G sump that I have was originally built to go on a 55 that a friend had. He went a different direction and gave me the sump. He actually gave me the 20G tank as well. When he was planning on putting it on his 55 he talked about drilling two 10G and connecting them together. The problem is that a 10G tank is only 1/8" glass. When you start connecting two together with bulkheads, the least little misalignment will bend the glass and then it stresses the glass. If you have 1/4" or 1/2" glass and they aren't perfectly aligned, the glass won't give to allow alignment. A 10G will.
Second issue was the problem of trying to drill 1/8" glass without breaking it. It can be done, but its not easy. If you break 2 or 3 of them before you get them drilled, it can get to be more expensive than a custom sump would cost.
The third issue is that if you just accidently kick or bump a 10 gallon tank, it can move. With one about half full it only weighs 35 pounds or so. Moving it will stress the glass.
Its not a good idea to try to plumb two 10G tanks together with bulkheads. If you have enough height, you can drill one tank and let it drain into the other but don't try to connect them together with bulkheads.

A 20G Breeder tank won't fit under a standard 55. Its why he gave me the 20Breeder as well was he was going to use it under his 55 and it wouldn't fit in the stand.