sump plans?? will they work,

ok so i haev a 55 gallon tank. soon to be like 72-85 gallons depending on what i can get for cheap ahhaha. um i want a sump, but there like 400 bucks with pumps and stuff at my fish store,
i was wondering if i could jsut take 2 rio 800, one pumping up my tank from the sump, and one from the tank to the sump, would that work???
also i was thinking the 10-20 gallon range, do you put live sand in a sump? i no i would put like 30 pounds of live rock, but im not sure, since i already have 80 or so pounds in my tank, i have a hang on skimmer that can be adjusted to sit in the sump, i would do that just so some of the noise is blocked by the cabinet, um could i also put my filter in there?

 

Do you need a pump FROM the tank TO the sump? Gravity-fed should do the job, no? Save the $$$

 

It would be a bad idea to have two pumps, one to pump to your sump and the other to pump back. You will have problems trying to keep them in sync and if one fails or even if one loses a bit of power (e.g. a small blockage) you could be in big trouble. You should look at either drilling your tank or buying a hang on overflow (or make one yourself - there are loads of plans out there and they are not that difficult to build).

All of my equipment (skimmer, reactor, heaters) are in my sump, best place for them and also leaves your display nice and empty.

I would put a deep sand bed in your fuge with some macro algae of some description and some live rock.

 

what frizza said

if u run 2 pumps u will have issues as the pump thats pumping water from the sump to the tank <return> because the pump will have to fight gravity to get the water back up to the tank where as the pump thats pumping out of the tank will have less work to do,thus making it pump quicker

you will only end up with a wet floor and a dry tank:-/

 

Would the 2 pump idea work simple answer NO! with one pump there will be hard pressure to allow it to pump 1/2 of what its supposedly rated at so you loose there and then the pump from the tank to the sump will have the assistance of gravity sucking it down via a siphon boost plus the full rated delivery Volume of water. Get the tank drilled ot get a HOB overflow box.. Or What Target001 said

 

Buy one of these (or something like it):

Supreme Danner Mag-drive 5 Pump Aquarium 700 gph - eBay (item 140221548205 end time Apr-10-08 11:40:30 PDT)

Then one of these (or something like it, probably one with a little lower gph rating):

AQUARIUM OVERFLOW BOX FOR WET DRY FILTER 1500 GPH NEW - eBay (item 330224569582 end time Apr-05-08 16:33:06 PDT)

And finally, one of these (or something like it, like from Wal-Mart, and you could go smaller):

Roughneck Storage Box - 14 gal

And BAM! Insta-Sump! All you'd need is some PVC parts from Home Depot and you'd be set.