so fed up figuring sump

[meandthetanks]

im so fed up with trying to figure out how to do a sump for my 4foot goldie tank,i dont have much money,and i have very little patience when it comes to figuring measurements etc. i feel like screaming right now. i have a spare 3 foot tank,which is going to waste,and i want to add more water volume to their tank as its over stocked,so creating a sump is ideal,until it comes to making it. ive read and re-read so many articles,even some with exact directions and diagrams with measurements,but i still cant figure it :mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:

my tank sits slightly forwards, its about 1/2inch lower at the front than the back,i think this is due to my floor,either way, its safe and secure,with plenty of padding under the tank,but i would need to have the overflow on the side of my tank not the back as it hasnt enough room between the wall and the tank to fit it to the back,and it would need to go out over the bracer bar aswell not just hook on the side. im at my wits end with looking for it all and attempting to figure it out,plus i cant afford to buy all the tools needed either. is there no where that sells the overflow/weir to just attatch to your tank? sorting the baffles i can do,but that seems the only simple easy to work out part of it. how on earth do i find out what strength pump to use to return the water to the tank? think i may just give up on this idea and leave them as they are at this rate :mad2:

[inkyjenn]

first of all, how many gallons is your tank. i have a 20 gallon long tank for my 55 gallon. a 15-20 gallon should be PLENTY for your tank. you can also use rubbermaid tubs. just watch out with plastic with microban in it. you can build an overflow with just pvc pipes. the best way to learn is to just build one and tweak it as necessary. we started with .5" pipe for an overflow and it couldnt keep up. we ended up using 2" and that worked great. we went overkill on the pump, ~400 gallons per 1' of head (why we needed the huge overflow). we use plastic pot scrubbers for filter media along with some ac filter pad for polishing. the whole thing has been up and running for several months now without a hitch. we almost killed ourselves trying to figure out the darned overflow. it doesnt look like it will work but it does. the hardest thing to figure out is the balance. get a valve for the line that runs into the sump. if you need to, you can build a line off the pump to dump some of the water straight back into the sump if you get a pump thats too much for your sump to handle. the next issue is how to keep it from overflowing if you lose power and thats uber simple: drill holes in all of your pipes a short distance below the water line.

[meandthetanks]

my tank is 48 inches x12 inches x 18 inches deep. i may sound dim,well i know i sound dim,i just cant seem to figure the whole over flow thing, i thought i had it all worked out in my head,now its gone again *sigh* will it make a difference if the overflow is slightly higer one end than the other? i have found a good diagram of an overflow on the net, does yours have a tube running to a filter intake on the top of the overflow? to stop air building up in there? im so sorry to ask so many daft questions,i just cant bare the idea of flooding my house! thanks for the help so far x

[Dale W.]

An overflow box is actually quite simple to build. Do you want to skim off of the surface of your tank or does that matter? If not, go toyur local pet shop. They use to use a plastic box that would hang on the front of the tank when they catch fish for you to take home. They would put the fish in a bag in that box. If you know what box I am talking about then your set. Hang the box on your tank and put a mark on the box about 1/2" below your water line. Figure out the half way point on the box to devide in half horizontaly. Glue a plastic devider peice in the middle going from the bottom to the mark that you made. There is your outside overflow box. Drill a hole in the bottom of the box on one side or the other for your drain hose fitting. Make it large enough to fit at least a 1" hose barb fitting. You can then make a syphon from PVC to go from your tank to the outside box. The ID of the syphon will depend on your return pump. Remember that the flow of water through the box will be determined by the amount of water that your return pump is pumping back into the aquarium. Did that all make sense?

[meandthetanks]

sounds simple enough,though ive never seen those boxes in teh fish stores,ours just put a bag into one of the other tanks to put the fish into. will lookinto it though. thanks for your help.

[pre98zetec]

http://www.sirensongboutique.com/animals/images/overflow.gif

much easier overflow design, I'm using this for my sump, cost 10$ to build.

[meandthetanks]

dont mean to sound too daft-again!-how does the water start to flow on that design,im guessing each time the pump is switched off the tubes will need filling with water again to start the water flow back into the sump. i think im right in saying if the power goes and the pump stops the tank cannot empty as the inlet is at the water surface?! this seems a much better design than what ive been looking at due to the fact it can be built flat to the tank and is much simpler to make. thanks for the info x

[Star_Rider]

if designed correctly the overflow will stop when the water line hits a [redetermined level. a siphon over flow will start back up when the power returns and the return pump starts refilling the tank.