See attached picture... sorry about my poor windows paint skills
The siphon tube keeps the water level in the inside and outside boxes equal, and there is a hole drilled in the outside box for a bulkhead fitting, with the bottom of the hole at the water level you want to maintain. the water flows into the inside box through a grate. That's about the simplest way to do it.
Hey im glad you like my sump design....here is how i did my over flow box. The first drawing shows a side view so you can see both the box inside the tank and the one outside the tank. The seccond picture shows just the one part of the Overflow box that is out side the tank. if you put a wall inbetween the syphon tube and the tube that will take the water to the sump then the over flow box will self prime becase the syphon tube will ALWAYS be underwater. whereas with out the wall inbetween if the syphon tube ever runs dry then it will loose its syphon and your pump in the sump will pump all the water from the sump into your tank and it will overflow. Also another VIP thing to remember is to drill a couple holes into the pipe that is bringing the water back to the tank from the sump just below the water level in the tank, because if you ever lose power the water in your tank will drain back into the sump (through the pipe that the pump is connected to) and if you drill these holes right below the water line then a little will drain into the sumo untill the water level goes down enough to reach the holes you drilled and then it will stop the water from draining back into your sump. hope that covers everything! OH yea also make sure your Overflow box can handle more flow than the pump you are using.
seaman I really like it. I am going to try to incorerate (spelling?) the auto top off system thingy you have posted also. I am creative and all, but ive never used a sump before and need help getting started. thanks for all the help.
also while im thinking about it. what do you put in the refugium part of it?
I put lava rocks in there and got a couple algae balls "marimo balls" and they spread all over the lava rock sometimes I will throw my new plants in there for a week or two to get bigger before i put them in the main tank...I also have a buncha amano shrimp in there too. You could basically put anyplants in there you want, as long as you have sufficient lighting over the fuge. I also tend to get hair algai and brown algae in the fuge too wich i dont mind. Oh yea I also used a fine grain gravel as the substrate.
the box on the inside of the tank will have little slits cut in it right at the level you want the water to flow into it. that will be the level your main tank will stay at. these should help:
ok thanks so much again. that is what I thought, but I didn't want to and do something, and do it completly wrong when I can ask. you have any other DIY stuff you have done?
Hmmmm....I made a DIY canister filter, and a DIY protien skimmer, and a DIY Lighting hood. Thats pretty much it! atleast on the DIY for aquariums...now if were talkin cars thats another story.....I can make a mean set of "angel eyes"
