Top Fin 10 gallon $13 sump tank

[CWO4GUNNER]

I couldn't see driving 35 miles to Petco for their $1 a gallon sale so I settled on a $13 Top Fin 10g at PetSmart by my house. I have been playing around with different size plastic bucket & streilite containers but none seen to have both the combination of strength, convenient shape and transparency. The cheapest sump tanks are nothing more then an acrylic 10 gallon aquarium with a sock and divider for $125. So I settled on using a Top Fin 10 gallon to use as my compact 500 GPH sump tank which beats $144.

While its true most associate sump tank size relative to aquarium size, I have been using a 10 gallon Tom Aquatics PS3 compact sump with adequate results on my 244 tank. I say adequate becasue my primary intent is controlling my tank water level which I believe is a sumps best attribute. The sooner I get all the parts on the sooner I wont have to be raising a bucket above my head to top off my 120 tall tank.

 

[iamvictor2k]

you dont have a python?

 

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

not a python user here either

 

[WeedCali]

I do it Bucket Style too

 

[excuzzzeme]

I built a trickle filter out of a 10 and yes it kept the main tank full. It's biggest drawback was that I had to top it off every other day. I now use a 30 gallon and top that off once a week.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

I due rely on a faucet educator (python) to do 30%-50% water changes of 684 gallons. But for dehydration topping off even here in AZ in summer a 5 gallon auto-fill reservoir hooked up to my 10 gallon Tom's PS3 sump last me about 2 weeks before refill on my 244 tank and that's good enough for me.

This ten gallon will be right at the door opening of my 120 Oceanic tank & cabinet which means all I have to do is open the cabinet door and pour in a 2.5 bucket of water every couple weeks for topping off between my 6 weeks water changes using an educator. Why every 6 weeks vice weekly water changes? Because my Pothos nitrate filters (avatar photo) keep all six of my tanks toxicity very low for 6 weeks between water changes, reaching only 20-30 PPM Nitrates after 6 weeks. So you see compared to most people that must do weekly water changes and having no need to top off, I have a much longer maintenance span and need to only add water due to dehydration and I hate waterlines below the tank trim.

 

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

i use to use 10G tanks as sumps but for me the ideal sump is a 29G so i pick them up every time i see a good deal on one.

 

[Navyscuba]

i use to use 10G tanks as sumps but for me the ideal sump is a 29G so i pick them up every time i see a good deal on one.

I got a 30 as a sump for my big stand. I prefer them too. They are deep, long and you have room to work. :headbang2:

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Oh wow that finished stand looks delicious, Looks like it was hand made a long time ago.

For me the 10 gallon is perfect and to be honest I haven seen how my Toms PS3 10 gallon sump could do any better job with the water flowing in over the batten box at 500 HPH, the batten seems to last a long time before it gets clogged and the basked starts to overflow. For me a longer sump is harder to fit in the cabinet and heavier to remove for cleaning.

The only bad point is I bet Top-fin uses tempered glass on their 10 gallons which means I cant drill the tank to attach a low hose to a proper tank reservoir like the Toms auto-fill.