was considering making my own sump filter and am interested in any links or hints in doing so not done alot of research into it so far but from what i've seen it seems the most cost effective and and easy way to go down the DIY path. any info or suggestions will be considered so please don't hesitate??

Check this link out. I think this guy has designed the sump without having to drill holes in the bottom of the tank.
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/mana...hup_Sump_Filter.html

A lot of sumps fit underneath your tank and there are pre-drilled holes in the tank. The water normally flows through these holes into the sump. Obviously if you wanted to do it, you'd have to totally empty your tank and start over. I believe you can have the water exiting from the sides of the tank which would obviously mean only draining some of the water out. However, if you are starting out with a brand new tank, I think you'll find that the job a lot easier than if you are trying to add a sump to an existing established aquarium with fish in already.

What you have got to ask yourself is do you really need a sump filter? Sump filters come into their own on very heavily stocked aquariums, normally large aquariums. I wouldn't actually bother with the sump filter ob anything less than 100 gallons. I would get myself a really good canister filter, even two canister filters, just like I have got on my 125 gallon tank.

However, feel free to ignore the latter part of this thread, this is just my opinion.

For DIY for existing tanks w/out drilled holes you can also build a HOB syphin so that you dont need to drill or drain your tank.

I have also been thinking about doing this for my tank as a fun project and these are a couple pages I ran across while researching.

www.csd.net/ ~cgadd/aqua/overflow.htm

www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

Also check this link out

images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http:/...0%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Let me tell you my story.
A friend of mine I gave me a 500 litre sea tank, with a cracked back glass, a 160 litre sump, also broken and 3 oscars for free,
first I went and bought them a new tank, a 180 litre tropical tank(this is now used for small tropical fish), then the fun started,
I rebuilt the tank, the drainage shoot and the sump, I also built a base out of bricks and concrete,
it turns out that the base weighs 3.5 tons, I got a carpernter to put trim around the base and the tank(see gallery for my 500L tank).

Now, the sump and the tank are virtually maintainance free, I have 2x300w heaters,
a 3000 litre per hour pump, a UV sterilizer, filter media, live plants and bloodworms in the sponge media and a sun light, The tank
and sump water is perfectly balanced and clear, as clear as you have ever seen, The only thing I do once a week, is top up the sump,
(it losses about 6 litres a day, The heaters keep the water at 26.5 degrees so evaporation is normal.) and vacumm the tank lightly.
The biology in the sump is remarkable, you can actually see it working, so I will recommend a sump system any day.

I also took a small portable tank, about 120 litres and drilled a hole in it, I can now for whatever reason use it as an emergency
tank running off the same sump, or a different sump if anything should go wrong with the big tank.

Sump filters are just the best, in my opinion nothing beats them. I've got some filter running on my 300 gallon tank and I've got enough biological media to service around 5000 gallons of water. You may well think this is an overkill, I actually think that the more biological filtration, the better. I will tell you just how efficient this whole setup of mine is. My tank has been set up for around 10 weeks now. I put water in the tank at the beginning and left it for a few days to warm up. Once the water was warm enough for fish, I introduced two 5" Green Severums. At the same time, I transferred half a tray of biological media from one of my existing eheim filters on my 125 gallon tank. Two weeks later I added three 2" jurupari three 4" silver dollars. Around three weeks later I added my leporinus. At 10 weeks, the water readings were ammonia zero, nitrite zero and nitrate 20. I then carried out my first water change and then added a couple of 7 inch Oscars.

I don't think you could do this with a small tank, it just shows you how efficient as some filter works in conjunction with a large tank. I should only have to the water change once a month with this tank. Obviously, I overstocked the tank which will help.

Sump filters are so incredibly efficient, you can get an enormous amount of biological and mechanical filtration in them, so much more than even the largest canister filter on the market. And they keep me made for a fraction of the price.