I am not sure why I am doing this, I could just go out and buy a canister filter to do the job and plug it in rather than take my 'Free' fish tank and throw money at it. That being said I am making my own sump filter and will follow up with pictures when I get in a position to do so.
First I have a 'FREE' 55g tank ($400 with the initial set up stuff) and a 10g tank ($1) that is now sort of looking like a sump filter. I have LOTS of PVC piping and parts around the house so I figured this would be a good way to use some of it (wrong) most of it is too small for me to use on this sump set up.
Lowes and HD are my friends now with the parts that I have purchased.
A couple of small thin sheets of Plexy ($10), silicone sealant ($8), a Fluorescent light difusser grid ($13), filter media ($4), valves ($50), SS hardware ($6) and a discounted overflow box from a pet store that had a new one with some missing parts (Reg $75 got it for $50). I have yet to find a pump that I would like to run, probably in the 190 to 210 gph at 4' of head is what I think I may need. Still need bio media, a return hose set up, cover for the 10g tank and a pump. So far I have about $150 in it and am looking at a max budget of $225, If it works it will be real close to one of those new canisters and should perform as well (I hope). Thanks for the information I have found on this forum and letting me share.

A properly designed sump filter will be far superior than a canister filter when it comes to biological filtration, if it isn't, then what's the point of having it? These type of filters to take some setting up, but once you have them installed properly, they work extremely well.

good luck on the project!
I just love a good sump, and have enjoyed mine from day one.
When it's designed properly and running smoothly, maintenance will be real easy.
Could you take pics and post a step by step DIY thread?
If so, that would be appreciated very much.

The only negative i have heard about sumps (i have no sumps and so no experience) is that they can smell a bit, the guy who told me this had a saltwater tank and sump and he said he knew when it was cleaning time because he could smell it in the room. What are others experiences of this?

When I had my 100G set up, it would smell 'Fishy' (LOL) when it needed some additional attention. I am not too worried about an additional smell because I have 2 house cats and am a BBQ Chef/caterer, so an additional odor should not pose any real issue for me. But I can emagine it would produce more odor than just the tank by itself because of the extra air/water exchange happening.

delboybully wrote:



thats the same way how i know its time to clean my sump.............

I would advise you to put lots and lots of mechanical filtration in the first chamber or two, may be some coarse and fine media. This will help prevent lots of crap going into the chambers that contain biological media. If you don't do it, you'll end up having a lot of work on your hands having to take out the biological media to clean everything. However, putting some drain holes in the chambers will mean you can drain everything out the bottom instead of having to take everything out by hand.Also, putting your biological media in bags were all so help maintain the filter because it will mean you just have to lift it all out at once, rather than bit by bit.

With the benefit of hindsight it's very easy to come up with a much more efficient design sump filter when you've already done it. I'm willing to bet that most people who have a large sump filter leave it for ages before cleaning it. If you've got plenty of biological media then you're not going to have any problems, however even though it is a sump filter, it will still get absolutely filthy, that is the nature of keeping Oscars.

necromancer4 wrote:


x2... it will smell a little fishy when it needs a cleaning. Clean it and then the smell is gone!

I wouldn't trade my sump for anything!!!

Brooksie

unless you have all ready started I have been brain storming a maybe newish design

I work with pumps valves etc everyday and being a fitter by trade \found what I call poor designs and good idea's
about sump filters

here are my idea's any feed back - or + are welcome

(1) 3 siphon points with protective barriers .1 High to collect surface waste , second mid level ,third low (not so it sucks your media up lol )

(2) pump large enough to equal the siphoned water or better with a ball valve to get the right balance intake to sump / exit to tank

(3) return bulk head fitting to aim forward but more down to stir the crap from the bottom aimed toward the intakes

(4) the fitting of ( I like the idea of solenoid valves normally open so no power consumption on the suction side ) why ? flick a switch and turn off your syphon feed to your sump ) so when doing water changes turn pump off flick a switch no flooding of your sump tank as you refill

you could use ball valve's to isolate your intake when refilling after a water change

but when do you turn your pump back on with out drainig your sump

btw the filter side of the sumps is great just the feed side suks

Cheers Gaza

All points well taken. There has been alot of discussion on this forum on how to make a proper sump filter set up, I have read most and concluded that; you can actually polish the water and sustain a great bio bed very simply. Yea I could have gone crazy designing a system with lots of stages but decided the KISS method was the best for me, there are 4 - A Prefilter, mechanical with filter media sheets, bio media, and a final mechanical polisher with more filter media sheets. My other half will probably not do anything more then feed the fish (or not) everything else is up to me, my travel schedule is excessive to say the least, so here we go. First there is about 25 sq/ft of filter media (bulk 1' X 50" sheets) in the sump, there is also 2 boxes of the Fuval ceramic bio media (rings)bio balls ar edifficult to come by here and unfortunatly time is short. I did find a true 200 gph pump for a reasonable price (Sort of blew the budget though). The balance of the water flow was the most difficult part of the setup, there are 2 valves (Overflow box to sump and return back to tank, these were proaly the best things that were installed because of some modifications to the return that were done after it was running. The return valve is also used to balance the sump level. I had to add 2 more siphons to the box ecause the pump would over run the over flow, 2 - 1" and 1 - 3/4" seem to balance the flow pretty well. The return is at the lower end of the tank to 'stir' things up a bit and at the opposite end is the oveflow box, making a great crossflow current. More to come when I get the pictures downloaded to show how I did this project.

Photos of the Sump filter assembly and installation.
Enjoy

Nice job and thanx for posting.
It's looking good and i like it.

Any specific reason the media in the middle chamber is placed a little bit tilted?

i like that discharge tube, seems like a very good idea.
But it won't work in my setup, for I have to keep my outlet at water surface level, because i do not use a ball valve in my setup and my water will flow back into the sump when the pump is turned off.
But i got a bigger design sump and thus more room for back-flowing water.

Readjusting the flow a while back resulted in more than enough water returning into the sump... :angry: