Make a Freshwater Aquarium Sump (150g Redo pt.1)

Welcome to Part 1 of my 150 Gallon Cube Aquarium redo series. In this session, I reseal the aquarium and deal with filtration. Have you ever wanted to build a sump for freshwater filtration? Well it's quite simple and that's the main focus of this video. As stated, this isn't an all inclusive guide, but it does cover the topic in great detail. Understand also that there are several kinds of sumps (i.e. trickle tower, fluidized, etc.). This is just a simple/traditional sump design. If you are on the fence about building one for yourself it, I highly encourage you to give it a try.

I have several video coming out for this series and the format will be pretty consistent throughout. I'm taking you on the journey of this aquarium's transformation, by explaining it great detail. Most of the concepts aren't ground breaking, but you should know by now that I'm putting my own creative spin on the whole thing.

- - Why should you get or make a sump? - -

The great thing about sumps is that they increase the volume of water in your system. The more water in your system, the easier it is to keep a stable environment for your fish friends. Sumps are also extremely versatile and can be customized to meet your specific requirements. All of your hardware, like heaters and thermometers, can easily be hidden in a sump. Finally if your pump breaks, it generally easier and cheaper to replace a pump instead of some obscure part or an entire filter.

- - How much water will drain out from my overflow? - -

It's extremely important to account for equipment failure or power outage when making a sump. When this occurs, your aquarium will drain down to the overflow and if it's not accounted for in the sump, it will end up on your floor. The easiest way to do this is to measure from the top of your overflow (in my case a street elbow) up to your desired water level, this will be your height. Then measure the length and width of the aquarium. Once you have obtained your measurements, use this link to calculate the volume. http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/conve...

For example mine is 36” x 36” x 2” which equals roughly 12 gallons. However, my return nozzle also drains a little bit of the water, so my measurement is actually 36” x 36” x 2.5” which is 14 gallons give or take. This method won't be 100% accurate, but it will give you an educated decision on how to scale your sump. Again, the height of your first baffle will dictate the volume of the sump to a large degree.

- - What pump should I chose for my sump? - -

First things first, spend the extra cash and get a reputable pump! Don't try to save a buck and get some cheap off brand pump. Been there and done that, it's no fun. You will end up wasting money long term and it could end up being detrimental in other ways.

How do you determine the right size pump (measured by GPH) for your aquarium? It depends on who you ask, but the general consensus seems to be that a pump should turn over 4-6x the volume of your aquarium per hour. My aquarium is 150 gallons and my sump holds about 25 gallons, so in total I am running a 175 gallon system. The SP4 is rated at 1,800 GPH, but based on the head height, it's actually pushing closer to 1,600 GPH. I tend to lean toward more power because of the way that I stock tanks and I don't completely trust the company ratings because of how many variables can be present. Regardless I need a pump that turns over at least 1,050 GPH (175g x 6). If the pump rating is correct I'm actually turning over around 9x the volume per hour. That's a lot more than what's typically recommended, but that's generally how I roll.

- - Reseal an Aquarium - -

I've been “officially” in the aquarium hobby for over 11 years. Learning how to reseal an aquarium was an early, yet pivotal turning point to my hobby. I started working at 14, but I wasn't making much money. In order to get larger aquariums for cheap I had to learn to repair them. I got most of my larger for pretty cheap It's still going strong to this day. Check out the older video of mine below for an extensive look on how to this. It's amazing to see how much my videos have developed since this upload.

   • DIY - How To Reseal An Aquarium  

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