AND I FINALLY GOT IT!!! MY SUMP/FUGE (REFUGUMP) *i know theres a combo word already out there but i forgot it*

i have asked about this before and now im going to try it.. i was able to buy a sump from a guy who was upgrading his 46 to a 90. my plan is to install a shelf above my tank and have a water pump push water up to the sump and then have it drain down back to the tank. i am doing this because i have a tank with a built in wetdry filter and i cant drill it or have a hang on overflow for a below tank sump.

and there it is!! http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/IMG_0587.jpg
i bought it for 150 dollars and it came with a coralife fixture and an overflow box and some small pumps. i think i got a pretty nice deal. i PROBABLY will not be using that included skimmer and will just use my css125, but i might try out the skimmer just to see. i dont know if you noticed...but i DRILLED MY OWN HOLE !!!!! this is the hole which the water is going to drain down to my tank from. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/IMG_0588.jpghttp://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/IMG_0592.jpg
i drilled it with my uncle who works with acrylic at his work. i did it at my dads machine shop with a professional drill press. it was actually sort of easy. i practiced once on another piece of acrylic..and then i just did my tank. its a 1.5 inch hole for a .75 inch bulkhead.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/IMG_0595.jpg

that is where it is going to be mounted...on a thick wooden board..on these bracketshttp://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/IMG_0594.jpg

i know what youre thinking, but on the otherside of that wall, is the elevator, which was built some what recently and i know for sure!! there is a sturdy wooden frame behind that wall. and those metal brackets are very sturdy and i will build wood crosses for reinforcement.

PLEASE id love to hear any comments good or bad, happy or sad. i still ahve to buy all the plumbing and pumps, but i figured id get started on the thread and slowly document my progress here.

Looks like you're doing everything right, as long as you make sure that shelf is super sturdy, that's a lot of wieght. I see you also drilled the hole up pretty high, presumably so you won't flood your tank in the even of a power outage. Very smart. Be sure to test it a couple of times. I thing the only other thing I'd mention is either make really sure nothing can block off the outflow tube (snail, macroalgae, whatever) or install a second overflow tube. It'd be a real shame to go to all that work, and then have a major disaster because somthing got stuck in that tube.

Looking good otherwise :up:

yup. the machine workers at my dads work said the shelf can hold more than enough if installed correctly. and i am currently thinking about that clogging. since my mom doesnt want me to drill another hole because she is sure that ill break it, i was thinking of setting up something like an auto top off, where set it and if the water level in the sump gets really high it will turn off the pump pushing water up there. and id drill siphon holes as well

Ah, yes. A float switch would work just as well. Good call.

sweet.. i kinda thought of it on my own, and im glad someone else confirms it will work out!

what pump do you use to get the water to your sump? I am looking at doing about the same thing for a fuge for my reef. In the fuge I want to do a pair of horses.

This is my fuge on top of my sump. Gravity feed. Same principle.The display tank is upstairs, above the lab.

what pump do you use to get the water to your sump? I am looking at doing about the same thing for a fuge for my reef. In the fuge I want to do a pair of horses.

Ack i know this isnt the right forum and this is off topic but be careful about putting seahorses inline with a reef tank. The seahorse podcast explained it in more detail why its a bad idea but mainly it's the issue of temperature. reef tanks are usually kept higher than seahorses like. Vibrio is more prolific at the higher temps.

I have been re-thinking my sea horse idea. I was going to put them in my reef and just ry it, but I can 't get my reef cool enough without making my corals turn crappy. Back to the drawing board