High Tide Aquatics

Custom Sump Recommendations?

bluprntguy

bluprntguy

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So, after some time off, I've decided to rebuild by nano.

I'm somewhat space constrained with my sump and need to have something custom built. Does anyone have some good recommendations?

I've already reached out to Modular Marine, but are there any other options that someone in the group knows about?
 
I recommend designing something yourself and having Tap Plastics cut the acrylic pieces for you to glue together. Then you can design your return chamber to be just the size of your pump of choice so less space is wasted.
 
Chromis said:
I recommend designing something yourself and having Tap Plastics cut the acrylic pieces for you to glue together. Then you can design your return chamber to be just the size of your pump of choice so less space is wasted.
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I did that for the last one. It was OK and served it's purpose, but I was looking for something a little nicer this time around...

That is indeed the fall-back option though.
 
Vhuang168 said:
Depending on how nice you want it to look and how much customization you want done.

Advanced Acrylic
Bashsea
MRC - My Reef Creations
Synergy
Royal Exclusiv
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I'm not sure all these folks do custom work. However, Advanced Acrylic was a great recommendation. I've already swapped a couple emails with him! I'll check out the rest later.


sfsuphysics said:
Depending upon the size, look at the Somatic line of sumps.
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Looks like cool sump design. I'm constrained by a 100 year old built in cabinet that is only 12" deep. Most standard sumps are 14-16" deep. I'll check vertex website and see if there is something that they make that maybe BRS doesn't carry.

I think Eshopps is the only sump manufacturer that I've seen that has anything standard that would fit. Their sumps have a new design where the water flows under the skimmer section to the fuge (or maybe vice versa) and it looks like a complete PIA to clean.
 
bluprntguy said:
I'm not sure all these folks do custom work. However, Advanced Acrylic was a great recommendation. I've already swapped a couple emails with him! I'll check out the rest later.




Looks like cool sump design. I'm constrained by a 100 year old built in cabinet that is only 12" deep. Most standard sumps are 14-16" deep. I'll check vertex website and see if there is something that they make that maybe BRS doesn't carry.

I think Eshopps is the only sump manufacturer that I've seen that has anything standard that would fit. Their sumps have a new design where the water flows under the skimmer section to the fuge (or maybe vice versa) and it looks like a complete PIA to clean.
Click to expand...

I had an Eshopps and hated it
 
Look up Plastic_builders on instagram.
They’re in San Jose and they build some cool custom sumps (and just about anything acrylic) at very reasonable prices. I’ve been talking to them about building custom a sump and they’ve (it’s a husband and wife team) been very cool. I’ve seen several of their sumps in-person and it’s good stuff.
 
Ran into the opposite issue. All the sumps that I looked at were too long and narrow. Wanted something that was shorter, but deeper, so just tossed together a simple design and had Taps cut the pieces. Obviously not as nice as what a custom sump builder can do, but I'm more than happy with the results.
sumpmaxlevel.jpg


This eventually lead me into building the ATO reservoir, with Quick Connect fittings. Just built a couple of simple boxes tonight for an AWC application that I'm hoping to implement soon.
 
Eric - your sump looks great! I'm curious how much more prep you had to do on the panels after Tap cut them for you - do they need to be polished before glue-up? Typical weld-on 4?
 
I actually used Tap's version of weld-on #4. I don't have a nice wrap around top as in a custom sump, but added the back plate for four bulkheads (3 for the overflow and 1 for the return). Tubing holders were included for ATO, CaRX feed, and whatnots. Heater holders are rough, but they work.

No prep was done to the panels for the sump assembly. It does produce some sharp edges, which I softened after water testing. Used a handheld torch to flame polish the rough parts so that they wouldn't be so sharp.
 
Ibn said:
Ran into the opposite issue. All the sumps that I looked at were too long and narrow. Wanted something that was shorter, but deeper, so just tossed together a simple design and had Taps cut the pieces. Obviously not as nice as what a custom sump builder can do, but I'm more than happy with the results.
sumpmaxlevel.jpg


This eventually lead me into building the ATO reservoir, with Quick Connect fittings. Just built a couple of simple boxes tonight for an AWC application that I'm hoping to implement soon.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty great. Did you use 1/4" acrylic?
 
Yes, 1/4" acrylic. Front panel is clear, but everything else is in white.

These are the two new boxes that I'll be using for AWC soon. Still need to finish enclosing it and then adding the necessary components (Quick Connect and float valves). Black bottom and top in this case.
upload_2019-2-5_11-44-51.png
 
Granted @Ibn is more artistic than most with sump builds, with a custom sump you’re not going to do much better unless beveled/flame-brushed edges are important to you. I think for longevity in the hobby it’s more important to get a design that doesn’t frustrate you when you are trying to do maintenance or fit equipment into the sump.
 
Thanks all for the recommendations. I got quotes from Modular Marine and Advanced Acrylic. They both had the same recommendations regarding my proposed design, so I ended up making the sump a little deeper for the flow over socks to work correctly. Modular Marine was significantly less, so just pulled the trigger on that. Sump and ATO should be here in a few weeks...
 
Jess, if I can ask what was the size you went with? And cost? I'm trying to weigh in between repurposing an old acrylic tank (which does require some major hacking), building from scratch like Eric did, or just paying someone else to do it.
 
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