Building a sump...

[talon4x4]

I've decided to try my hand at building a sump. I've got everything I need, except the acrylic. My question, will the stuff at Home Depot work?!? The have a 36"x72" sheet and its 1/4" thick. The price is $70. Is this the same stuff others are using?!?

BTW: Its definetly acrylic and not plexiglass.

[medicdiver]

Need to know how big you plan on making your sump? 1/4 inch seems kinda thin. Have you done acrylic work before? Here's a to help you out..

[crvz]

I have a good amount of pictures of my sump build in my build thread (sig link), and if you really want a write up of the same thing click here.

But, the material at home depot is not the right stuff to use. I can't recall if that stuff is cast or extruded (my memory is failing me right now... but I want to say that it's extruded) and does not have the strength to hold up over time. I'd recommend going to a plastics store and finding a better material, I've had good success with the Acrylite FF. It's not too much more (I've always paid $100 for a 4'x8' 1/4" sheet).

And 1/4" should be plenty for up to about 50 gallon tank, assuming you use some sort of bracing. Good luck, let me know if you have any questions!

[talon4x4]

Medicdiver: nope never worked with it before, and the more I've read the more its made me a bit leary.

crvz: Thanks for the thread and the advice.

Ok, plans have changes once again. I bought an old glass aquarium, 60 gallons with 1/2" glass, it should work perfectly in the space I have. Working with acrylic on something the size I wanted to end up being costly, I need to start with something small and move up to a sump.

This brings me to another question. I found someone selling Lexan Polycarboate sheets, 1/4"x24"48" for $25. Does that seem like a decent price and will it work for the baffles in my glass aquarium??

[ckusnierek]

Originally Posted by talon4x4

Ok, plans have changes once again. I bought an old glass aquarium, 60 gallons with 1/2" glass, it should work perfectly in the space I have. Working with acrylic on something the size I wanted to end up being costly, I need to start with something small and move up to a sump.

This brings me to another question. I found someone selling Lexan Polycarboate sheets, 1/4"x24"48" for $25. Does that seem like a decent price and will it work for the baffles in my glass aquarium??

Thats exactly what I did.. I was nervous about building a complete sump (nervous about a flood) so I got a old 35g glass tank and I got a 24" x 36" sheet of lexan. I cut the baffels and used 100% silicone rubber. No need to buy the expensive aquarium silicone just make sure it's 100% silicone and that theres no anti mildew chemicals in it. the doors and windows is ok and the bath and kitchen has the anti mildew stuff in it. Another bit of advice when cutting the plastic just score it with a razor and snap it unless you have a super fine blade on your saw, and also slightly round the bottom edges where they meet the bottom or you could have a large gap at the bottom and have to use a ton of silicone. HTH, I did it just a few weeks ago.

Oh and just because the the silicone apprears to be set up its better safe than sorry to just wat a day or two before filling. If you really goop it on(the silicone) it can take 3 or 4 days to set-up.

[talon4x4]

Cool, thanks for the info ckusnierek.

[crvz]

If you have a plastics/laminates blade for the table saw (you can get a cheap one for ~$10), that should work fine (something with ~60-80 teeth on it, as opposed to the ~20-30 teeth wood blades). But scoring will likely work too. I think lexan is much more brittle than other plastics, but it should work fine in this case. And I agree with the silicone recommendation; get the window/door GE Silicone I and you'll be in good shape. Good luck!