Container for sump

[Andrew D]

Hey everyone. I've been absent for a while with a bunch of personal life distractions. Father passed from liver cancer about a month ago and my mother just got out of hospital with covid-induced dizziness and a fall. Other stuff too but those are the biggies. They say bad things come in threes so I've got my fingers crossed waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Anyway, I have been planning my large FOWLR tank for a while and am finally ready to order the tank. I'm going to go with John at NAFB as he's done a good job with a few tanks already including my 350G reef which he built in my living room. Glass has gone up a lot in the last few years and this tank is going to cost me so I'm hoping to avoid paying too much for a sump. I was thinking of going with one or more large plastic containers and I know some on this site have experience with these as sumps, top-off containers or fresh saltwater storage. Would appreciate hearing from any of you with suggestions as to what I can use.

Thanks in advance. Andrew2

 

[Luke_L]

You could use one of the tanks from our sponsors at Ontario Agra they are all food grade containers... just as an idea...

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks Luke. I thought of that but I'm looking for something that's open on top and the pictures seem to all show closed containers. It also needs to be a low enough profile to fit under my display.

 

[Cliff]

Sorry to hear about your loss and the sickness in your family Andrew. What size containers were you looking at approximately? I don’t have anything but maybe I can keep an eye open

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks Cliff. My tank will be about 66 by 48 (with a height of 36 inches) so something probably no larger than 55 by 36? and a heightnot greater than 20 inches? I have so little room under my reef I don't want to make that same mistake with this one. I'm also willing to go with 2 containers plumbed together, I'd just have to figure out how to configure these with internal skimmer.

 

[Luigi]

sorry to hear about your loss Andrew.
I did used at early years a rubbermade container for a year and half, with no problems, it was with a mag 8 in sump,
so was NOT drilled

 

[Luke_L]

sorry to hear about your loss Andrew.
I did used at early years a rubbermade container for a year and half, with no problems, it was with a mag 8 in sump,
so was NOT drilled

As I understand all Rubbermaid containers are food grade

 

[Luigi]

I never had problem with rubbermade

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks everyone. I'm leaning towards using a few of those green rubbermaid bins, plumbed together to get more volume and to simulate the sections of a sump. I think I can fit three under the tank so first one would be a refugium of sorts, second would be where the skimmer sits and the third would house the return pump. First and second bins would have bulkheads towards the top to maintain a constant water level while the third would vary depending on system volume with enough of a buffer to ensure they don't overflow if the pumps shut off. The first bin would have some sort of refugium and the second would house the skimmer. Kind of a crude description but does anyone see any problems with this set-up? I can't use those fancy drawing programs they use on other forums....

 

[Andrew D]

Hi again. Does anyone know if these rubbermaid bins are food grade and reef safe? I sent a question to their customer care people but have not yet heard back. Dimensions are perfect....

 

[Limey]

andrew i have several 55 gallon plastic drums you could cut these to whatever height you wished to create an open top container i have one i use to cure Live rock in and added a tap to drain it so you could plumb them easily.

just a thought...oh! and cost is FREE!!!

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks very much Tony. What's the diameter of the base and do you think they'd retain their rigidity if I cut them down to say 18 inches?