King Neptunes 120 Gallon Sumpless Adventure.

[KingNeptunesBounty]

I am extremely new to the reef keeping hobby. My wife decided to purchase an aquarium for me as Father's Day gift from her and my two little boys. So I was extremely delighted to see the aquarium sitting in my living room when I came home from work. Only problem I noticed was that the aquarium was not reef ready and apparently she hide been hiding it in the spare garage long enough that it couldn't be exchanged. So I'm going to make the best of it. Besides from my reading I see that a sump is primarily used to hide equipment and extend the total water volume of the aquarium and with all the new technology that I have seen on Marine Depot and throughout the forums I'm pretty sure I could come up with a fully functioning aquarium without the need to drill or take away from the asthetic goals.

 

[batt600]

Welcome to MR . You can drill the tank and put a overflow built in the tank . Thats what i did and it works great for me . You can go on you tube theres videos on drilling your tank . That what i did to learn

 

[jrobbins]

i would strongly recommend not trying to drill it yourself. and you are absolutely right that you can have an amazing tank with out a sump. good luck with the new tank!

 

[KingNeptunesBounty]

Reply to Batt600.

Welcome to MR . You can drill the tank and put a overflow built in the tank . Thats what i did and it works great for me . You can go on you tube theres videos on drilling your tank . That what i did to learn

Batt600, I definitely have already considered the drilling option except for the fact that the warning label on the aquarium states not to drill the enclosure which leaves me to believe the each pane is tempered glass. So I will not be going with that option. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[KingNeptunesBounty]

Reply to Jrobbins.

i would strongly recommend not trying to drill it yourself. and you are absolutely right that you can have an amazing tank with out a sump. good luck with the new tank!

Jrobbins, thank you for the vote of confidence. Hopefully everything will turn out like I plan.

 

[kaOzGrUnT]

"Using polarized Sun Glasses and a Laptop computer display, fire up the computer, get a white background (Notepad maximized),Put on the Sunglasses, Hold the blank between you and the laptop, look thru the blank at the screen, see any funny colors or patterns? If so its tempered, if its clear your good to go!"

 

[kaOzGrUnT]

http://www.inlandhobby.com/v/vspfiles/files/pdf/drilling_in_aquariums.pdf

 

[KingNeptunesBounty]

Reply to Kaozgrunt.

"Using polarized Sun Glasses and a Laptop computer display, fire up the computer, get a white background (Notepad maximized),Put on the Sunglasses, Hold the blank between you and the laptop, look thru the blank at the screen, see any funny colors or patterns? If so its tempered, if its clear your good to go!"

Kaozgrunt, thank you for the information but I am not interested in drilling the aquarium. I'm going to keep it as is.

 

[tjake68]

just get an overflow box hang it on the back and get a sump

 

[batt600]

just get an overflow box hang it on the back and get a sump

+1

 

[gholtmeyer]

An overflow box would work,but if you do, then make sure that you drill a hole right below the water line. This will brake the syphone if the power goes out. If you dont, then the tank could drain more water into the sump than the sump can hold. I wold not go with one personally. You could go with a closed loop with your protein skimmer. That would give you some filtering. Or you could just go with 10-15% water changes every week. You will also need to have some kind of water top-off system too.

 

[KingNeptunesBounty]

Marco Rocks Order Placed.

Just placed an order with Marc over at Marco Rocks for 90 lbs of Key Largo Precured Rock along with 40 lbs of of his Bahama Aragonite Sand. Should be delivered on Saturday. I'm hoping to create the following structures in my aquarium leaving enough swimming space for the fish and room for coral growth. May look empty at first but I'm hoping in time it will work.

 

[jrobbins]

An overflow box would work,but if you do, then make sure that you drill a hole right below the water line. This will brake the syphone if the power goes out. If you dont, then the tank could drain more water into the sump than the sump can hold. I wold not go with one personally. You could go with a closed loop with your protein skimmer. That would give you some filtering. Or you could just go with 10-15% water changes every week. You will also need to have some kind of water top-off system too.

the problem with an overflow box IS NOT that the siphon won't break, it is that the siphon WILL break. if it loses the siphon your return pump will empty your sump into your main tank and cause a flood.

 

[ming]

the problem with an overflow box IS NOT that the siphon won't break, it is that the siphon WILL break. if it loses the siphon your return pump will empty your sump into your main tank and cause a flood.

You're referring to a HANG on overflow which depends on a siphon. I'm sure everybody else is referring to a drilled overflow which is basically gravity powered.

I will add I would go with the overflow box. Its not purely to hide equipment. In Sump skimmers are typically MUCH more efficient then hang on skimmers. Even if you want a top of the line hang on skimmer, you'll end up paying twice the cost of an in sump skimmer for half the efficiency. If you drip any kalk, you'll end up getting a nasty line where the water line is, whereas if it drips into the sump, who cares if the sump gets a little dirty? Also, with overflow boxes, it skims the surface of the water where all the gunk builds up. That's why people without overflow boxes ask questions like "why is there a thin film of oil on the surface of my tank and how do I get rid of it?" That thin film also inhibits oxygen exchange.

 

[jrobbins]

actually i think they are talking about a HOB overflow box....

 

[ming]

you're right, gholtmeyer is talking about HOB. BUT he's talking about drilling a hole for the return output so it doesn't create a back siphon on the return line.

 

[KingNeptunesBounty]

Guys I don't mean to sound like the one who ruined the party but I am not considering an Overflow on this system at all and would appreciate if the discussion on overflow boxes stops on this thread. As it was intended for my aquarium which does not and will not contain an overflow of any kind. Thank you.

 

[dubs]

kingneptune there all good sugestion by some fellow reefer that have some good looking tank imo and i have not seems some there systems and i too am with them i think sump/fuge is good go if u want a good reef .. u may go good for a while but in the long run the tank will catch up with u ...i used run my tank on 2 canister filters and since got rid of one and set a sump fuge my tank be growin pretty nice i still have one running carbon .. any way not telling u what to do it ur tank and its nice to see someone try a different angle best of luck keep us updated on the sats

 

[batt600]

will no overflow ok what type of tank are you going to run it better be fish with live rock if your going reef you need a sump . so what are you doing with this tank . And what equipment are you going to use.

 

[KingNeptunesBounty]

Reply to Dubs.

kingneptune there all good sugestion by some fellow reefer that have some good looking tank imo and i have not seems some there systems and i too am with them i think sump/fuge is good go if u want a good reef .. u may go good for a while but in the long run the tank will catch up with u ...i used run my tank on 2 canister filters and since got rid of one and set a sump fuge my tank be growin pretty nice i still have one running carbon .. any way not telling u what to do it ur tank and its nice to see someone try a different angle best of luck keep us updated on the sats

Dubs, thank you. I definitely know that having a sump is something that is tried and true but their is just this itch that I need to scratch concerning this setup and the more exciting part of that it's a challange that I am definitely in taking. Hopefully everything works out for me and everyone can see for themselves. If not then the jokes on me. I'm a bit hard headed but I do have reasons why I think this will work as well. Feel free to keep tagging along.