Hi Simpson Malta,

 Welcome to our site, it is always great to see somebody new posting in our site. As any questions or problems  posted here will help others and provide new ideas. Well I must admit i never thought i would do a sump for just one tank. However after seeing the video on u tube, it is pretty simple to make and i think very cost effective in the  sense it is so cheap to set up. The box he used is so simple to open and close and will take a lot of filtration material. What I am not sure about from what i saw is the size of the power-head. I guess it depends on the amount of fish you are going to keep also the amount of circulation u wish to have. If you are going to buy a powerhouse, I would prefer it to be a bit stronger than my needs, because with time it sometimes slows down a bit.

 Also Trevor thanks for the explanation and for the link. I suggest who ever reads this post also watches the link which Trevor provided.

 Frank

This is a good one

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/Sump%2...

Look at the "A Usual Sump Setup " section

Take particular attention to the overflow box.  This is crucial in a power outage. you would not need and stop valves with this design.  when power is off the syphon will stop and then start again when the power is back.

Sumps are widely used in Marine setup and the refuge , usually called 'refugium" is most commonly part of the setup, In fresh water you do not need one.


An extract from wikipedia

In fishkeeping, a refugium is an appendage to a marine, brackish, or freshwater fish tank that shares the same water supply. For some applications water flow is limited in order to protect plants or animals that require slow flow. The refugium light cycle can be operated opposite to the main tank, in order to keep total system pH more stable (due to the uptake of acid-forming CO₂ by the refugium during its daylight hours). One size guideline is 1/10 main tank volume.

A refugium may be used for one or more purposes such as denitrification, nutrient export, plankton production, circulation, surface agitation, oxygenation or aesthetic purposes.

Yes altough personally I have never seen ones made of  wood, altough I am sure there are.   Abroad it's very common they build wooden aquarium but locally the ones I know of with the same style are  made of reinforced concrete , swimming Pool style or else bricks and then fibre glass.   I have to say I really like the wood approach.  We have some members that have aquarium recessed in walls or dividers in between rooms.  The one which I liked most was a pond which can also be seen from a room underneath (kantina)  it's spectacular with natural sunlight.

The only disadvantage I can say about trickle filters is esthetics  (since they are above tank) as for the rest they are a fantastic way of filtration, safe, easy , very effective, promote evaporation therefore keep cooler in summer and oxygenate water in a very effective manner.  If you can do it go for it definitely.  I have built a couple in a matter of minutes, usually use square Flower pots or else these common storage boxes with lids.  The plastic of flower pots is somehow less brittle.  And ideally it's not transparent so you avoid algae growth. Be creative in the choice for filter media and you will have a filter which will keep your water in optimal conditions.