Sump

[1bigstud]

I need some.advice.

I have 33 gallon sump.
I used sheets of acrylic to create baffles for noise reduction,.and flow in my sump.
Unfortunately the acrylic sheets have caved on each other, and now my sump is noisy!
It's going to be impossible I think to get my sump out from under my tank, I think.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Basically I need to raise the water level in one chamber of the sump, the area where water from.the display drains to.

[albert_dao]

Just drain the sump and redo it. Your tank can run without a skimmer and whatnot for a day, no problem as long as you have some decent powerheads. Way easier than juggling water levels :D

[1bigstud]

Thanks AL,

Any advice on a good sealant/silicone to use that will seal in one day, and be easy to spread over the old stuff?

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

you should use 100% silicone and from your 1st post (Unfortunately the acrylic sheets have caved on each other) you used too thin of acrylic sheets.

[1bigstud]

Thanks for the input. How thick do I want to go?

[Ace Storman]

Hey, for silicone, you should use GE SCS1200. It is an industrial grade adhesive sealant. It IS aquarium / reef safe and used by most tank builders. Some LFS's do carry it.

I have sealed several tanks with it, and once dry it is almost impossible to pull off.

Hope this helps, good luck on the repair!

Norman

[1bigstud]

Thanks I'll run down to Rona and grab some.
This will be a pain in the @$$ to say the least, ad I don't think I'll be able to completely dry my sump.
I'd be more than happy to accept volunteers for help lol.

[Tyfighter]

I had the same thing happened
I'd reccomend a shop vac and lots of paper towel!
You can also use rtv silicone, Canadian tire has it. Super strong hold compared to regular silicone.

[Myka]

Yes, Shop Vac for the win!

I've not been able to find that SCS1200 silicone locally and just buy the over-priced Aqueon silicone.

[reef-keeper]

From my experience. I found that silicon does not work very well on acrylic. Acrylic and silicon are not friends. Silicon sticks to the glass great. Acrylic needs acrylic glue and it only works when you glue acrylic to acrylic. You might want to think about replacing it with glass in the future. My sump was a combo of both and it kept failing. So I had concept make me one. They used all glass and I haven't had an issue yet.

[Tyfighter]

That's why I reccomend the rtv silicone. It works well on acrylic where as the overly expensive Aqueon stuff doesn't.

[gregzz4]

I hope you're planning on replacing the baffles with glass.
I'd suggest 1/4".
I'd also suggest waiting at least 72 hours after installing them before you put water back in, and use a fan to blow room air through your stand to 'air out' the silicone fumes. This will help speed up the curing time. The silicone needs to interact with the surrounding air to cure.

If you're going to go with 1/4" plexi again, look for some rubber strips that wrap the edges of the plex. These are similar to what window glass installers use and you can use them to 'pressure fit' the plex into place.
This product is a 'channel' that wraps the edge of the plex with flat outer edges.
Just do some research on it being 'potable', but I've seen threads where it's been used long-term successfully.

[gregzz4]

This (https://www.showerdoorcanada.com/products/shower_door_hardware/Sweeps___Seals/365) is kinda what I had in mind if you use plex again

[1bigstud]

Thanks everyone!

At this time I've decided to stuff the area where water splashes to reduce the noise.

I gonna take my time and research some options before moving on, the tank will be fine, it's onlyour noisy which probably doesn't bother anyone inside the tank lol.

It looks I'll be draining my sump, so I may as well look into ways of improving my current setup.

That being said any sump ideas or design tips would be appreciated.

[Tyfighter]

Can you post a picture of your current setup?