My goals for this tank, despite that it seems perhaps complex, are in fact simple.
First of all, my current FW setup is a disaster, a big mess of algae and no matter what I do, I can't get the algae and cyano at bay. So I've been wanting to start over at square 1 for some time.
Secondly, my clown loaches are getting too big for their current home, which is a 30g.
Also, the current tank is on a steel stand with canister filters, lights timers, powerstrip, etc. all exposed and I now have a very curious toddler. So a tank with an enclosed stand was needed as well.
Last, I'm just absolutely tired of suction cups failing. So the canister filter returns, the heaters, the surface skimmer, the spray bars ... always fall off. And if you fix it, they fall off within a day again. Hopeless. So a new tank that didn't need *anything* suctioned to the glass was desired.
As far as going with a sump ... well .. I don't know if this was needed. Being that I'd never build a reef tank without a sump, I thought I'd give this a try. If I get nothing else out of it, I think I'll at least get a place to hide the heater, be able to use bioballs instead of a canister filter (less electrical things to plug in, just the sump return), and never have to worry about the water level in the main tank dropping due to evaporative losses (it will just lower in the sump, out of sight). And I think these reasons make it worthwhile to try it even on a FW. And if I ever decide to upgrade or downgrade, this tank is now reef-ready.
This will be a planted setup, with black gravel. I'm also thinking of a black background for the tank. However I haven't decided how that will happen just yet. I don't want to haul it outside in the snow to paint and I don't want to paint inside the house. So I'll probably try something like construction paper or something and see how it looks.
Next up is the water test and look for leaks inthe plumbing. I filled the tank tonight but left the sump empty since I was letting my sump return line dry out as I only put the last piece on tonight.
Already though I can tell I need one place that needs attention, the overflow box is not leakproof. It slowly filled and is now draining into the sump. It's not a huge showstopper by any means but if there's a long power failure the tank will (eventually) drain about 5" instead of the 2" I was hoping. So I plan to find the leak and resilicone that spot. Good thing I made the plumbing modular. (And I guess it goes to show that you really do need to pay attention to the measurements when designing an overflow box. If I had done that right I bet I wouldn't have this problem now.)