Midnight

A fellow reefer in the Charlotte are asked me to build him a sump. He was very opposed to have to take down or drain his reef to add a new sump so we opted to just add another chamber to his existing filtration. His goals were to get things cleaned up and set up his filtration better. He originally had an old style trickle filter with some live rock and a berlin turbo skimmer.

Our plan was to remove the live rock and turn that chamber into a refugium. I had an old Octo skimmer that he was going to upgrade too and I was going to build him a new chamber to be plumbed in with the old for the new skimmer. Due to limitations of maneuvering room and space we decided on a 17x12x14 sump with one baffle to keep the water level constant.

While loading up the stuff to take to his house this morning, the unforeseeable tragedy happened.



The sump got pulled off the counter and fell on the bulkhead! The damage was irreparable.

I did the only thing I could do: /cry

Then I drove to Lowe's and Home Depot to find some acrylic, their selection was crap and the prices were high But Mac had already drained and emptied his sump for my expected arrival. I begged my wife for help and quickly cut, jointed and glued the new sump together. I let it cure for as long as possible and drilled it for the bulkhead. Then I packed it up and headed to Mac's house to install.

I forgot to take a picture of both sumps after completed by themselves.

Here is the new sump installed with the Octo in place.




As you can see the two sumps are joined by a one inch pipe, the water flows into the skimmer sump from the right, goes over the baffle and then through the pipe to the return area.



I forgot to take a picture of his reef but I am sure he will join the site and add his own soon.

He upgraded from this skimmer on his 150g tank



Everything turned out well in the end, and I believe Mac is very happy.