No, my mom and dad aren't really "footing" (whatever that means) the bill. Its taken me three years to save up the 800 $ for supplies. That means I've been saving since I was around eleven, since I'll be 14 soon. Washing many MANY cars, doing floors, selling plants (I like horticulture as well). So from what I understand, is that to build the aquarium itself doesn't need too many supplies. Acetone, non toxic silicone, the glass panels, etc., but then the equipment, stand, canopy, take lots of money, which is why I'm doing a diy aquarium. Another thing I like about the diy idea is that I can order the glass dims specifically for my room. The tanks dims will be around 60" × 24" × 30" which was a bit more than 150 gal so I will use 1/2 in. Thick glass, last time a checked the mfk calculator. My dad is a VERY good carpenter, can build just about anything, so I think we're good in that department. I just finished fixing a sliding drawer desk BTW, and I kind of like building stuff, so it probably won't be TOO hard, considering we don't mess with glass often. I know it will be a new challenge, and I'm a bit frightened of it, but I think if we do a good job, it will turn out well. Also, since my hopes for a saltwater tank didn't work out, I'm glad I'll be able to do an even cooler 150 gal freshwater pred tank.
duanes
, I was talking about the brand of return pump, not the sump. For the sump I will be using a LARGE heavy duty tub. It will probably have a submerged filter in it with various types of bio media. I will look into the pond filters though, so thank you for that! For oxygenation, I will probably just get a wavemaker, because let's face it, how much is an airstone really going to do for a tank of thst size? Another question, how loud are wavemaker generally? A sump is a box, no need for a brand.
You can use an old scratched up tank, it can be bigger or smaller than your main tank, it can be a barrel. Anything that holds water, and anything you can fit your pump and other equipment in, can be a sump.I have have used old plastic barrels, old tanks, and I have even used my 1000 + gal pond as a sump for my outdoor 55 gallon tanks.
below you see the tank which flows by gravity into the pond, where the pump is, that sends water back to the tank.
I did this because the tank tended to overheat, but the pond water help maintain cooler temps.
Below a 55 gallon barrel as a sump
and below, an old scratched up 75 gal as a sump, offset from the tanks on its line ,(sumps don't need to be directly below the tank) some people with show tanks put sumps in the basement, a floor below the tank, to maintain cooler temps, and keep it out of sight, and to ease in maintaining out of a fancy room . You just need a stronger pump in that case.
I usually use pond pumps (Laguna) with a flow of at least 3000 GPH, because I run multiple tanks on each sump.
