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I posted my needed advice for what canister filter to get on another forum and somone told me to just build a sump. I have a 800gph pump and 300 bio balls. I just need advice on a design materials, and if it is worth it to build one or sell the stuff I have and use it to buy the canister. I'd prefer responses from those with W/D experience but will accept any and all advice given. Thanks for all advice.

I've used a W/D filter on a reef tank years ago. The problem with a sump for a turtle tank is the surface skimming. While you can surface skim the water and effectively run it through a W/D filter in a sump for biological filtration, you aren't really going to get much mechanical filtration benefit. The reason being is the turtle waste, uneaten food, and other organic matter sits low in the water column. With surface skimming (an overflow) you'll won't get much of the nasty crud near the bottom of the tank.

Surface skimming works very well in a saltwater setup because the gravity of the salt water is heavier than freshwater and much of the organics float to the top of the water column where they can be surface skimmed off and processed by a W/D filter or sump with refuge, skimmer, etc.

You need a way to remove water from low in the turtle tank to effectively filter it for more than just biological filtration. Canister filters work the best in freshwater setups because they can draw water from an intake near the bottom of the tank and return it near the top of the water. It's the best of both... remove the gunk from the bottom. Return filtered water near the top for surface agitation and aeration.

I would return the pump / bio balls and get a good canister. If you do however decide to go the sump + WD route, I can help you with this as well.

Lets say I do a sump. What would umyou recommend I do?

It depends on your building skills and tools.

Will you be starting with an aquarium and adding pieces or will you be fabricating the entire thing out of acrylic?

There are a TON of DIY wet dry filters on the net. What you build depends on your skillset and your budget.

The last one I built was out of sheet acrylic cut on my router table and put together with weldon.

If you can provide us with how you're thinking this should look / work, I can do my best to help you get there.

There's always the used wet/dry filter from craigslist or ebay. You might be able to just get one cheap, clean it and fill it with bio balls.

I'm building the tank out of plywood and a single acrylic sheet. I was thinking of building with acrylic. But for the size id need idk if it would be better to use leftover plywood.

For a wet dry filter, it really can't be too big when it comes to holding bio balls. I'd also leave a section for temperature probes and a place to hide your heater so they aren't in the main display.

When you say building with plywood, are you doing the plywood coated in resin thing? Or are you building a form out of plywood and using it as an aid to weldon together pieces that you are cutting from the acrylic sheet?

If you're doing plywood / resin, I might build a box out of plywood / resin and use the left over acrylic for your dividers, drip plate etc.

I'm building a plywood box and coating with liquid rubber. The front pane will be acrylic.

Bump. Still need advice

Not that I can really contribute to the sump discussion, but what's the size of the tank?

132 gal

Instead of building one out of household material, why not just buy a 20 G and get some extra sheets of glass for it.

Linus wrote:Instead of building one out of household material, why not just buy a 20 G and get some extra sheets of glass for it.

Very good idea. This is how most people build sumps.

I wouldn't coat wood in liquid rubber. No guarantees on how water tight that will be after a few months. Also don't know how that stuff holds up after being submerged in aquarium water that long. Don't know if the rubber compound will leech any chemicals back into the water.

I have seen people build large plywood aquariums, but they were coated in marine grade fiberglass resin I believe. I'll try to dig up a link.

Almost all the sumps I see on youtube are directly under the aquarium, does it have to be or can it be on the side?

Ranger The Red Ear Slider wrote:Almost all the sumps I see on youtube are directly under the aquarium, does it have to be or can it be on the side?

They are underneath because they are gravity fed and pump return.

Ohh. Thanks!