20 high sump build.

[Jasonbuckley011]

I'm looking in to building a 20 high aump for my 45 tall. Would an acrylic sheet 18 in x 24in x .080in be strong enough for the build?

 

[fishguy242]

hi,i do not think so..jmo..why not just use a 20 gallon tank

 

[Tono]

I built a sump using a 20H for my 60 cube because I wanted to maximize the sump volume and a regular 20 was too big for the stand. I ended up using a sheet of .25" thick acrylic I had sitting around for the baffles. Having said that, I would not use anything thinner than .125" since you're asking your silicone (strictly a mechanical feature) to hold a lot of deflection with anything thinner. This is made worse when you remember to leave a gap between the glass and the acrylic to account for the acrylic expanding out (I used a 1/8" gap per side). Lastly, be very generous with the silicone with whatever thickness you go with.

 

[fishguy242]

agree with thickness if using silicone acrylic to glass,will eventually fail,recommend glass baffles in glass tank ,then no worries

 

[rwreef]

Nope, did this exact thing with a buddy on his tank/sump 20H. It "works" but the baffles bow A LOT. One actually broke the glass/silicone seal after a few weeks. Ultimately, we bought another 20H tank (Petco$1/g sale) and made a sump with glass baffles.