Neptune Aquatics

How to fit two 4" filter socks in a Sump less than 8" wide

Be inventive, think outside the box, but inside the sump.

20150826_215150.jpg
IMG_20150902_201425.jpg
 
Those are some nice angled cuts. Did you think at all about bending that one piece instead of mitering it?
I did think about bending it, but I had loaned my heat bender to an old friend and it wasn't available. Also bending creates another problem. The inside of a bend bunches up making the piece wider and the outside of the bend stretches making the outside width narrower on the back side. So, ideally the entire width would need to be made oversized and then trimmed after bending to remove the undesirable ends of a bend. I use to do it all the time when I built custom tanks for Seascape in Mountain View back in the late 90's early 2000's when it was an awesome fish store and not the sad pet store that it turned into.
 
I did think about bending it, but I had loaned my heat bender to an old friend and it wasn't available. Also bending creates another problem. The inside of a bend bunches up making the piece wider and the outside of the bend stretches making the outside width narrower on the back side. So, ideally the entire width would need to be made oversized and then trimmed after bending to remove the undesirable ends of a bend. I use to do it all the time when I built custom tanks for Seascape in Mountain View back in the late 90's early 2000's when it was an awesome fish store and not the sad pet store that it turned into.

You'd only need to oversize it by like a 1/16" but you're right.
 
I ordered a tank from Warrick at Seascapes that was almost the same size as the display tank he had on his counter.

When I made my sump, I used a a lot of cement on the seams, filled it with water and it still leaked. Definitely does not look as neat as your work. I will have to find out the secret to getting such a clean seam without excess solvent cement or air bubbles.
 
When I worked at a plastic fabrication years ago I built two 70 gallon tanks with 1/4" acrylic. I remember one of the tricks I used for gluing large pieces was to lay the piece being glued on the edge of the other piece. Then I put a very thin wire (probably about 1/32" thick) in between the two work pieces. Then start at one end with the solvent and as you move along the seam remove the wires. They provide enough room for the solvent to be "sucked up" into the seam and if you do it right there won't be any bubbles.

I'm not certain but I think too much solvent can actually do more harm than good.
 
I use that technique as well, especially on tank building. It is called pinning the joint. To much solvent is not really a problem with cast material. It is definitely more of an issue with extruded material. When you pull the pins on cast material you get a nice even bead that squeezes out. When pulling the pins on extruded material with too much solvent, you get little blobs of softened acrylic oozing out in random spots along the joint. I will say this, if you happen to drip solvent on the acrylic where you don't want it, just let it evaporate. If you wipe the drip, it will look 100 times worse. To avoid drips, use an applicator bottle with the hypo tip. Hold the bottle up right and point it away from you and other people. Squeeze air out of the bottle, stop squeezing, turn the bottle upside down and now the bottle is sucking in air instead of dripping out glue. Then quickly move the tip of the bottle over to the glue joint and start applying solvent.
 
I ordered a tank from Warrick at Seascapes that was almost the same size as the display tank he had on his counter.

When I made my sump, I used a a lot of cement on the seams, filled it with water and it still leaked. Definitely does not look as neat as your work. I will have to find out the secret to getting such a clean seam without excess solvent cement or air bubbles.

I remember Warrick and his Porsches, I built him a few tanks and acrylic accessories, but I did a lot more plastic work for Rick the second owner. To get clear seams, never use the thickened acrylic cement #16. Even if it looks clear when you set the seam, bubbles will magically appear by the time it drys. I always use the water thin solvent, #3 or #4.

#3 evaporates faster and is better for extruded acrylic
#4 evaporates a little slower and is better for cast acrylic

The coolest thing I ever saw #16 used for was on Tanked. To stop a leak on a 500 gallon display tank in a public aquarium, while it was full of water and stocked with fish, they put #16 on the inside of the leaking seam. The water pressure pushed the acrylic cement right into the leak and sealed it. They flew all the way to the location and fixed the problem in less than 5 minutes. So much easier than draining the tank!
 
Thanks for sharing your technique and information sealing acrylic. Since I used #16, I ended up with a lot of bubbles and some leaks. I used vacuum to draw #16 through the leaking seam.
 
Interesting bit of info in the cast vs extruded, I thought it was simply a way how it was made and didn't think there were any differences beyond that.

Curious what that other angled piece is for between the two on the taller side? Is it going to be a baffle of some sort?
 
Thanks for sharing your technique and information sealing acrylic. Since I used #16, I ended up with a lot of bubbles and some leaks. I used vacuum to draw #16 through the leaking seam.
Water goes down through the taller filter sock and then up between the center acrylic channel to pour into the second filter sock.

2E0D94E4-1ADC-4B37-8E17-9B50A54A64C0.JPG
 
Last edited:
Back
Top