# Is it possible to permanently seal a used 5 gallon bucket with standard lid?



## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

I want to increase the water volume of my 30c (7.5 gallons), but I live in a dorm most of the year and I can't use a sump for that reason. I need some kind of closed resivoir in order to do this. I was thinking about using 2 bulkheads with hose barb attatchments on the lid of a 5 gallon bucket. One attatched to the intake pipe and the other to the intake of my canister filter. The one from the intake pipe would also have a tube inside the bucket ending at the bottom to ensure circulation inside the bucket. 

My main question is how could I go about permanently sealing the bucket to ensure that water would not seep out around the lid in the event of a power outage?


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## jeremyTR (Mar 21, 2012)

Gorilla glue it. Or caulk it maybe?

Sent from my HTC Evo 4G


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Or just look for a used canister filter that doesn't have a working motor and buy that instead. If the bucket leaks at all, there goes your tank. You could also look into those house water filters that are sealed and already tapped for barbs to screw into. Do you have room for another tank? I have 3 10gal's all connected together with simple PVC U pipes, so I have 30gals of water with 3 separate tanks for 3 kinds of shrimp that can't mix.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

You might have better luck building something out of 4" ABS pipe. 8 feet of it would put you right at 5 gallons and you could hide it under the bed or behind furniture.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Many of the 5 gallon paint containers have a seal and the lid locks water tight. Just get one of those and make sure it's clean.


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## shrimpNewbie (May 6, 2011)

Make sure you reinforce your lid or use a whole house sediment filter


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

shrimpNewbie said:


> Make sure you reinforce your lid or use a whole house sediment filter


Yup, just because a lid seals, doesn't mean it will seal under pressure. They are two different things to some extent.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Just a little pressure from the head of water above the bucket puts a big force lifting that lid up. I'm sure they aren't designed to seal against that force. You can get 6 inch and larger diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, and caps for it. I don't know the price at local stores, but you can get it for $15 a foot on Ebay. The fittings are probably there too. That would be safe, for sure.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

Has anyone used gamma seal lids? I have come across a couple reviews of them where people have pressurized the buckets with these lids on them and supposedly they held pressure.


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## Aquaticfan (Oct 30, 2011)

The 5 gallon bucket idea poses a few potential issues. Having it on the Intake side of your canister how will you create current? Canisters rely heavily on gravity feeding the intake of the canister. If you gravity feed the 5 gallon bucket(or about anything you use on the intake) youd have to place it above the canister height. Then gravity feed it to the canister. But how would flow also be kept even? from Tank to bucket and bucket to canister back to tank? Even if this part would work and gravity flow is fine. What happens if you get an air bubble/pocket into the bucket? It can create a flow issues as anyone using a canister filter has probably experienced. youd have to have a way to purge air from inside the bucket or whatever to get the water full inside it. It would possible really kill the flow on a canister as well. It wouldnt work on the out put of the canister either as the flow would be horrible. Getting the lid to seal on the bucket is hard to get to happen. Years ago I built a low flow Nitrate anaerobic filter out of a 5 gallon bucket and a whole lot of airline and bio balls. The feed line to it was just airline sized. It was fed via a very small powerhead in the tank. The airline was connected to a fitting in the lid. It then went into an airline that was coiled from top to bottom around the outer wall of the bucket. The water flow flowed from bottom to top of the bucket through all the bioballs Then exited via pressure of just the sealed bucket through a fitting back into some small tube and back into the tank. It took about 3 months before it really kicked in. But on a 55 gallon tank of decent sized fish it kept the Nitrates about zero with very low water changes on the system. But I can tell you for what I had it was a pain to keep the bucket sealed and it was low flow. I actually used silicone and glued the lid on with a caulking tube full of it and let it set for a week to dry. 

Here is an idea..... How about using a submersible pump That could be put into the bucket/container. Seal the container (id make one of super large PVC) but make it serviceable of course. Have it gravity feed the container. Pump in the bottom with a hose attached to the pump and an internal fitting (bulkhead with nipples) and then nipple fitting and more hose back into the tank? With this I dont think the pressure would be anything inside the container of much. Pressure is being run through the return hose.


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## asmith (Mar 29, 2012)

If the water head above the bucket is say 3 ft (1.3PSI), and the bucket lid is 12in diameter(113in^2) (I think that's about right) you are looking at ~ 150 lbs of force separating the lid from the bucket. Maybe you could make a wood top and bottom, sandwich them around the bucket and use 3 threaded rods to clamp it closed? probably some thing like an old pressure cooker or paint sprayer could be modified more safely.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

The gama seal lid works at first but will eventually leak due to the pressure.


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## DanCottle (Apr 12, 2011)

I have seen beer brewing kits with 5 gallon buckets and im sure they would handle the pressure.


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## DanCottle (Apr 12, 2011)

asmith said:


> If the water head above the bucket is say 3 ft (1.3PSI), and the bucket lid is 12in diameter(113in^2) (I think that's about right) you are looking at ~ 150 lbs of force separating the lid from the bucket. Maybe you could make a wood top and bottom, sandwich them around the bucket and use 3 threaded rods to clamp it closed? probably some thing like an old pressure cooker or paint sprayer could be modified more safely.


This math surely could not be right.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

DanCottle said:


> This math surely could not be right.


But it is. Force equals pressure times the area the pressure acts on. 30 feet of water equals about 15 psi, so 3 feet would equal about 1.5 psi.

Putting a submersible pump inside the 5 gallon bucket accomplishes nothing, as far as that force is concerned. The pump produces only the pressure needed to raise the water a couple of inches over the top of the tank. The 3 foot head supplies the pressure to raise the water up to the level of the water in the tank. In other words, with that pump not operating the water level in the inlet and outlet hoses will both be at the tank water level, unless the siphon is maintained, then the level will be at the top of the two hoses where they go over the rim of the tank. In that case the pump moves water but generates only the pressure needed to overcome friction losses in the plumbing.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

DanCottle said:


> I have seen beer brewing kits with 5 gallon buckets and im sure they would handle the pressure.


Have you also seen that little airlock sticking out on top of them buckets? There is no pressure involved when brewing beer.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

I like the pvc option, but it's a bit more than I'd want to spend, maybe I am better off hiding a sump by making it out of a large garbage can. They don't allow more than one aquarium (a sump counts as an aquarium to campus housing), so I need to disguise it or have a sealed container if I am going to do this. I think a garbage can sump is probably cheapest and easiest to disguise.

On the other hand, I am not certain I could design a safe overflow system for a 12" cube. I have only done a sump on a 50 gallon where I had space for a standpipe. and the cost for me to build it would probably come close to building a sealed PVC drum out of 4 or 6" pipe.

Hmmm.... Decisions....


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

DanCottle said:


> This math surely could not be right.


I have to agree with you. If the down tube is 1" over three feet how could that exert 150 pounds of pressure? I know for a fact the paint buckets can hold the pressure because it's not that much.

Also the OP states he wants to use it to increase his water volume making a 7.5 gallon tank appear as a 12.5 gallon not for filtration.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

GraphicGr8s said:


> I have to agree with you. If the down tube is 1" over three feet how could that exert 150 pounds of pressure? I know for a fact the paint buckets can hold the pressure because it's not that much.
> 
> Also the OP states he wants to use it to increase his water volume making a 7.5 gallon tank appear as a 12.5 gallon not for filtration.



How else is going to use the bucket but to run it inline with a canister to increase volume?


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> How else is going to use the bucket but to run it inline with a canister to increase volume?


Yes, it's inline with the filter but I gathered there is no filter media in the bucket but simply as a reservoir 

If worried about circulation he could run the inlet pipe high in the bucket and the outlet pipe low in the bucket.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

GraphicGr8s said:


> I have to agree with you. If the down tube is 1" over three feet how could that exert 150 pounds of pressure? I know for a fact the paint buckets can hold the pressure because it's not that much.
> 
> Also the OP states he wants to use it to increase his water volume making a 7.5 gallon tank appear as a 12.5 gallon not for filtration.


You are confusing pressure and force. Pressure, pounds per square inch. Force, pounds. About 1.5 pounds per square inch pressure, times about 100 square inches of lid area gives 150 pounds of force on the lid.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

GraphicGr8s said:


> Yes, it's inline with the filter but I gathered there is no filter media in the bucket but simply as a reservoir
> 
> If worried about circulation he could run the inlet pipe high in the bucket and the outlet pipe low in the bucket.


I was planning on having the inlet low in the resivoir and outlet high since the water is naturally going to want to push upwards.


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## In.a.Box (Dec 8, 2011)

Sell that canister and build a 10g sump is ur best bet.
10g can be hide under ur stand or set to the side of the stand.
They do sell 5.5g tank which you can use.

Even if you seal up the lid on the bucket, its going to be hard to clean in the future.

If you add a water pump you can get away with using a 5g bucket without sealing it.
Other then that there no way ur way can happen.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

In.a.Box said:


> Sell that canister and build a 10g sump is ur best bet.
> 10g can be hide under ur stand or set to the side of the stand.
> They do sell 5.5g tank which you can use.
> 
> ...


 
The whole point of my thread is that I can't use a sump because of living in campus housing. Ideally, I need a cost effective sealed resivoir simply to increase water volume. Cleaning the resivoir is not an issue because there will be very little debris getting past my prefilter sponge and nothing but open space in the resivoir. I also would like to avoid a sump because making a silent and safe overflow system on a 12" cube would be very challenging and I have no intentions to do a coast to coast overflow and take up a bunch of space in my ADA cube or risk drilling it. Also, I like my eheim 2213. I can't hide even a small traditional sump because the shoebox sized "suite" I live in has no space for additional furniture and any extra equipment has to go under or beside my desk where it is possible it could get kicked or bumped and there is a risk of breaking it. The tank sits on my desk. I don't see why this is impossible if I use PVC like Hoppy and a few others suggested. Originally, I had hoped to use a bucket because of cost, but would be willing to use 4 or 6 inch PVC if I need to.
A pump is irrelevant because the container will still overflow when the power goes off with or without it. Also, this is going on the intake side of the canister so adding a pump to the resivoir would only cause the filter to leak due to positive pressure in the canister.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Hoppy said:


> You are confusing pressure and force. Pressure, pounds per square inch. Force, pounds. About 1.5 pounds per square inch pressure, times about 100 square inches of lid area gives 150 pounds of force on the lid.


OK maybe I am. So if I wanted to measure the force of the water on the lid of my 5 gallon bucket how would I do it? How do you prove the math?


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## stewardwildcat (Feb 24, 2010)

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/press.html


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

stewardwildcat said:


> http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/press.html


Good site. But how do I physically test the math? Put a pressure gauge in the lid?

Crap.

This is stuff I haven't thought about in over 20 years.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Just live with the 7.5gal and the volume of the canister filter seems to be the easiest answer than a potentially leaking bucket that would drain your entire tank. I have a 12" cube tank with nothing but a small Aquaclear 20 filter on it, I top off every few days and I have 4 breeding CRS with about 40 babies at any time in it. All my CRS were breeding better in the cube than any of my other tanks, so I use it for breeding now. a 7.5 can be stable if you top off.


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## asmith (Mar 29, 2012)

There's really no reason to test it that I can see, water height is a direct measurement of pressure , but a pressure gauge would work assuming the lid was clamped down somehow. Look up pascal's law and in particular his burst barrel experiment if you are interested. This is pretty much the same discussion as our earlier one about siphons, water is flowing from one end of the hose to another because of the pressure exerted by a column of water.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

The buckets used to hold paint have an o-ring and the lid locks on around the entire lid.


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## asmith (Mar 29, 2012)

If it was me I think I could make something like the picture above work. The trick is you would have to have some kind of gasket between the lid and bucket (oring or form in place silicone), put your bulkhead fittings in from the inside on a flat surface, and tighten all the rods evenly. Pipe would work also like the others are suggesting.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

I will probably go with PVC because I don't want to risk any leaks. I thought about the idea of clamping the bucket, but I think that I would need 6 or 8 16" or 18" lag bolts to clamp the bucket which run about $5 - $7 each locally plus the cost of wingnuts and wood to do the top and bottom. At that cost, I might as well just build it out of PVC because it will be about the same price if not a bit cheaper, a quicker and easier build, and more fail safe.

PVC it is.

You might ask; Why do I want to do this? I need to bump up my water volume to safeguard my shrimp and plants, because I may not have time to change water as often next semester. I needed to do 18 credit hours plus I have an extensive independent research study I am undertaking, and clinical work at a mental health facility. This is all leaving me wondering when I am going to sleep, let alone change water every week, so I thought it would be helpful to have the extra water volume in case I don't get around to tank maintenence for a couple weeks.


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## asmith (Mar 29, 2012)

Threaded rod should be less expensive than bolts, but you are right in that PVC tubing is less risky. Good luck!


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

slavecorps said:


> I want to increase the water volume of my 30c (7.5 gallons), but I live in a dorm most of the year and I can't use a sump for that reason. I need some kind of closed resivoir in order to do this. I was thinking about using 2 bulkheads with hose barb attatchments on the lid of a 5 gallon bucket. One attatched to the intake pipe and the other to the intake of my canister filter. The one from the intake pipe would also have a tube inside the bucket ending at the bottom to ensure circulation inside the bucket.
> 
> My main question is how could I go about permanently sealing the bucket to ensure that water would not seep out around the lid in the event of a power outage?


If I understand all you want is to increase the total water volume ?
If that's right then all you need to do is keep the water level in the bucket and tank the same height . You could have two tanks side by side with water circulating between both.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Steve001 said:


> If I understand all you want is to increase the total water volume ?
> If that's right then all you need to do is keep the water level in the bucket and tank the same height . You could have two tanks side by side with water circulating between both.


That was answered in post 17



> I like the pvc option, but it's a bit more than I'd want to spend, maybe I am better off hiding a sump by making it out of a large garbage can. *They don't allow more than one aquarium (a sump counts as an aquarium to campus housing), *so I need to disguise it or have a sealed container if I am going to do this. I think a garbage can sump is probably cheapest and easiest to disguise.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

So what about a large diameter PVC pipe, capped at both ends, standing in a corner, or under the bed. It is sealed so the water cannot escape in case of power outage. Reducing fittings in the caps adapt the pvc to whatever tubing you are using for a small pump in the tank that keeps the water circulating. The very small psi on the fittings that go to and from the pump are not a problem. These fittings are so small there is not a lot of area for that pressure to create a problem. Barbed drip irrigation fittings work under 40 psi. A hose clamp is a good addition. Or use threaded pipe all the way. There are fittings that are quite small, and make sure the pump has a threaded outlet. 
If the power goes out nothing happens, the water just stops circulating. 

Keep it independent of the Eheim.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

Diana said:


> So what about a large diameter PVC pipe, capped at both ends, standing in a corner, or under the bed. It is sealed so the water cannot escape in case of power outage. Reducing fittings in the caps adapt the pvc to whatever tubing you are using for a small pump in the tank that keeps the water circulating. The very small psi on the fittings that go to and from the pump are not a problem. These fittings are so small there is not a lot of area for that pressure to create a problem. Barbed drip irrigation fittings work under 40 psi. A hose clamp is a good addition. Or use threaded pipe all the way. There are fittings that are quite small, and make sure the pump has a threaded outlet.
> If the power goes out nothing happens, the water just stops circulating.
> 
> Keep it independent of the Eheim.


My plan now is to use 4 or 6 inch pvc capped at both ends with hose barbs at the top and steel hose clamps on all barbs (I do this for any barbed connection), but I will be going from the intake pipe to the resivoir to the intake side of my canister and then back to the tank. Why do I need to keep the canister out of the loop? The canister doesn't have to push through the resivoir since it will be on the intake side. The max working pressure for schedule 40 (white) 6" PVC is 180 PSI and 4" is 220 PSI which should be sufficient to withstand the pressure of the water, so I don't understand the reason for attempting to make a seperate low pressure system.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The little flat paddle rotor pumps that are used in canister filters, and powerheads, don't generate any outlet pressure to speak of. They just move lots of water. That means any back pressure greatly reduces the flow from the pump. Back pressure comes from the friction losses in long runs of tubing, from bends in the tubing, or fittings, or changes in diameter of the tubing, or turbulence in the tubing, etc. Putting a "sump" like you want in the outlet or inlet of the canister filter could drop the flow rate through the filter way down.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

Hoppy said:


> The little flat paddle rotor pumps that are used in canister filters, and powerheads, don't generate any outlet pressure to speak of. They just move lots of water. That means any back pressure greatly reduces the flow from the pump. Back pressure comes from the friction losses in long runs of tubing, from bends in the tubing, or fittings, or changes in diameter of the tubing, or turbulence in the tubing, etc. Putting a "sump" like you want in the outlet or inlet of the canister filter could drop the flow rate through the filter way down.


Well, It will be interesting to see what happens with this on the intake side of the pump. If I have problems with flow, I will just have go to my box of random parts and dig up the inline pump I have somewhere in there to throw on the end of the chain.


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## tentacles (Nov 28, 2011)

Have you checked into using some 8 or 10" PVC? A lot of times you can snag a 1-3' piece from a sewer/water job site for the asking, then all you would need is end caps. You could also make end plates and glue them on (PVC glue) and reinforce with screws. PVC pipe for water mains is schedule 80 and in 8" diameter, like 1/2" thick. You can make your own PVC sheet for end caps by taking a piece of pipe (say 6"), slitting it lengthwise and then heating in the oven til it's soft, then you just flatten it with some plywood and heavy things.

PLUS you can always describe it as "my water pipe".


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## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

slavecorps said:


> I want to increase the water volume of my 30c (7.5 gallons), but I live in a dorm most of the year and I can't use a sump for that reason. I need some kind of closed resivoir in order to do this. I was thinking about using 2 bulkheads with hose barb attatchments on the lid of a 5 gallon bucket. One attatched to the intake pipe and the other to the intake of my canister filter. The one from the intake pipe would also have a tube inside the bucket ending at the bottom to ensure circulation inside the bucket.
> 
> My main question is how could I go about permanently sealing the bucket to ensure that water would not seep out around the lid in the event of a power outage?


Considering all the options people have come up with, and that any of them are all going to cost you at least some money to set up and run, why not just invest in a larger tank? You'd still only have 1 tank in the room, and something like a 15 gal tank wouold give you twice the volume of water. You can usually find those $1 per gal tank sales. I doubt if you could go out and get all the parts plus a pump to increase the volume of water for the same price.


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

DaveK said:


> Considering all the options people have come up with, and that any of them are all going to cost you at least some money to set up and run, why not just invest in a larger tank? You'd still only have 1 tank in the room, and something like a 15 gal tank wouold give you twice the volume of water. You can usually find those $1 per gal tank sales. I doubt if you could go out and get all the parts plus a pump to increase the volume of water for the same price.


After keeping aquariums for 22 years, I already have many larger tanks in storage. I am limited to 10 gallons by campus housing and going to a 10 gal AGA tank from an ADA 30c doesn't seem like much of an upgrade to me. It's about keeping my existing display while increasing water volume.


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

This whole thread seems odd. I don't quite understand why you don't just go about it like a normal sump without filtration. You won't be able to increase it by the total five gallons, but if you just use gravity to drain a portion of the tank into the bucket, then just put a pump back in the bucket, then fine tune it with a ball valve so everything is perfect. Just don't put whatever it's draining too far down in the water so it won't drain your whole tank. You could go pick up some Rubbermaid container from Walmart even.

Don't quite see why this wouldn't work for you!


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## slavecorps (Jul 7, 2009)

TWA said:


> This whole thread seems odd. I don't quite understand why you don't just go about it like a normal sump without filtration. You won't be able to increase it by the total five gallons, but if you just use gravity to drain a portion of the tank into the bucket, then just put a pump back in the bucket, then fine tune it with a ball valve so everything is perfect. Just don't put whatever it's draining too far down in the water so it won't drain your whole tank. You could go pick up some Rubbermaid container from Walmart even.
> 
> Don't quite see why this wouldn't work for you!


Because I can't use a sump in campus housing. I am limited to one tank under 10 gallons. If they find an open resivoir in my room I will just have to take it down or worse get fined. That's why I need a sealed system. To campus housing, a sump counts as an aquarium. It would also be difficult to design a quiet and safe overflow for a 12" cube.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Sure, we'd all want to have more water volume but it's not always possible, nor is it needed. You're going through a lot of trouble and the potential of doing something DIY that could leak for a few more gallons of water.

Get a jug of RO water, top it off every few days to keep the evap and don't worry about changing water every week, do it every few weeks. Get a lid for the tank, help stop the evap. I go a month or between water changes and my shrimp don't mind and even breed better when I just top off now and again vs lots of water changes.

For the cost and time you're going to put in to DIY'ing something, testing, etc, you could grab another cheap Eheim on sale and run that inline with the other one and at least give you another gallon or so of water, especially if you ran it empty with no media. I think it was here I even saw on the SnS section, someone selling an Eheim with no media basket for cheap cheap.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

GraphicGr8s said:


> OK maybe I am. So if I wanted to measure the force of the water on the lid of my 5 gallon bucket how would I do it? How do you prove the math?


The primary difficulty you're likely having is that force is not a conserved quantity in the universe. Thinking about that, you may already know it, but there's absolutely nothing that prevents an object from converting a given force into an arbitrarily large or small different force. Another example of this is a lever, where a small force is applied at one point, but it generates a large force elsewhere. The quantity that is conserved in both cases is energy, the same amount of work must be done at both ends (which is why the 'strong' end of the lever moves so little compared to the 'weak' end.) This bucket idea is essentially a hydraulic lever, applying a small force on the intake and a large force on the outlet (i.e. lid.)

Measuring the pressure is a piece of cake, put a pressure gauge in the lid and record the pressure generated by a column of water 3' high. 

Measuring the force generated against the lid by that pressure is more difficult. You'd need a force gauge and a rigid plate the size of the paint bucket's lid. You'd also need to know the volume of the 3' column of water you're adding. Add exactly the volume of water required to fill the column. The bucket's lid will deform slightly to adjust for the pressure, and the column's height will fall. Press down on the force gauge/rigid plate to return the bucket's lid to its original shape. That would happen when the height of the water column was back to 3'. Record the force.

If you're not hung up on using this particular thing as an example of the principle, check out hydraulics. They work based on this. Apply a small force to move a volume of liquid in a sealed container a long distance, and that translates to applying a large force to move an equal volume of liquid a short distance elsewhere in the container. That's exactly the situation here, where the 3' column of water in the small tube wants to fall down into the tank because of its weight. An equal volume of water is being pushed up against the lid (not to mention the walls and bottom) of the bucket to lift it a short distance.


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## stangmus (Apr 1, 2010)

It might be easier to build something out of a five gallon water cooler bottle.


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

slavecorps said:


> Because I can't use a sump in campus housing. I am limited to one tank under 10 gallons. If they find an open resivoir in my room I will just have to take it down or worse get fined. That's why I need a sealed system. To campus housing, a sump counts as an aquarium. It would also be difficult to design a quiet and safe overflow for a 12" cube.


You didn't quite understand what I'm saying. The "sump" isn't a tank. The "sump" is a bucket. Is a bucket with water an aquarium? Unlikely.

Either way as others have said, it's a lot more work than its worth. Can't have a real sump, can't have a larger tank, can't build an over flow, can't create a water tight seal on a bucket. 

You can live with a small tank though.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Oh, just do a regular sump plan but seal it with the with the gama seal lid.
Put an overflow in the tank and a pump in the the bucket. Make sure the water level in the bucket never reaches the top. The gamma seal will give it an appearance of a permanent seal at least.


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## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

I've been through this very question this year. I can tell you FROM EXPERIENCE:


5 gallons buckets _will_ "explode" from the force (pop the lid off or pop the seal and LEAK LEAK LEAK).
Gamma Seal lids _will_ leak on outward pressure.
PVC pipe _will_ cost you MORE than this in the end, have rounded caps that are a pain (the caps are what cost so much, not so much the pipe), and present leak challenges at the input and output joints if you don't do an exact tap job.
My conclusion was to fork out the dough and get [Ebay Link Removed] 20x4.5 water filter housing with pressure release[/URL]. (edit: oops, they cut my link, search for "1 Big Blue Whole House Water Filter Housing Canister 20" Farm" on ebay and you can get one for under $50 shipped)
Have NOT been sorry one moment, NO worries about leaking, standard plumbing fittings, and you can access the internal volume in seconds by unscrewing if need be. Gives you about 2 gallons extra volume. The pressure relief valve is key too, for removing bubbles when you prime it and if for any reason an air pocket accumulates. You would need to make a stabilizing frame from a 5 gallon bucket as it's tall and prone to tip. Oh, and, plumb it with PVC unions each side and valves, then you can do a screaming fast disconnect if ever need be.

What you do on the inside to make sure you get all the water circulated is attach a piece of clear vinyl tubing to the round nub inside the lid where the filter cartridge center usually goes. Make the tubing go to about 1 inch from the filter housing bottom. This way, the incoming side enters the housing at lid height, and the outgoing side is drawn from the bottom of the housing. You can hook it up reverse if you want it the opposite, just by switching which side is input and output.


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## In.a.Box (Dec 8, 2011)

Here something I found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVWqq73mW_4&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## iamjohnny75 (Sep 26, 2011)

Sorry... Wrong thread, this is an edit.


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