Would It Be Worth It?

[sputnick]

So I have an extra 10 gallon aquarium that I'm not using and I'm wondering if it would be worth turning it into a sump on my 45 gallon aquarium. I have some knowledge on how I would have to set it up and what not. I would probably use a marineland maxi-jet 1200 as a pump. I believe the out put in utility mode is around 295gph.
Here are all the good things I can think of from running a sump on my tank;
 
Better turnover rate/flow
More water volume which allows for more stocking
Getting rid of my ugly heater
(hopefully) better water quality
more biological filtration
 
Is there anything that I've missed? How about reasons not to put a sump on my tank?
To be honest if I don't turn my 10 gallon into a sump I will probably end up putting a betta in it. Which would mean spending more money and seeing as how I'm going into college soon I should PROBABLY (only due to parental advisors) avoid doing.

 

[techen]

In tropical its not worth going sump. You could save yourself money and buy a external heater. Also although you'd have more water you wouldn't be able to stock more as stocking should be based om your display and not both.

Yea, overall not worth it.

 

[Noahsfish]

I'd say a canister filter would be an overall better option for FW. However, making a sump could be a fun project, plus the fact you can store more media in it..but who am I to be giving out advice, I've never had a sump myself.

 

[GAB99]

Save yourself the frustration and get an external filter, unless your parents are up to taking care of the tank. Youll have to do top offs on the sump and if you dont youll either burn the pump or get an annoying sucking sound (and then burn the pump if you dont top off in time, though the noise usually drives people crazy enough to top off)

I cant remember or not if you have saltwater too but trust me the sump isnt worth it for freshwater until maybe the 100+ gallons

and you cant drill tempered glass tanks anyway, and the piping youll have to do to get around that, trust me.

you cant over stock based on having a a volume of water the fish cant even get to, though you could overstock because of better filtration (and if they dont mind having more company than usual)

itd be a bomb project to do if you were hell bent on putting the bells and whistles on it, but save it for a bigger tank, just tacking a basic sump on will only make things more complicated for your parents

and I already had my first year of college, my tanks went to hell and now im rebuilding from the ashes, so unless your parents care about your fish as much as you do, don't

 

[sputnick]

Well the nice thing is I'll be staying home for college so I'll be the one taking care of my tank. Also I already have an external filter but I would like some extra filtration without spending money on another filter. Also piping isn't really an issue because I find that stuff pretty easy and actually fun to do. But Maybe I'd be better off to go with a DIY canister filter or a trickle filter? Any thoughts on this? I guess I'll do a little bit more research and try to find another filter under $80 with around 300gph. Anyone have experience with Aquatop or SunSun filters? They look like the same product but SunSun is cheaper. It looks like thats the only way I'll be able to buy a filter and achieve that flow rate in the price range.
 
Edit: after some looking does anyone have experience with cascade filters? This one doesn't look half bad. I know that I'll never get 700gph but I figure after height and media I still should get around 350-400gph
http/www.amazon.com/Penn-Plax-Cascade-Canister-Filter/dp/B0002DJ9GQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1373034355&sr=1-1&keywords=canister+filter