6 foot rear panel coast to coast over-flow

[V-10Power]

I've wanted to build a reef so that any bulkheads would be as high as is possible to absolutely ensure that any plumbing failure would result in the most minimal loss of water where the most prized livestock is held.

I've seen many many tanks with bulkheads all over, sides and bottom too, which if such should fail the whole tank could drain down. Most bulkheads are secure but I'm a quadriplegic guy who just can't attend to any floods or leaks.

What I have in mind is a glass 72x30x30 rectangular tank with an internal side to side wier across the back and two or three 2" bulkheads for real quiet flow. The wier could be an angled glass panel set at an angle so that detrius could fall out and be siphoned off with a quick swipt across the bottom. This would require minimal glass. The three 2 inch bulkheads would be located as high as the manufacture recomends. Any failure of the wier sealing or bulkhead failure would result in just the first inch or two of water height.

I really like to hear about the pro's n con's you folks might see with such a design.

 

[Craig Lambert]

Why not a reef ready tank? The bulkhead is in the bottom of the tank, but inside of the overflow. The only water that can drain out is that above the return line output and that within the overflow itself. In a tank your size mabe 25G syphons back to the sump which it should easily hold.

 

[jnarowe]

You can build a tank with no holes in it at all except for a coast-to-coast overflow. It depends on the type of installation but for an in-wall, you can route all in-bound water down the front sides that are behind the wall. I left 6" and each end of my tank behind the wall and can easily run piping down that and under the rock.

My tank came with a bunch of holes and I sealed up most of them and just use four 1" return lines, but if I were to start from scratch, I would have no holes at all. My external coast-to-coast overflow is only 6" deep and runs nearly the entire length of my tank (about 90") and is built as a function of my system design.

I wanted two 2" lines goig to the sump and one 1.5" line gravity feeding my skimmer. Because of the size of the skimmer, that meant I could only build the overflow to be shallow and high up enough to be an effective gravity feed. You have to take in multiple design issues before you can decide how you will build the overflow.

The nice thing about mine is that I can use it for a frag tray and it is really easy to clean. No deep well to try and maintain.