75 gal/55 sump & return advice

[AnayaReef]

Have a few questions as I'm planning my new tank setup. I am going to put in a coast to coast toothless overflow box with Bean's overflow in my 75. It will drain into my 55 gallon sump/fuge then get returned up through a 4 way squirt.

I'm considering splitting the return line and having most of the water go through the squirt and the other portion of the return line go down into the lower area of the tank with a spray bar behind the live rock to keep flow back there. This while the squirt creates waves in the main area of the DT. Thoughts?

I will have the DT drain into a small chamber filled with live rock rubble which will be in the corner of my skimmer section. Typical 3 baffles into the middle section. This is where I'm not sure what to do next.

Should I have the return section in the middle or the fuge? I have seen some people who have the skimmer overflow into the fuge, then into the return. Others who split the DT drain to the skimmer with a light flow into their fuge at the far end, both the skimmer and the fuge overflow into a central return chamber. Thoughts, pros, cons on both?

My fuge will have a DSB, live rock, chaeto and an alternating light schedule from my DT. I have considered using my return section as a place to propagate or house TLC corals as well using an eggcrate shelf.

I am also unsure on the size of the drain and return pipes I should use, let alone the pump I should invest in. Any advice here would be great. We are probably going to start building this weekend. When we do, I'll start my official 'build' thread with pics :bounce3:

I plan on pushing through a UV sterilizer on the way back to the DT as well.

I'm building a custom stand for this tank setup (when I say I, it means my husband!). So I can make 3 doors or 2 large doors in the stand to make maintenance easier.

Any other thoughts, consideration, comments or advice? I only want to do this once so I am hoping to get all the input to make the best choices now so I don't say coulda, shoulda, woulda later :wildone:

Thanks!

 

[onepoorreefer]

Having a return line with a spray bar down low in my opinion should only be done with a closed loop. No matter what great check valve or hole you drill something always goes wrong and your mopping up water and looking at the spots where alive coral once were when the pump fails or you lose power. Like I said just an opinion but I have moped up plenty of water to realize nothing is fool proof and it may work a million times but that one time it fails it fails miserably

 

[leoristo]

Why toothless overflow? And will you have teeth on the three drain elbows ?

 

[AnayaReef]

onepoorreefer - What are the dangers of having a spray bar without a closed loop? It would not be my main return line, only t'd off the main return over the top of the tank, not through a low bulkhead. I will have a control valve so I can control the flow to the spray bar. I am a total noob at hte plumbing so I am very open to feedback but I was always one of those kids who asks 'why?' 50 milion times Is there a risk of it creating a siphon? I hadn't thought of that...see, this is why I ask you guys things

So if a spray bar low in the back, behind hte live rock is not a good idea, what would you al lsuggest to keep flow back there? Or is flow back there critical?

Leo - I will have teeth/covers on the three drains, and I plan on using egg crate to cover the top of the overflow to keep fish out of the overflow and anything else bigger than the egg crate holes. I have read that by pulling over just the very surface of the water (by use of a toothless overflow) that you are getting the 'prime' water for your skimmer. Plus then I wouldn't have to look at the teeth and whatever gunk would grow in between them, lol. Thoughts on this?

I'm up for all input!!

 

[Ziff]

UV Sterilizer…
If you really want to put one in, do not put it in line with your return.
UV Sterilization works by exposing stuff to UV light. The longer it is exposed, the better. The high flow you will want for your return will basically render the sterilizer useless. Buy one with a separate, low volume pump and circulate the water within the sump.

 

[AnayaReef]

Thanks for the UV advice, would it work in line with say a dual carbon/gfo reactor? I might set it up by itself but would like the option of lining in the reactor if I needed it at any point without using an additional pump.

Anyone have any advice on the size of pvc pipes for my overflows and returns?

 

[leoristo]

Leo - I will have teeth/covers on the three drains, and I plan on using egg crate to cover the top of the overflow to keep fish out of the overflow and anything else bigger than the egg crate holes. I have read that by pulling over just the very surface of the water (by use of a toothless overflow) that you are getting the 'prime' water for your skimmer. Plus then I wouldn't have to look at the teeth and whatever gunk would grow in between them, lol. Thoughts on this?

I'm up for all input!!

I read the same thing about pulling the thinnest layer of water possible so I made my overflow quite long first of all, then I thought if I tried to cut teeth in the acrylic it would look absolutely awful! So I just glued an eggcrate strip 2 square tall all around the overflow. I did the same thing in the fuge to keep stuff out of the return chamber.
I'll post a pic later if I remember

Regarding pvc sizes I think usually bigger is better especially with the bean triple drain as the first drain you dial it down until it kicks as a full syphon and the remaining flow is taken by the second open drain. I believe there are calculators online that will tell you what sort of GPH you can get with the various PVC sizes.

 

[DaveBien]

Along with 2 or 3 doors in the front for maintenance try putting doors on the ends of the stand. Should help if you ever need to remove the fudge. I think the 55 should be narrower than the tank on top.

 

[aussie_chicago]

Thanks for the UV advice, would it work in line with say a dual carbon/gfo reactor? I might set it up by itself but would like the option of lining in the reactor if I needed it at any point without using an additional pump.

Anyone have any advice on the size of pvc pipes for my overflows and returns?

Thats exactly how i will be setting mine up.I have a tee from the return line, with a ball valve to reduce pressure into that tee'd off line for running the uv and gfo at a lower velocity, which as stated ,is what you want for uv and gfo.

 

[Whaledriver]

If you put in the spray bar why not use a powerhead in the tank? Or use a flow pump like a tunze or Hydor?

If you do it from the sump plumb it so there is an extra outlet into the tank near the surface to act as a syphon break