hello I bought my first reef tank off a friend for the livestock and hardware. He was looking to take a break from the hobby. his tank is glass and scratched and has hob everything. I bought a 90 to replaced his scratch 75 my question is I want to drill internal overflow of 1800 GPH I want to know how many and what size return holes I should drill in for the return lines. Im looking at loc-line and the 3/4 I seen was rated for 1140 per 3/4 . would it be fair to say I could drill two 3/4 inch lines and cut back with ball valves. this is going to be a live reef with fish live rock and corals. I'm going to use his 75 gallon for the sump.
drilling returns to match the overflo
- Thread starter MrFantasy
- Start date
jaybfresh
Pitcher Hill Reef Society
Your pump is what will determine your return flow, so just buy an appropriate sized pump for your needs. Two return lines will be good.
I'd consider 1800gph extremely excessive for a 75 gallon tank. Many people prefer as little as 3x turnover (225gph in your case). That said, it's ok to have an oversized overflow and push less flow throw the tank.
I'd consider 1800gph extremely excessive for a 75 gallon tank. Many people prefer as little as 3x turnover (225gph in your case). That said, it's ok to have an oversized overflow and push less flow throw the tank.
ericarenee
New member
1+
I have 3 =1 1/2 inch holes in my 7 foot tank and a 2600 gph pump in basement sump..
I am going to use his 75 gallon as the sump and I bought a used 90 gallon as the display tank. I want a return on each side of the dispay for flo. I've read on here where some people have 35 to 40 times their DT. I'm just looking to try and balance it out. the reef system that I'm buying also comes with a couple of power heads.
markandamb
Member
I'm a fan of less thru the sump and more with power heads as well. Seems like my skimmer works better with less thru the sump.
Bent
I got nothin'
You can have as many as you want as large as you want, just put in a gate valve to control the flow.
If worried about back pressure on the pump, you could tee off a loop into the sump and put your gate valve there. Close the gate valve for more return flow, open it for less. No increase in back pressure that way.
If worried about back pressure on the pump, you could tee off a loop into the sump and put your gate valve there. Close the gate valve for more return flow, open it for less. No increase in back pressure that way.
how would u lay it out? overflo on one end retun the other?
what size dt and sump what kinda skimmer do u have?
Im thinking bent's way because I want filtrated flo contol, I dont wanna blow whatever maybe floating around in the water at the inhabitants and Ive seen some anemones gravitating towards the power heads and I am afraid it may get chopped up in the fans. ( please keep all body parts inside the car at all times during the ride thank you) lol I want alot of live rock surface to grow soft corals and anemones because Im hopeing to move the inhabitants into my 220 next year when I get it ready. Im hopeing this overflo box is going to be silent the box is 11 1/4 x3 1/2x 5. I wanted to drain it into a herbie style box on the back but for what they wanted for the double box in over flu and plumbing I just couldn't see spending that much money right now. my friend still has this tank set up in his bedroom and is looking to get it out of there and I need to get something set up to move everything once so I'm not disturbing to biosystem twice in a couple of months. I'm going to have about a5 foot head from the Sump to the dt and I'm thinking about putting at least 900 gph pump on each return plumbed with 3/4 pipe. unless i can get a deal around 200 for two the next step up.
update
update
well its ready, I bought rwo life guard 5000 pumps for the sump. they are rated at around 1425 gph and put one on each return. Drilled two 1 1/2 bulkheads in the top back. one with a elbow turned up and grinded most of the collar off the other elbow and pointed it downward.When I bought my plumbing I payed close attention to the inside holes in the parts and noticed that the ball valve for each size was smaller than the holes in the pipe and other fittings so i went up one side to eliminate the restriction. Im runng 1 1/2 overflo pipe with a 2inch ball valve, the two inch ball valve has the same size hole as the pipe and the fittings. Same with the return 3/4 with 1 inch ball valves 1" vinyl tube. The out come after hours of trying to manage the drain was I ended up removing the box to get the elbow out and end with 1 1/2screw in adapter with the drain ball valve half closed and two pumps running full throttle. when i tryed the air tube i got bubbles in the sump. the plumbing off the back of the bulkheads is a street elbow no tee. I really would have liked to have hed to cut back the pumps but thats not how it works out. That 1 1/2 hole just suck more water than the pumps can put out. I even tryed a 3/4 elbow in the box and with the drain open wide pumps mostly closed still not draining much most was overfloing the emergency drain.
update
well its ready, I bought rwo life guard 5000 pumps for the sump. they are rated at around 1425 gph and put one on each return. Drilled two 1 1/2 bulkheads in the top back. one with a elbow turned up and grinded most of the collar off the other elbow and pointed it downward.When I bought my plumbing I payed close attention to the inside holes in the parts and noticed that the ball valve for each size was smaller than the holes in the pipe and other fittings so i went up one side to eliminate the restriction. Im runng 1 1/2 overflo pipe with a 2inch ball valve, the two inch ball valve has the same size hole as the pipe and the fittings. Same with the return 3/4 with 1 inch ball valves 1" vinyl tube. The out come after hours of trying to manage the drain was I ended up removing the box to get the elbow out and end with 1 1/2screw in adapter with the drain ball valve half closed and two pumps running full throttle. when i tryed the air tube i got bubbles in the sump. the plumbing off the back of the bulkheads is a street elbow no tee. I really would have liked to have hed to cut back the pumps but thats not how it works out. That 1 1/2 hole just suck more water than the pumps can put out. I even tryed a 3/4 elbow in the box and with the drain open wide pumps mostly closed still not draining much most was overfloing the emergency drain.
MidwesternTexan
Average Joe
I think I see what you mean. Any way you could post some pics of some of this?
Are you surface skimming any, as in an overflow box internally, or is this just a pipe? The more surface skimming the better.
If I'm reading this correctly, this is an accident/overflow waiting to happen.
There should be no valves on the drains, unless of course you're making one a full siphon and there is a back up/emergency.
I'm assuming you've carefully looked thru threads such as Beans overflow system thread?
Good luck
