First Timer with some ideas

Thanks Boviac,
I might have to take you up on that offer to see your setup sometime soon. I have lights on the way and will start getting the tank ready in the coming week or so. I would prefer to go with a prefab overflow like you suggested, would it be possible to use a HOB filter to get the water in and then add a bulkhead to the bottom? I know it seems crazy but it seems like it could work. I'm just thinking probably crazy thoughts right now....

Would it be possible to not even add bulkheads to the actual tank and run black (to make it less noticable) PVC over the top of the tank to two outlets with flow going to different areas of the tank...

Once again talking out of my rear... :)
 
I think I'm just gonna drill for the bulkheads in the tank as opposed to using an overflow box. It seems like it is more that can go wrong with the tank with an overflow box. Just put the bulkhead near the top of hte tank and set it up so that if the water gets below a certain level. Probably about 2'' down then the suction would stop. I will also drill two more holes for the outlets on each side of the tank. One towards the top and one towards the middle.

Does that work?
 
Alright!
I've decided I'm going to drill holes in the tank for the sump.
I don't know however which size bulkheads and tubing to use.
I have decided with all the work that would go into building a HOB overflow I might as well just build an in the tank overflow out of acrylic. I will probably initially use a strainer type overflow at first until I can get the acrylic bent and shaped the way I want it.

As for the other parts of the tank I have the lights on their way right now and they should be here by the end of the week. I need to get my sand either through a LFS or through other outlets. I've started to make plans to build a stand for the tank. It already has a home but I will build the stand for it while I'm on christmas break.

So as of right now I have an empty 20H tank and a 10 gallon tank that's got freshwater fish in it ATM but will be changed around soon as to make clear it out for the sump/refugium. I will start cutting some baffles out of acrylic or plexi in the next couple days to have that ready. I still haven't decided on a return pump yet. I've got a pond type pump that flows about 200 gallons/hr which seems fairly decent but depending on my pipe size I'm pretty sure I'm going to be needing more than that. So i've looked into other pumps but I just don't have the knowledge as to how big I need it to be.

I will be buying bulkheads and the Hole saw as soon as I know. Also if anyone has a hole saw that just so happens to be the size I need would be more than willing to pay to "rent" it for a day so I can drill the holes. Otherwise I'll buy from ebay as I'm sure they're much cheaper there and I only need drill 4 holes.
 
If you plan on trying to silicone Acrylic to glass you will need to use an Acrylic primer or it will never seal. Acrylic and glass won't form a tight seal with just silicone unless there is very little pressure on it.

Also you are going to need a Diamond bit hole saw and they can be very pricey! Be careful of what you get from ebay make sure it is good quality bit. You should be fine with 3/4" bulk head for the drain. Also keep in mind a 3/4" bulk heads requires a hole that is larger then 3/4" You will need your bulkheads in order to determine the size hole you need.

you have a PM
 
i drilled my tank with some 14$ dremel bits from HF. i can show you how if you want its easy and cheaper than a holesaw.
 
Thanks King,
I have some of those bits I got from HF also. It was taking me 20 minutes to get a 1/2 hole and unless I was doing something wrong it was just taking forever. Do you have any tips on doing it with dremell?
 
ahhh that's the thing.. in that thread the guy has different bits. mine were tiny tiny tiny compared to those. I will have to go get some of those bits instead and it should make it take a lot less time.

Where's the cheapest place to buy bulkheads in Chico, I guess Home Depot doesn't have them?
 
i got my bulkheads from fish etc. but they were freaking expensive! i was impatient. HD/Lowes dont have them. try a1 plumbing supply by the brewery they probably have something like that. not sure if they sell to the public, but they will point you in the right direction. that was my tank in the link. the bits are for sure at HF. thats where i got them.
 
Haha well I don't mind waiting a week or so for them. I'm not going to go insane as it's been since july that i've been reading up and wanting to do this so another week or so isn't too far off.

I'm going to look at some live rock from a guy on craigslist. Does anyone have sump or tank space where I could let it sit for a few weeks til I get my tank going?
 
Alright I've ordered the bulkheads as all the places here in town either didn't have them or they were way too much. I ordered two 1/2'' bulkheads for the return, and 1 1'' for the drain to sump.

I've decided to make my sump a fuge also so I don't want a ton of flow flowing through the fuge so I'm going to set it up to have the return teed off with ball valves and have some flow going to the intake part of the fuge and some going to the return part of the fuge so I'm not pummeling my macro with a ton of flow but I won't be limited by pump size and I can limit my need for powerheads with the two returns as opposed to one with a power head on the otherside. I can get a better pump with the money I would save from the powerhead.

I've gotten a lot of help via PM from underwaterparadise and I reccomend him to anyone in that marysville area as he seems like a great guy and very very knowledgable. I will definately be buying some stuff from him next time I run through there.
 
Yeah I went by a couple pool and spa places here in town to no avail. I didn't try the one by best buy but I got them for around $5 shipped and I figured I couldn't find them much cheaper locally. I have to wait for the diamond hole saws to come anyways.
 
Anyone have any reccomendations as far as sand goes? I don't want to pay the premium for live sand as I'm getting a good amount of seeded and cured (in a tank for years) live rock. I have used sand in my freshwater aquariums the standard stuff from the hardware store at $5 a 50lb bag but I don't know if that's acceptable here.... Any reccomendations?
 
www.plumbingsupply.com is located across from the brewery but no longer has a public counter only via internet. You can get most anything to do with plumbing from them. But pretty steep S&H costs. Also there is NORMAC located at the very south end of town off of 99 on the west side. They specialize in sprinkler and irrigation systems.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Boviac, I got tired of driving all across town with leads that went nowhere so I ordered from customaquatics.com and they were about $3.50 a piece there and under $20 for 4 of them shipped. I Don't think I could've found them any cheaper locally anyways. They're based out of LA area so they should be here by the end of the week at the latest. The hole saws are coming from china so I wasn't needing them too quickly...

I'll have to call NORMAC next time I need some.
 
Well a lot has gone on in the past week or so. I picked up about 20 pounds of live rock from a local hobbiest in town at a killer price and they look great with a lot of crevices and nice spots. It also had a fair amount of coraline growth on them as well. I've kept it under a standard PC fixture with a powerhead running in the tub with them. I'm hoping for very little die off which I don't think will happen.

I also got my bulkheads and pump. The pump is rated at 600gph which won't be as high with headloss. I got the pump just due to getting a great deal on it even though I wasn't needing that much flow. I upped my drain size to 1'' as opposed to 3/4'' due to the increased pump size. The returns are still dual 1/2'' fittings.

I will actually be using the sump as a refugium instead and know that 600 gph through a 10 gallon tank is way too much flow for a refugium so I'm tee'ing off the drain and using ballvalves to control the flows, partial flow to one side of the Fuge and partial flow going straight to the return pump. This should work out well as I can control the amount of flow going through the fuge while still allowing the pump to flow fully.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11161187#post11161187 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by iairj84
I'm tee'ing off the drain and using ballvalves to control the flows, partial flow to one side of the Fuge and partial flow going straight to the return pump. This should work out well as I can control the amount of flow going through the fuge while still allowing the pump to flow fully.
Click to expand...
you're better off teeing the return. less chance for disaster. let your incoming water go straight to the skimmer/inlet area and tee off of your return back to the fuge. if you have an obstruction in your drain the pump really doesnt care. and it will pump until your sump is dry overflowing your tank. if it happens with a tee on the return at least it buys some more time to catch it before flood with the reduced flow into the tank. that is if you only have one drain. i have 2 and my setup is exactly like you want to do, but 1 drain for me can handle all of my flow if something happens to the other. use powerheads or closed loop for tank flow not your return pump. HTH
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Building a Sea Horse tank with sump from ground up
Replies
4
Views
144
Dustin07
D
8
Some junk algea
Replies
10
Views
107
griss
griss
W
Getting Back Into Hobby
Replies
2
Views
95
reefing102
reefing102
redneckgearhead
Ok, one more time. 125 gallon
Replies
8
Views
173
griss
griss
8
Pinks, reds, oranges.
Replies
7
Views
79
reefing102
reefing102
Back
Top