Help me please

[MrineLfRlz]

hello all
well right now i have a 75 gal DT and a 125 gal sump in the i hope not so distant future im upgrading the DT to at least a 240 gal custom built tank
but as of now my sump is a center return powered by a MAG 24 pump so its not drilled and i dont know if the glass is tempered or not but for a 240+ tank this pump wont be enough flow so i was thinking about a reeflo pump but here is my problem i dont know if i can drill my sump its a AQUEON tank and these pumps need water to prime them so if i cant drill the tank all i can do (and i know this wont work well) is run a pipe from the intake over the sump side and down into the sump and make it so i can open up the pipping to prime it
but when a power outage happens and the electricity comes back on it isnt going to be primed anymore and bye bye new $400+ pump and possibly a fire NOT GOOD!!!!!

so does anyone have any words of wisdom for me im willing to listen
thank you

 

[Reefer Brian]

That was the longest sentance I have ever read....What type of overflow do you have? Have you tried an AquaLifter pump?

 

[MrineLfRlz]

That was the longest sentance I have ever read....What type of overflow do you have? Have you tried an AquaLifter pump?

Sorry I guess I’m bad at proper sentence structure.
What i was talking about is the return pump from my sump, what i have now is a mag24, which is a 2400 gph pump not a little feed pump.
What i have in my 75 DT is a hang on back over flow, but that wont be the case with my next tank upgrade.

 

[palmer373]

if i understand you correctly your problem is trying to an external pump on a non-drilled sump? ah a fellow reefer in my local club bypassed this problem with his sump. i can PM you a link to the thread on my local reef forum if you want.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

if i understand you correctly your problem is trying to an external pump on a non-drilled sump? ah a fellow reefer in my local club bypassed this problem with his sump. i can PM you a link to the thread on my local reef forum if you want.

Thank you very much!
This is my very problem,but i noticed he said his check valve failed and he now has to close the ball valve before he shuts off his pumps. I have alot of power outages here and im afraid that the water might still all back syphon and leave nothing but air to suck for the pump when the power comes back on, unless that is what the long length of pipping is for to stop that?

 

[MrineLfRlz]

well maybe i can try this?
Will it work if i put the pump on the bottom of my stand and then run the plumbing from my center return, up over then down to were my pump would be and then pump it back upstairs to the display tank. Because then it wont loss all the water to prime it back up again
here is a pic of how high the stand is and you can see were the Mag24 is setting

 

[hounddog01]

Help me please

I think the mag pump should be fine. I do not think you want too much flow thru the sump anyway. You can put a closed loop or powerheass in the tank for additional flow.

 

[serpentman]

I agree that the Mag 24 should be sufficient. However, its a power hog. A drive shaft external flow bias pump like the Reeflo would be better.

If I were a betting man, I would say there's a 90% probability the 125 does not have tempered sides.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

I think the mag pump should be fine. I do not think you want too much flow thru the sump anyway. You can put a closed loop or powerheass in the tank for additional flow.

The big reasons why i was wanting to go to the external pumps in the future was of course flow but also efficiency, less heat in the system and longevity.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

I agree that the Mag 24 should be sufficient. However, its a power hog. A drive shaft external flow bias pump like the Reeflo would be better.

If I were a betting man, I would say there's a 90% probability the 125 does not have tempered sides.

Me to but with me that 10% is 10 to much!!!
I should have checked before i bought the tank but you learn as you go in the hobby i know now to check on things like this because before i never even wanted to try to drill through glass. Now i have no problem as long as i know its not tempered

 

[serpentman]

Quite frankly, tempered sides are increasingly rare these days. Bottoms on the other hand are another story. What is the diameter of the glass?

You may want try contacting Aqueon to verify. According to their site, 125's do have tempered bottoms. However, I believe the only tanks they temper the side panes these days are 55g and odd shapes like bow fronts, etc.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

Quite frankly, tempered sides are increasingly rare these days. Bottoms on the other hand are another story. What is the diameter of the glass?

You may want try contacting Aqueon to verify. According to their site, 125's do have tempered bottoms. However, I believe the only tanks they temper the side panes these days are 55g and odd shapes like bow fronts, etc.

The glass is 3/8" thick and ive went to the AQUEON'S site and emailed them like 3 times with no answer
BTW i bought the 125 back in june 2008 when i upgraded it from my 55 sump if this helps?

 

[sedor]

Any glass shop or local LFS should be willing to drill the tank for you...for a small fee of course and the inconvenience of having to bring the tank in. With the amount of time and money you would put into a 200G+ tank, I would do it the right way and get the sump drilled.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

Any glass shop or local LFS should be willing to drill the tank for you...for a small fee of course and the inconvenience of having to bring the tank in. With the amount of time and money you would put into a 200G+ tank, I would do it the right way and get the sump drilled.

i will be more then willing to drill it myself if i knew 100% that it wasnt tempered
and since i dont i will go the over the side and down rout when i upgrade my pump

 

[mm949]

aqueon (allglass) doesnt temper the sides....the only tank i know that is tempered all around is the perfecto 55gl

u can go up and over the sump w/o losing prime incase of power outage...only need to reprime if you take the pump off line

 

[mprygh]

As long as the pump is below the water level of the sump, you do not have
a priming problem on a power failure.

The intake, from sump, up of the lip of the sump, back down to pump,
will act as a siphon. Water level in pipe back up to main tank will
end up equal to water level in sump.