Help Please!!

jherrin215

GO COLTS!!
I am fixing to begin setting up my sump/fuge/frag tank in the basement. My 180 DT is on the main level and drilled for 2 1 inch overflows and 2 3/4 inch returns. My sump is drilled for my return pump. Here is my predicament. I have 2 virgin (not drilled) 30 gallon tanks that I am going to be using for fuge and frag tank. I am trying to figure out where to drill the tanks to make everything flow good and only use 1 return pump. Here is what I have in mind so far, please let me know what you think, good or bad!!
 
This is only for water circulation purposes. I will handle all the flow issues and lighting issues and everything else separately. Thanks
 
I think what I would do would be to drill the 30's on or near the bottom and run a 1.5" or 2" durso style standpipes, Internal overflow boxes, bulkhead fittings and drain lines to the sump. It may be necessary to have the drain pipes slightly above the water line in the sump to reduce back pressure, so I would at least leave that option open when planning it out.
 
Thanks playa!! I was thinking about that but I also thought that I don't see any reason why I acutally need overflows, though there very well may be that I just don know. I was thinking about just putting 2 bulkheads in near the top and allowing the water to just free flow from the bulkheads down into the sump. Would this cause any problems? Also noise isn't an issue, this is going in an unfinished basement that we are only in doing fish stuff or laundry.
 
The internal overflow boxes would help to skim the crap off the top of the water in the smaller tanks and also set the water level in the 30's while preventing them from completely draining when the power was turned off. By drilling the tank low and using the standpipes it will use gravity and air management to help the drains move water to the sump more efficiently. You're going to need these drains to be as efficient as possible.

What your going to discover when you start it up is that the DT drains are much more efficient to the 30's then the 30's will be to the sump. A couple of bulkheads near the top of the 30 gal tanks draining water horizontally to a 90 with a short drop to the sump is not going to be nearly as efficient as a large display tank drilled at the bottom with air vents, water pressure and an 8 foot vertical drop.

The problem that your going to run into is that the 30's are going to fill up faster then the horizontal drain pipes are going to drain off the water to the sump, especially when the pump first starts. While you may be able to oversize the drain pipes from the 30's to the sump to help compensate, since the bulkheads are so high in the tanks there's not much room for error. That's the reason for my advise to go the extra mile and drill the 30's low and use standpipes to help them to move water as efficiently as possible. Since your going to go to that trouble then you might as well put in and overflow box and skim the top of the water in the 30's too.

You can try it your way and if doesn't work then you can always take it apart and add more drain capacity to it if necessary. That's what I had to do with a similar project.

I should also mention that if you're planning to run your DT drains considerably slower then their rated capacity then that would allow you to go with your original idea and simply oversize the 30 gallon drains a little.
 
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Awesome!! That's exactly what I was looking for. I knew there would be a reason to do it the other way!! I was wondering is the open drains would actually drain as good as the standpipe. I guess it honestly wouldn't be much more trouble to drill them low and add standpipes and overflows. I started to drill one of the 30's high and unfortunately realized the side panel was tempered. Completely shattered. I replaced that panel with a piece of acrylic I had and am letting the silicone set up now. Can I drill the acrylic with the diamond bit or will that just melt it ruining the bit?
 
I don't think the acrylic on the side panel is going hold. It's best to replace it with glass or get a new tank for the project.
 
Oh really?? I thought Acrylic adhered pretty good to glass with silicone?? I've got it locked into the trim on the top and bottom just like the glass, but I don't wanna flood the basement. I might just try to get another tank.
 
Some people use Acrylic baffles in glass tanks and can get away with silicone but silicone is not recommended for Acrylic. You know how it goes, it's going to fail at the worst possible moment.
 
I took your advice and I am going to replace that panel with glass and remove the acrylic. I was super surprised how cheap it was to get a piece of glass instead of using the acrylic. It was only 9 bucks to get a piece of glass cut to fit. Not too bad for the piece of mind to not have to worry about it blowing!!
 
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