help with plumbing and closed loop 315g tall tank.

[562uned]

Hello all, i have been a long time looker, and finally found a tank i like. I'm working on getting my system setup. I wanted a tall tank ( this is getting built in to my wet bar in the living room) so i finally found a huge 315g 72" wide by 24" deep by 42" tall tank. its made of 1" acrylic and I'm in the process of sanding and buffing it now. it will be a front only viewing tank. it was drilled already for a cls i believe. it has 3, 2" holes on the bottom in the actual tank and 2, 2" hoes ( maybe 1.5") in the overflow. I'm trying to determine how this was plumbed. the over flow is divided in to two chambers. with only 1 hole in each, there are no holes drilled in the sides.

I'm thinking about drilling a hole on the back, near the top to allow for a closed loop intake, instead of on the bottom, and using the 3 bottom holes for returns. i want the tank to look as natural as possible, so i don't want any visible pumps or intakes or returns, im also worried about coral or fish getting sucked in the intake. I am going to be builing the stand for this tank this up coming week and want to make sure i get this figured out before hand. thanks for the help!

I've attached a few pics.

 

[lagatbezan]

Congrats on the new tank!!!
This is how i setup my 180 and currently setting up my 300 the same way. I drilled 4 holes on the bottom of the tank, 2x2" for drain and 2x1.5" for returns. If its gonna be a reef you might need more flow and more returns. Also make sure you use sch80 bulkheads bc once the tank is filled you will not be able to change the bulkheads without having to drain the tank. the regular ones dont last that long and can easily break or leak.
I connected true union ball valves to each one on my new 300. makes it much easier to service the plumbing if its ever needed.
You can use a strainer to make sure nothing gets dragged down into the plumbing.
I would also drill one or two more holes for the overflow box. you want at least one return, one drain (maybe two depending on the pipe size) and one emergency drain that can handle the full drain if the main drain gets clogged.
Look at the beananimal or herbie design for the overflow (I use the herbie personally).
This is how my 180 is currently setup. All the drain strainer and return gets hidden under the rocks and not really visible. I used the regular ball valves from homedepot here but I dont recommend them. After a while they get stiff and really hard to use.
I can post pictures of how i'm doing my 300g latter if you want.




[URL=http://s923.photobucket.com/user/mastemast/media/180g/Picture006.jpg.html]

 

[562uned]

thanks for the response! id like to see the 300 for sure! the current tank looks great!. Im thinking i will drill another hole in the overflow box, im not really sure why its divided in to 2 sections though? any idea? also i cant really put a strainer at the bottom under rocks for the closed loop as the tank is really deep and i have no idea how id get it out to clean it with out draining half the tank. im thinking a T shaped closed loop intake near the top.

 

[562uned]

something like this intake but near the top of the tank.

 

[562uned]

soemthing like this

soemthing like this

something like this intake but at the top of the tank

 

[562uned]

one more thing

one more thing

And one more thing, the larger side of the over flow box has small slits near the bottom? whats this for?

 

[562uned]

Actually i think i answered my own question about the slits near the bottom, looks like its supposed to act as "filter" for the closed loop intake to make sure nothing gets sucked in.

 

[562uned]

plumbing

plumbing

Heres what i have come up with.. from left to right, main drain, backup drain, return, intake for CLS, 3 smaller ones will be where nozzles will be for return from CLS. do you guys think this will be enough flow in the tank?

 

[562uned]

any ideas

any ideas

any ideas?

 

[lagatbezan]

Here is my 300g build in progress:

One of the drains behind the rocks: