New 95 Gallon Build - Looking for advice along the way

[jrwap]

I am about to start a new build and would be interested in some input from the community. I am currently running a 90 gallon mixed reef that has been up and running successfully for almost 10 years now. I purchased a new house and decided to install a new tank and filtration system to make the transfer of reef inhabitants easier. My goal is to use as much existing equipment as possible, upgrading where appropriate.

I began by purchasing a tank and stand locally which came with a TON of equipment. It's a 95 gallon "˜wave' tank on a custom made stand. My plan is to have the tank in a first floor family room with the sump and all equipment in an unfinished part of the basement below. This will provide plenty of room for filtration equipment and isolate noise and heat to an unoccupied part of the house.

It's 8ft from slab to deck in the basement and another 5ft to the top of the tank so I'm figuring about 13ft of head. I'd like to reuse an Iwaki WMD-RLT40 as my return pump. The pump's cut sheet (https://www.iwakiamerica.com/Literature/MD_WMD/MD3040.pdf) shows approximately 9GPM (540GPH) of flow at 13ft. This will allow me to turn over more than five times the tank capacity (475 gallons) per hour. Is there any reason why this pump won't work? I will then use a spare Iwaki WMD-RLT30 for filtration (skimmer, reactors, etc).

The tank is pre-drilled with a ¾" and 1" hole (will confirm actual sizes). I was thinking about relying on the 1" as a drain and using the ¾" as a backup drain in case of an emergency. I'd obviously have to run one or two ¾" lines across the back of the tank as returns. Is this a decent plan or is there a better way to approach this? I really don't want to drill any additional hole in the glass.

Finally, any tips on running the piping in the wall? It's an exterior wall, so the pipes will have to be supported and insulated. I plan to cut a decent section of drywall out between studs about 6" above the floor. Unless the above plan changes, I'll run (1) 1" and (2) ¾" PVC pipes between floors. I might also run a spare 1" that can be used as a conduit for wires to control lights or wave pumps.

Let me know if you have any thoughts or additional ideas that may be useful as I get started.

Thanks,

-JRW

 

[RobZilla04]

Sound like you're headed to a clean and seamless look. Keeping that in mind I'd suggest using the 3/4" pre-drilled hole as the return. What is the need for an emergency drain? Have you ever needed one in the previous 10 years? Running PVC over the back and top of the tank will kill the seamless/clean look IMO.

That pump should work out if your flow numbers are correct. Is 5x turn over enough? Depends on the amount of flow in the tank and how much rock is in it I suppose. Return pumps are an easy upgrade so I'd start out with it and if needed replace later.

 

[Rover88]

Personally, I'd do what you are doing and use it as a backup drain. I run a herbie setup the same way, where my 'return hole' is actually a drain and I run PVC over the side. RobZilla is right, its not as streamlined a look but I mean... I'd rather have the emergency drain.

Its like airbags in your car or wearing your seatbelt. You don't see them removed because you might never need them, they are there because you can't predict the day you might need it. Ten years or thirty years, just because you haven't needed it yet doesn't mean you won't!

Are you going to leave the basement sump room 'unfinished'? For the PVC, you can just buy the standard brackets used to attach them to walls. IIRC, the convention is one for every ten feet of vertical run, so use two-three for safety.

 

[thegrun]

I would use the 3/4" line as the primary full siphon drain and the 1" as your back up emergency drain. With that much fall (13') you will get about 800 GPH of flow through a 3/4" schedule 40 pipe, more than enough to handle the 540 GPH you pump delivers. If you use the 1" pipe as your full siphon, it will be difficult to fine tune the water flow even with a quality gate valve.