PufferNut's 40g Breeder Build

[PufferNut]

My first real build!

So here I have an aqueon 40g breeder, 20g long sump, mag7, Coralife 65 skimmer and a pile of wood. Stand will hopefully get built this weekend if we get enough work done on the run in shed project....

What I'm looking for input on:
I was originally thinking about a coast to coast with a bean animal overflow. But as I think about it, I'm starting to lean more towards stopping the ctc short enough for an over the top return. The idea being that I can then put a siphon break right below the water line. I would then put a 90 going out towards the front and use some loc line from that to direct my return flow. This over the top seems like it might be ugly, but is there any other way of having a good siphon break with a drilled in return hole?

Related to this, I was thinking 1" plumbing on the overflows and 3/4" for the return. Does this sound ok?

Even more related- Standard white pvc, Flex pvc, clear vinyl? Heck I'v erumors of using pex. What would everyone recomend?

 

[PufferNut]

Thanks for all the input...

 

[Capt_Cully]

When I had a 40B set up, I drilled a 3/4" bulkhead as high up as I could get it. Then I ran a couple of extra pieces of 3/4" locline and had it hump up out of the water a bit, then back down so that the last piece was completely under water. A siphon break was drilled into a distal piece of locline, just before the tip, so that the siphon break hole was JUST under water. Remember to make it point down :thumbsup: . This way, minimal water would back siphon before the water level was low enough to kick in the siphon break.

Does that make sense?
Is this the info you're looking for?

If you don't wanna drill, and go over the top, just drill a siphon break hole just below the water's running surface. I'm running this exact set up on a temporary return on my 200.

 

[PufferNut]

Yes, that sounds like a good solution. I'm likely going to drill for the drains, so I may as well drill one more for the return. What do you think about the drain and return sizes? I think I'm going to use pex to plumb the tank with. Seems like it will just be easier than having to figure all the angles.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I guess it depends on your return pump's output. But in general, for a tank that size, your plan seems sound with 1" overflows and 3/4" returns. With the 1" Beananimal CTC it could handle about 1500 GPH or so, I'd imagine.