Question about plumbing for 75 reef (SPS dominated)

[Volcmreefer]

Hello Reefers!

I've been away from the hobby for a few years now and I am about to plumb my 75 reef and wanted to ask everyone how many returns I should plumb in? I see some people have one and others have two. Does it really matter? Will the strength of the tank be compromised if I drill more holes? What size returns should I run? I am going to run an 16" Synergy Reef Overflow that requires 2 x 60mm holes. I have a 29 gallon sump with an Eheim 1262 return pump (3/4" outlet). I have a UV sterilizer but I am not sure if I want to install it until the tank cycles and I start adding corals and fish. In the future I might consider adding a media reactor too.

Your thoughts and feedback are greatly appreciated. Thanks and happy reefing!

-Jon

 

[thegrun]

I like to take the returns up and over the back because it is easier to keep the returns from pulling a lot of drain down water out of the display tank when the pump is turned off. It really doesn't matter that much if you go with one or two returns, I use a single return with a 1" Sea Swirl on my 120, but two 3/4" returns or a single 1" would all be fine. You do want at least two 1" drain lines, one as a primary and the second as an emergency drain. I actually have three 1" drains on my 120 "just in case".

 

[Volcmreefer]

Thanks. I will probably just do two 3/4" returns in the event that I want to hook something up inline (uv sterilizer) later. I am going to put a gate valve on one line so that if I do install the sterilizer I will be able to turn down the flow to get the proper uv exposure.

The Reef Synergy overflow has a bean animal setup, so I will have three drains (main, alternate, and emergency).

Thanks again for the help!