SC Aquariums Owners Thread

Cowboy: Planning a mixed reef with SPS and high light corals closer to the top , softy's and lower light on the bottom. 10-12 fish. I have a Gen3 XL30 and a newer Reefbreeder photon 24 on my 2 tanks currently running = 65 and a 40 cube respectively. Those lights will be over the new tank and so we shall see how it looks - unbalanced or not- could be interesting. I was also thinking about some T5 supplementation- but not sure on that.

Thanks Soulpatch on that info I will call them today.
 
I've been sitting on a 66 gallon pnp for about a month now. Only thing I've done is put the tank and the sump on the black pad. Have lots of questions and hope I can get some help here. First off I will be buying bulkheads from BRS. The tank came with a durso and a strainer. I've been studying up on herbie. My first question is should I use the durso or go with a straight pipe with a strainer on it for the primary overflow.

Thanks in advance

John
 
tassy said:
I've been sitting on a 66 gallon pnp for about a month now. Only thing I've done is put the tank and the sump on the black pad. Have lots of questions and hope I can get some help here. First off I will be buying bulkheads from BRS. The tank came with a durso and a strainer. I've been studying up on herbie. My first question is should I use the durso or go with a straight pipe with a strainer on it for the primary overflow.

Thanks in advance

John
Click to expand...
I assume this is drilled with 3 holes?

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tassy said:
I've been sitting on a 66 gallon pnp for about a month now. Only thing I've done is put the tank and the sump on the black pad. Have lots of questions and hope I can get some help here. First off I will be buying bulkheads from BRS. The tank came with a durso and a strainer. I've been studying up on herbie. My first question is should I use the durso or go with a straight pipe with a strainer on it for the primary overflow.

Thanks in advance

John
Click to expand...

The following link was an excellent primer for me, and I bet you have already seen it as well, but it is worth reposting anyway.

http://gmacreef.com/herbie-overflow-reef-tank-plumbing-method-basics/

It is an excellent primary introduction to the herbie drain system and what I will be using for a template. A durso works by adding air into the primary overflow, the herbie's primary overflow is an airless siphon. I plan on using a straight pipe with a strainer as it seems the simplest method and since I really have no experience I plan to keep it simple, for now.
 
unless they changed it within the past couple months the stock plumbing was a durso that they sent and not a herbie.

I think most of us trash their plumbing and go our own route. Herbie is easy though. One straight pipe as main drain on left or right hole, your returns in the middle, and the emergency in the remaining hole that has its opening at the weir teeth or higher (I used 2 45 degree fittings on the top of mine to make it taller and behind the returns)
 
Thanks everybody for their input. I've seen the GMAC Reef website lots of good info. Mine also came with a Durso I will get some schedule 40 1 inch PVC and see how it fits in the stock bulkheads and then take it from there. Soul patch great idea on the forty-fives Behind The Returned.

Thnx

John
 
I have spoke to soon. It is a durso. Im sorry. I had it mixed up. Is there really a big difference/advantage between the two setups with 3 holes drilled though?

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dreaddinit said:
I have spoke to soon. It is a durso. Im sorry. I had it mixed up. Is there really a big difference/advantage between the two setups with 3 holes drilled though?

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Click to expand...

Of the three most common types of drain systems (durso, herbie and beananimal) with an overflow you are looking for two things: Safety and silence.

The herbie and beananimal are generally considered to be silent when you get them dialed in correctly. The beananimal is safer because it has two emergency drains compared with one on the herbie.

Both are considered superior to the durso in safety and silence, however, many on the forums run a durso.

If you have three holes run a herbie (two drain one return). If you really want a beananimal you will need to run the return up over the top.
 
tex laid it out well. Herbie and bean give added security and are silent compared to a durso. You can make a durso silent but it takes more effort and you still lack the emergency.

I personally run herbie just because I did not want to run the return up and over the back of the tank and was not patient enough to have a custom tank done by SC like others on here...
 
acer said:
I think Soulpatch should get a "support check" from SC Aquariums.
Click to expand...

I would prefer if they just kept it all as credit for the 300+ tank coming in the future once I iron out next house purchase and dimensions I can get away with.

I will however take some of your designs with the custom drilled holes and an external coast to coast overflow.

Set up a few of these tanks now with local guys (wait I should get referral checks too) so been through this a couple times. Learned new things every time I set these up as each of us want to do something different.

For those who want to see my build it is here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2550948

I show my plumbing, sump swap, plumbing of a mixing station, equipment, apex, and soon to be an awc once I run some tubing behind the walls this weekend....
 
Okay will be dumping the durso and going with herbie. Take a stock bulkhead 2 Home Depot and see how it fits with the schedule 40 1 inch PVC I read enough to know what I'm doing I just need to do it thanks for all the help.

John
 
Take all of the bulkheads with you. I had issue that some of the SC ones were tight with schedule 40 but others were a bit loose. I replaced all with BRS bulkheads though I also got some lifegard ones from amazon 2 weeks ago for my mixing station that are also nice quality.
 
So pardon my ignorance but if I have 3 holes with one emergency, one overflow (durso I'm assuming), and one return I in turn then have a Herbie style system no?

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Not necessarily. As the Herbie is a full siphon and I believe a normal Durso is not. Do a search on RC on the Herbie setup and you'll see a link to do some further research. With the Herbie you have a full siphon line around 6" lower than the water line. A return line and the emergency.
 
To the best of my knowledge. The only difference between herbie and durso is the main drain. Herbie is a straight pipe with strainer (preferably). And a durso is a upside down u shaped pipe with an air hole. I think???

John
 
dreaddinit said:
So pardon my ignorance but if I have 3 holes with one emergency, one overflow (durso I'm assuming), and one return I in turn then have a Herbie style system no?

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Click to expand...

Here is an overview article from gmacreef describing different types of aquarium draining systems. If you get a chance take a look, it's not a long read, but helped me.

http://gmacreef.com/aquarium-overflows-durso-herbie-and-bean-setups/

Briefly a Durso is a SINGLE vented drain. It does not utilize a siphon or a backup drain. The Herbie introduced the emergency trickle drain along with the main siphon drain.

Hope this helps.

SC
 
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