glass for plywood tank

[BearFish]

We are thinking along the same lines. I'm a novice at this aquarium stuff, but I'm thinking about a trashcan for a refugium and the skimmer afterword (in simplicity). Everyone seems to always put the skimmer first than the refugium though. I'm going with a Bean drain system from the main tank. I've put 5 holes in the tank. 3 (2" pipe) on the top side, 1 (1.5" pipe) on the other side on the bottom for the inflow from the sump pump, and 1 (1.5") in the corner for a drain. The general rule of thumb seams to be move the water 5-10 times through the tank in a hour. So, your looking at something like 3,000 GPH sump pump, and extra height and turns in the pipe will significantly reduce the flow rate.

 

[swims alot]

Yeah i have very little experience with sumps but they do seem to be the best overall filtration, which I will need for my rays. So far I was thinking two 90° inlet pipes and 2 dual outlet returns or a large spray bar. not sure of the width of the pvc pipes I was thinking 1.5 or 2.0 was appropriate how do you determine that? also was thinking a mag drive 1800 for a pump it has some nice reviews and is called a "work horse". Im still kinda stuck on flow concept. seeing to much flow will toss the plants around in the refugium or to little and it fails to be an effective filter. And btw what kind of stock do you plan on having in the 240? Just curious lol

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[muttley000]

Your plumbing has to be sized for the flow you will have. I don't use siphons, but I am not especially concerned about noise. I always plan on a 1.5" pipe carrying about 700 GPH, and 1000 GPH for 2". Here is a link to all you care to know on the subject!

link


I size things so that I have double capacity. On the pump you could do a lot more flow for a lot less electricity expense. I would do more research there.

 

[BearFish]

I really have not decided yet. I will probably go with fresh water for a while before I get confident that it will not leak on me. After that, I will transition to some interesting salt water fish that are colorful. I'm designing the system for a heavily loaded salt fish/coral tank though.

 

[swims alot]

Your plumbing has to be sized for the flow you will have. I don't use siphons, but I am not especially concerned about noise. I always plan on a 1.5" pipe carrying about 700 GPH, and 1000 GPH for 2". Here is a link to all you care to know on the subject!

link


I size things so that I have double capacity. On the pump you could do a lot more flow for a lot less electricity expense. I would do more research there.

So muttley after doing some more research I figured I need more flow. I was thinking the dc jebao 12000 waveline that does 3180 gph, 85 watts, I figured the 2 returns and 2 inlet holes would be 1.5 and about 5.5 feet above the pump and accounted for the flow lost from the rest of the plumbing and figured I would get about 1800- 2200 gph. Should that be enough? And I bear my vote south American cichlids lol

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[muttley000]

So muttley after doing some more research I figured I need more flow. I was thinking the dc jebao 12000 waveline that does 3180 gph, 85 watts, I figured the 2 returns and 2 inlet holes would be 1.5 and about 5.5 feet above the pump and accounted for the flow lost from the rest of the plumbing and figured I would get about 1800- 2200 gph. Should that be enough? And I bear my vote south American cichlids lol

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In my opinion that will be plenty of flow from the sump return. If or when you go reef you will need more but most will do it with powerheads, etc. If you are going to have all of that draining through two 1.5" holes I have a concern they won't keep up, but if you are using all 4 holes for drains and letting the returns go over the top I think you could make it work. I can't remember, how big is your sump? The other side of this is that too much sump flow will be a potential problem.

 

[swims alot]

Im going to have a 75 gallon sump and the dc pumps have a controllable flow rate feature that is awesome. Im going to try the 2 drains and a large spray bar with 2 inputs and see if the drains can keep up and if not ill add another drain. Im going to use anacris in the refugium so im hoping it can handle the flow, do u think this setup could work so far? is and I think it was bear fish who wanted to go reef.

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[muttley000]

I think that is a lot of flow for a 75 gallon sump, hopefully you don't have bubble issues, I would for sure have a bubble trap before your return area. The thing with hoping the two drains will keep up is that a snail or something is going to climb in one 5 minutes after you leave for a weekend and cause a flood, it's just Murphy's law!

 

[swims alot]

Yeah im convinced now im going to put in a third drain just to be safe. And I had a question about the pump and return if the pipe and the bulkhead are 1.5 inch. would the pipes be able to support all the flow from the pump or would they have to be wider? Would the pump create enough pressure in a 1.5 to move 2200gph roughly? Im not worried about the pipes breaking im just wondering if 1.5 pipes will move all the water the pump can dish out to sum it all up.

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[muttley000]

I am getting ready to plumb a reeflo barracuda over the holiday weekend into my system. It has 1.5 not ports. What I am doing is plumbing with 2" to the pump from the sump. I try to always keep elbows and bulkheads a couple feet from the pump. Restrictions on the intake side are really detrimental. On the outflow side I will use 2" for about 8 feet until I have to split into 2 directions, and I have a reducing t fitting to 1.5 at that point. This is probably overkill, but I have true union ball valves on each side of the pump for easy service, that I suspect if I stayed at 1.5" would restrict the flow slightly. You will be ok if you stay at the size threads they put in the pump, just respect the intake side. By going bigger which costs very little more I am sure to get every gpm possible!