First drilled tank setup (210)

[robham777]

I picked up a 7'x2'x2' glass 210 gallon tank off craigslist a couple of months ago and am finally getting around to the set up. It came with a diy stand, but it was taller than I wanted so first step was to build a new one. The tank was drilled for 1.5" bulkheads on the back and 1.5" and 1" on the bottom in each corner. The bottom bulkheads were sealed off with plate glass which I planned on removing and using as a drain and return with the back bulkheads for e drains. Once I got the tank home and really went over it I realized there is a crack running between the bottom bulkheads on both sides. Not sure how that occurred in 3/4" glass, but obviously I couldn't use those holes. I considered capping the other bulkheads and running canisters, but ultimately decided to use a sump and go with the 2x1.5" drains with the return over the back. I ended up picking up a 55 gallon HDX tote and a Jacod DCT 15000 for the project. The plan for bio is approx 4 cu ft of lava rock and 4 litres of matrix.

The idea behind the sump is for the drains to enter both sides into the cans where it will be mechanically filtered and flow through the lava rock. It will drain into 2" pipe with uniseals into the sterlite box, where it will then flow up through the matrix and over into the tote basically eliminating any bypass of the biological media.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Looks like a good setup. If possible, I would recommend getting two smaller pumps over the one large one for redundancy. I have two Jebao DCP 8000's on my 220.

With the drains, are you still going to have some type of emergency drain, or are both 1.5" drains going to be used for the setup with no emergency drain?

 

[robham777]

Looks like a good setup. If possible, I would recommend getting two smaller pumps over the one large one for redundancy. I have two Jebao DCP 8000's on my 220.

With the drains, are you still going to have some type of emergency drain, or are both 1.5" drains going to be used for the setup with no emergency drain?

A second pump was something I considered and will probably do in the future. I went with the single 15000 because if I like it I can get a second one and use them on my plywood build if I ever finish it.

I am planning on running both 1.5" as drains with no emergency drain, but am in the process of trying to work that out. A single drain can handle the flow at the 7th setting even partially shut to reduce the amount of noise coming from it. I may be able to determine an acceptable range of water volume in the sump that won't overflow the tank but won't be an issue between water changes from evaporation.

This is what I have so far.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

So, you are able to run that pump wide open and one of the overflows will handle it all on its own? If that's the case, then I would think that you would be fine with the two of them because if one ever happens to become blocked, the other will be able handle all of the flow.

If you want it quieter, then I would look into the Herbie style overflow, and submerge your return lines. I have a thread about how I made my setup extremely silent on here somewhere. One thing though, it looks like those bulkheads are pretty high for that kind of setup because you need at least 1/2-1" of difference in height between the two overflows to make them work separately.

Another option would be to turn those elbows sideways, use both of them with valves to create a full siphon, and then drill a third 1.5-2" bulkhead to be your emergency overflow. Something like this:



You don't have to put it in the overflow, it can be out in the main tank.

 

[robham777]

So, you are able to run that pump wide open and one of the overflows will handle it all on its own? If that's the case, then I would think that you would be fine with the two of them because if one ever happens to become blocked, the other will be able handle all of the flow.

If you want it quieter, then I would look into the Herbie style overflow, and submerge your return lines. I have a thread about how I made my setup extremely silent on here somewhere. One thing though, it looks like those bulkheads are pretty high for that kind of setup because you need at least 1/2-1" of difference in height between the two overflows to make them work separately.

Another option would be to turn those elbows sideways, use both of them with valves to create a full siphon, and then drill a third 1.5-2" bulkhead to be your emergency overflow. Something like this:

View attachment 1243628

You don't have to put it in the overflow, it can be out in the main tank.

A single drain does not handle the max flow, in the video both drains are open about 2/3 of the way. Ideally I would add a third 2" drain, but my understanding is you have to keep the bit wet while drilling to prevent cracking so that would mean getting the tank outside and back in once it was done. With the weight of this thing, I will probably pass if I can avoid it. An overflow is not actually a huge issue for me, since the tank is in the garage and there is a 4" drain in the floor. Would not be the first overflow out there by any stretch.

In order to do much with the drain intakes, there are issues with the overflow boxes I need to address. The silicone around the boxes is dried out so they are not water tight and the overflow boxes are slotted towards the bottom to allow flow from the middle/bottom of the tank. If I rotate the elbows down they are draining that much more of the entire surface area of the tank which will overflow the sump.

I had considered resealing the boxes and either covering or modifying the bottom vents. I have some acrylic that I could make secondary boxes out of to attach to the back side of the current overflow boxes to direct the flow up to the same level as the surface cutouts.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Oh ok, if overflows aren't that big of a deal then you could go without the emergency drain. However, if you want to put one in without draining the tank fully and taking it outside, then you can drill it in place. You don't really have to have water running over the glass cutter, you can simply use a spray bottle to wet it down every few seconds and then use a few towels to catch the water.

Another problem with the tank overflowing is that you will likely lose some equipment, mainly your pump. That's why I still think it's a good idea to drill another hole for an emergency overflow.

 

[robham777]

Oh ok, if overflows aren't that big of a deal then you could go without the emergency drain. However, if you want to put one in without draining the tank fully and taking it outside, then you can drill it in place. You don't really have to have water running over the glass cutter, you can simply use a spray bottle to wet it down every few seconds and then use a few towels to catch the water.

Another problem with the tank overflowing is that you will likely lose some equipment, mainly your pump. That's why I still think it's a good idea to drill another hole for an emergency overflow.

I might consider that, even though overflows are not a catastrophe, they are still a pain and inconvenient. Thanks.

 

[robham777]

I have taken a slightly different approach with the drains to hopefully make them far less likely to get blocked and also limit the amount of water that will drain back into the sump in a power outage. I was going to remove the overflow boxes and add some diy acrylic pieces to direct the flow of water up from the lower slots, but getting them out was much more challenging than I expected. I tried a razor blade, thin putty knife, and thin piece of wire to try and separate them from the glass without much success. This is what I came up with as a work around.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I think it will work better in the tank and not on the washing machine...lol

 

[duanes]

I agree you can drill with the tank set up, I have done it a number of times.
Just drill the tank from inside to out, and have something to catch the little bit of water once the drill bit pushes thru.