Help Determine GPH for built in overflow

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sturgeonlover

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 31, 2010
363
18
48
New York
Hey guys,
So I needed some help with this one. I have a 360 gallon with 3 overflows in the. Two in the top of each end of the tank and one in bottom middle of the tank. So I wanted to put a 120 gallon sump under it. Today the system is running 4 FX5s. i wanted to keep running the FX5s for the one overflow in the bottom and one in the top. The other top I want to run the 120 gallon sump, but the issue is, what should be the GPH of my pump be. I do not know what GPH the water is coming down from the tnak. The overflow is about 2 inches from the top of the tank. The top has a plastic sealed top. The dimesnions of the tank is 96Lx36Wx24H. Thank you for your help everyone.
 
What kind of turn over are you wanting.
1500 Gph perhaps, 1" will carry that easy.
You will probably be going with 3/4" pipe,
Their are charts that will show the gph, full siphon flow rates. An in line ball valve works great to throttle them down if your off a bit in the math.
 
Take a 1 gallon jug, put it under the flow, and "time" how many seconds it tanks to fill a gallon.
There are 3600 seconds in a hour.
Divide 3600 secs per hour by the number of seconds it took to fill the gallon and you will get GPH.
an easy example
Lets say it takes 10 seconds to fill the gallon
3600 seconds in an hour divided by 10 = 360 GPH.
 
How are you going to plumb the FX5 into the overflow ? Seal the overflow off and drop FX5 intake screen behind overflow ? Why bother? plumb all 3 overflows to your 120 gal sump then run one or two FX5's into your sump.. be a much cleaner looking install IMO.. what size are your bulkheads off the overflows? there are charts ava that show approx flow through each inside pipe diameter ..that will get you in the ballpark ..360 gal tank depending upon stocking Id shoot for a min 1500 gph , remember head height will reduce throughput .. so if your target is 1500 and depending on length of pipe and bends up size your pump.. if it where me Id just double the 1500 gph to 3000 gph and use a ball valve to fine tune.. Also if you use those DC return pumps you have different output settings to play with as well .. dont overthink it keep the hobby fun .. let us know what you decided ,, and post pics of tank once its up and running. GL
 
markstrimaran said:
What kind of turn over are you wanting.
1500 Gph perhaps, 1" will carry that easy.
You will probably be going with 3/4" pipe,
Their are charts that will show the gph, full siphon flow rates. An in line ball valve works great to throttle them down if your off a bit in the math.
Click to expand...
the in line ball valve is a good thought.
 
duanes said:
Take a 1 gallon jug, put it under the flow, and "time" how many seconds it tanks to fill a gallon.
There are 3600 seconds in a hour.
Divide 3600 secs per hour by the number of seconds it took to fill the gallon and you will get GPH.
an easy example
Lets say it takes 10 seconds to fill the gallon
3600 seconds in an hour divided by 10 = 360 GPH.
Click to expand...
Good idea. Thank you!
 
Mr Pleco said:
How are you going to plumb the FX5 into the overflow ? Seal the overflow off and drop FX5 intake screen behind overflow ? Why bother? plumb all 3 overflows to your 120 gal sump then run one or two FX5's into your sump.. be a much cleaner looking install IMO.. what size are your bulkheads off the overflows? there are charts ava that show approx flow through each inside pipe diameter ..that will get you in the ballpark ..360 gal tank depending upon stocking Id shoot for a min 1500 gph , remember head height will reduce throughput .. so if your target is 1500 and depending on length of pipe and bends up size your pump.. if it where me Id just double the 1500 gph to 3000 gph and use a ball valve to fine tune.. Also if you use those DC return pumps you have different output settings to play with as well .. dont overthink it keep the hobby fun .. let us know what you decided ,, and post pics of tank once its up and running. GL
Click to expand...

The system has 3 over flows. I was just going to continue running the FX5s through them, like the way its set up today. I'll show you some pictures. But I like your idea of just filtering the sump, the only thing is... I'm not handy at all, I'm scared to even plug up the holes and experiencing a disaster.

I'm wondering if this is even worth it. The tank is a 360 gallon, but its full of guppies and geos and danios and small tetras, some synos, dwarf cichlids. So I do not think I have to worry about over stocking. The reason I want to do the sump is to add more water volume and better filtration so the fish can be happy and when I do mess up (get to lazy/go on vacation), I do not have to worry about water quality as much.
 
sturgeonlover said:
The system has 3 over flows. I was just going to continue running the FX5s through them, like the way its set up today. I'll show you some pictures. But I like your idea of just filtering the sump, the only thing is... I'm not handy at all, I'm scared to even plug up the holes and experiencing a disaster.

I'm wondering if this is even worth it. The tank is a 360 gallon, but its full of guppies and geos and danios and small tetras, some synos, dwarf cichlids. So I do not think I have to worry about over stocking. The reason I want to do the sump is to add more water volume and better filtration so the fish can be happy and when I do mess up (get to lazy/go on vacation), I do not have to worry about water quality as much.
Click to expand...
With the sump you can get creative and hook up an auto water changer or auto drip system ..let see pics , I run bulkheads on all tanks, no issues , even the plugged ones.
 
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