hole placement for canister filters

[hmt321]

I have a friend that owns a glass co, and he will drill the back of my 75 gal for free, I will use a eheim 2028 on the tank for filteration, does it matter where the holes are?

I would assume i would want the outflow higher than the intake,

like this:

also, what size holes should i have him use? the ehiem's use 5/8" thin wall plastic tubing, think that i should go with 3/4" bulkhead fittings so i can put a ball valve on the outside.

I was thinking about a slip fitting on the front (inside tank) and a threaded on the back, that way i could manipulate the intake ond out flow at will.

I will be painting the back of the tank blue, I found these 2 pieces of Drift wood a few years back and i think i can put suction cups on them and use them to hide the intake and outflow.

When i finnish you will not be able to see any thing "man made" in the tank.



thanks


questions:
is my placement of the holes correct?
what size, type (slip, threaded), and brand of bulkheads should i use.

 

[CichlidAddict]

You don't need holes for a canister filter... You only need them if you're doing a wet/dry or something. The canister intake and output just hang over the glass on the back of the tank.

 

[soggysandwich]

You don't need holes for a canister filter... You only need them if you're doing a wet/dry or something. The canister intake and output just hang over the glass on the back of the tank.

agree, if he will drill the holes why not setup a wet/dry

 

[hmt321]

I realize i do not need them, I will probably set up a wet dry in the future (when i move) I have the filter (eheim replaced it after it broke) and the tank. I do not like the look of the green pipes comming over the edge of the tank, and the drilling is free.

I would like to have it drilled before i set it up, in the future all i would have to do is get my w/d ready and dump my old media in and i am rdy to go.

here is the post i made for the stand for this tank.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50499

it has a 40 gal under it (no room for a w/d in this application)

thanks

 

[soggysandwich]

you can make the 40 a wet dry

 

[mbutzer]

Maybe I don't understand your intention, exactly, but I am not sure this is going to work for you. Using an overflow to feed a canister filter may suck a lot of air into it. It may, therefore, defeat one of the major pluses of a canister: low noise.

You'd have to be careful not to deprive the canister of sufficient water (by getting air in it) to make sure you don't lose the prime or get an airlock that will stop flow. Depending on how heavily stocked you are, loss of flow could be a disaster. Remember, the canister pump, even under ideal oeprating conditions, most likely generates less flow than you would get out of a properly sized/setup sump system.

Like I said, maybe I don't understand what you hope to do. But, I'd advise caution.

 

[mbutzer]

On second look at your diagram, the concern may not be air getting into the canister. I wonder about the head pressure going into the canister from all the water pressure down lower in the tank, which will be greater than the canister design intent. It may or may not cause it to leak.

I also wonder if you'd regret having the holes drilled where you're showing as far as compatibility with a potential future conversion to a wet/dry overflow system. Just a consideration. Maybe it's not an issue???

 

[rallysman]

I also wonder if you'd regret having the holes drilled where you're showing as far as compatibility with a potential future conversion to a wet/dry overflow system. Just a consideration. Maybe it's not an issue???

That's my thought. I think that you'll have problems with power outages in the future if you do decide to make it a wet/dry. The water level will also be quite low if you use them for an overflow (unless you add PVC to the desired height)

 

[hmt321]

I can always put an elbow on the bulk head fitting when i switch to a wet dry and feed the sump from the top, same with the overflow.

the 40 gal is home to my 6" red spot sunnie, unfortunatly he does not play well with others so he will stay in that tank, i only have 60" of space for 2 tanks, thats why will stack them.

i had not thought about the head pressure causing the ehiem to leak, I will try and contact eheim about this, I guess that i should put both holes close to the top of the tank then.

thanks

 

[CHOMPERS]

If the canister ever developed a leak, your tank will drain to the lowest bulkhead. For safety you should keep both holes at the top of the tank. Ditto for Rallys reasoning during power failures.