overflow questiom
- Thread starter Beansray
- Start date
You're looking at it backwards.
You start with how many turns per hour of your tank you want.
That and the size of your tank gives you the GPH you need.
That GPH lets you decide on a pump.
That GPH lets you decide on overflow holes.
As far as the question of the GPH that 3 1.75" overflows can handle ( you must already have the tank with those holes ), I'll have to pass that onto the experts. I'd guess at least 2500GPH ( maybe a LOT more ), but I'm not sure. One thing, they may be able to handle a certain GPH but will be noisy until you reduce the flow. A big reason for going with the really big overflows is to reduce the noise.
You start with how many turns per hour of your tank you want.
That and the size of your tank gives you the GPH you need.
That GPH lets you decide on a pump.
That GPH lets you decide on overflow holes.
As far as the question of the GPH that 3 1.75" overflows can handle ( you must already have the tank with those holes ), I'll have to pass that onto the experts. I'd guess at least 2500GPH ( maybe a LOT more ), but I'm not sure. One thing, they may be able to handle a certain GPH but will be noisy until you reduce the flow. A big reason for going with the really big overflows is to reduce the noise.
A 1 3/4" hole would be for a 1" bulk head.
1" bulk heads will flow 600 gph easily. THey can flow more but it sometimes gets loud. Moving that fast will also suck air thru the bulk head, can make a loud "sucking" sound.
THree 1" drains should be able to do your 10 X per hour goal. I would have multiple water returns to decrease current in the aquarium. Example; If you had only one 1" water return moving 1800 gph, the water coming out of the return line would have lots of pressure and cause a very strong current inside the aquarium. If you had 3 water returns flowing approxametly 600 gph ea. the pressure would be less and would not cause such a strong current in your aquarium. Most fish would do better without real strong current flowing thru the aquarium.
1" bulk heads will flow 600 gph easily. THey can flow more but it sometimes gets loud. Moving that fast will also suck air thru the bulk head, can make a loud "sucking" sound.
THree 1" drains should be able to do your 10 X per hour goal. I would have multiple water returns to decrease current in the aquarium. Example; If you had only one 1" water return moving 1800 gph, the water coming out of the return line would have lots of pressure and cause a very strong current inside the aquarium. If you had 3 water returns flowing approxametly 600 gph ea. the pressure would be less and would not cause such a strong current in your aquarium. Most fish would do better without real strong current flowing thru the aquarium.
Beansray said:
What are you going to put into it?
Ornatapinnis is correct witht the 600 gph estamate. So really all you have to do is decide what size pump you want to achieve your goal of 1800 gallons per hour. If you are worried about flow rate you could rig up something to help diffuse the water from the return. Their is something in the DIY section from Del Gato that is a good example.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13084
i was going to put in a delhezi, endlicheri, weeksi, and senegal bichir. but before the bichirs go in im puttin a jurenese cat an arrowana and 2 p-bass as a growout for my friends pond. Its alot of fish but the aro and pbass will only be in there for limited time.
The bichirs and the Aro really prefer a lower current in the tank. I think that you would probably be better off if you went with a lower flow rate and more filtration. The rate of flow in my 210 gal bichir tank is probably nowhere near 10x per hour, I would venture a guess that it is more in the neighborhood of 5x or less and they do fine.
Ornatapinnis said:
DUH! size of the >HOLE< for the bulk head, NOT size of the bulk head! Now the size of the holes makes sense.