Plumbing for sump question.

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Modest_Man

Modest_Man

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jul 5, 2006
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Washington
I'm working on plumbing my 210 gallon tank. It's drilled with four 1 3/4" holes that will take four 1" bulkheads. Pump is a little giant rated at ~1100gph at 6ft of head.

Question is should I plumb it with two drains and two returns, or three drains and one return? Seems like each bulkhead will allow roughly ~300gph, so I'm leaning toward the 3/1. Please either confirm or refute my logic.

This is my first time plumbing so we'll see how it goes!
 
I agree with a 3:1 ratio. Your return will be under pressure so a lot more water is going through that 1" line. Also you will have added capacity if you want to add a trickle system or just add another pump with a spray bar to agitate the surface.
 
Is it glass or acrylic? If it's acrylic I'd make those holes bigger since it would be easy. You should come over sometime and check out my 225, might give you some good ideas.
 
Pisses me off what people drill. My 225 had ONE bulkhead drilled for about ONE INCH (maybe a bit more, but not much). On a 225! I widened that hole for 2" BH and drilled another in the back same size. Modified herbie basically. No water splashing at all, just a low hum from the pump.
 
3 drains one supply. Its easy in the future to add another supply line with pvc or tubing dumping into the top of the tank.
 
For a free tank, I can't complain. Looks like Glass-holes.com has pretty good bulkhead prices...any other place compare?
 
I spent $100 on plumbing last night...bought the bulkheads from glass-holes for $5.59 each along with some other stuff, basic PVC parts I got from flexpvc.com, well under half the cost of what I'd spend on the same parts at Home Depot.
 
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