Sump turnover for 500gal

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Lucas&kim

Lucas&kim

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 7, 2016
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Hi. I have a 500 gal peninsula style tank with one overflow. In the overflow are 2 - 1" drain holes on the bottom. Depending on how many gph I need flowing through my 100gal sump I may have to do a herbie instead of gravity. Any advice on the turnover rate through my biological/mechanical filtration would be great. Thanks
 
Are you certain the holes are 1"? Even with 1" Herbie drains, the holes should be bigger to accommodate the bulkheads. I also have 1" Herbie drains basically, and found the weir are the bottleneck and not my drain pipes. I call that out as I had to make some additional holes on the weir and something for you to consider.

I think you'll generally hear greater turnover the better, and, I would agree. But, everyone has a different situation and you have to see what's sufficient for you. Keep in mind about head pressure and bigger pipes and pump doesn't guarantee high turnover either...although it can help.
 
DN328 said:
Are you certain the holes are 1"? Even with 1" Herbie drains, the holes should be bigger to accommodate the bulkheads. I also have 1" Herbie drains basically, and found the weir are the bottleneck and not my drain pipes. I call that out as I had to make some additional holes on the weir and something for you to consider.

I think you'll generally hear greater turnover the better, and, I would agree. But, everyone has a different situation and you have to see what's sufficient for you. Keep in mind about head pressure and bigger pipes and pump doesn't guarantee high turnover either...although it can help.
Click to expand...
Hi. Thanks for your reply. Srry. Yes the are 1" bulkheads. And also have 2- 3/4" bulkheads in the overflow for returns. I would like to have no less the 4x turnover rate. But not sure how to achieve this with two 1" bulkheads
 
You will probably have to drill out the bulkheads larger or use all four bulkheads for drains and run your returns over the top. Even then, I don't think you'll have any emergency drain in case one gets clogged. If I were you, I would get larger bulkheads in the tank. I would recommend three 2" or four 1.5" for the drains.

Another option would be to run a sump with a lower flow rate and then run two or three canisters with it. You wouldn't have to do the larger bulkheads then.
 
Fish Tank Travis said:
You will probably have to drill out the bulkheads larger or use all four bulkheads for drains and run your returns over the top. Even then, I don't think you'll have any emergency drain in case one gets clogged. If I were you, I would get larger bulkheads in the tank. I would recommend three 2" or four 1.5" for the drains.

Another option would be to run a sump with a lower flow rate and then run two or three canisters with it. You wouldn't have to do the larger bulkheads then.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I also have 4- 1" bulkhead in the display setup for closed loop. The closed loop will also be running about 5x turnover. Don't know if the closed loop helps any.
 
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