New to me Reef Ready Tank Plumbing

Reef of Fillory · Sep 3, 2018

Hello all,

I bought a used acrylic tank that is drilled with an overflow. My question is:

Is there any problem with using two different sized standpipes for draining to the sump?

The tank has one 3/4" bulkhead [used for the return - but i'm going to bring the return up and over the back as i'm not comfortable with a single drain].

The plumbing that was on the tank went from the input at a 1.5" pvc with two 90's, to a 1.5 to 1" reducer, then down to the sump. Is there any drawbacks to going straight 1" pipe? I've run durso standpipe setups before, and plan for this to be a durso siphon drain.

There doesn't look to be enough space in the overflow for a 3rd bulkhead, and i'm not sure about using the 3/4" as the main siphon. Does anyone have any opinions on whether a 3/4" should be sufficient as the main siphon for a 55 gallon tank?

I've read to use the smaller diameter pipe as the siphon and leave the larger diameter as the emergency drain for the higher capacity.

Is is inadvisable to expand the 3/4" bulkhead hole to a 1" hole? In acrylic tanks i've read that you can simply use a wood hole saw, and don't need a diamond bit saw, is this correct? Any cautions about the ability/stability of drilling out the 3/4" hole to a 1" hole?

i'm also tempted to drill a hole and put a bulkhead up high to link the return over to the original return hole in the overflow. Either this or send the return up and over on the other side of the tank. I will be running powerheads in the tank and won't necessarily need the flow from the return.

Thank you in advance to anyone with opinions/insight!

Crabs McJones · Sep 3, 2018

If it were me, I'd run the two holes as the drains Herbie style with one main siphon drain and the other as my emergency, and then drill a hole in the back panel of the tank about where the return is on the overflow weir and have it connect through so it still looks and functions as it should. As far as drilling out the hole, I do believe a whole saw would work fine, just tape around where you'll be drilling and set a piece of wood or something underneath so when you punch through the drill doesnt run into your acrylic and crack it. But honestly I'd leave it and use the larger hole for your primary and the smaller for your emergency. How much water are you going to be pushing through it as far as gallons per hour?

Reef of Fillory · Sep 3, 2018

Crabs Mcjones said:
If it were me, I'd run the two holes as the drains Herbie style with on

e main siphon drain and the other as my emergency, and then drill a hole in the back panel of the tank about where the return is on the overflow weir and have it connect through so it still looks and functions as it should. As far as drilling out the hole, I do believe a whole saw would work fine, just tape around where you'll be drilling and set a piece of wood or something underneath so when you punch through the drill doesnt run into your acrylic and crack it. But honestly I'd leave it and use the larger hole for your primary and the smaller for your emergency. How much water are you going to be pushing through it as far as gallons per hour?

that's pretty much exactly what I was thinking except for that I read that it's best to use the smaller diameter drain as the full siphon because in the event of an emergency/clogging the larger diameter pipe will have higher capacity to handle the flow.

The pump that I got with the tank is a small one [Rio 1400] at around 400 GPH it's probably only going to be pushing around 200-250 GPH after accounting for backpressure. I usually run a bit higher flow through my sumps, and will probably upgrade return pumps, which might put me at around 350-500 GPH through the overflow/sump.

You've been very active where i've been involved lately, and I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the time and effort that you put into helping people on this forum! I was a member of that "other" forum when I first started getting into fish/reefkeeping and I must say that the majority over here on R2R are very understanding and patient with people!

Crabs McJones · Sep 3, 2018

Reef of Fillory said:
that's pretty much exactly what I was thinking except for that I read that it's best to use the smaller diameter drain as the full siphon because in the event of an emergency/clogging the larger diameter pipe will have higher capacity to handle the flow.

The pump that I got with the tank is a small one [Rio 1400] at around 400 GPH it's probably only going to be pushing around 200-250 GPH after accounting for backpressure. I usually run a bit higher flow through my sumps, and will probably upgrade return pumps, which might put me at around 350-500 GPH through the overflow/sump.

You've been very active where i've been involved lately, and I just wanted to let you know that I really appreciate the time and effort that you put into helping people on this forum! I was a member of that "other" forum when I first started getting into fish/reefkeeping and I must say that the majority over here on R2R are very understanding and patient with people!