Plumping and sump questions

[LagunaGlide]

I am in the process of moving a 240Gal FOWLR. It has/had a bio ball wet/dry sump. Today while removing and moving fish, rock, sand, and water we failed to keep the balls wet. Correct me if I am wrong, but that makes that pretty much a wash. So I was thinking of converting it to a sump with just some extra live rock for now. Thoughts on this?

The tank has two corner overflows. each side has a drain pipe with a U at the top and a vent and the pipe is I believe 2". Also there is a hole in each side that is currently set up as the return lines, and they are I believe 1". It seems the previous owner glued the entire plumbing for the return side, so I will likely have to cut it, and redo it. I was thinking of changing up the drain style to something better, and running new return lines outside of the overflow boxes. Thoughts on what style I can go with, and how well it will work with the 2 different size tubes?

Thanks in advance. The link in my Sig is my build/transformation thread.

 

[LagunaGlide]

So It looks like I should be converting this to a Herbie style overflow. Will there be any issues with the 2 different size pipes? Can and or should I reduce or increase one or the other?

 

[Aaron Atkinson]

Hi. I think 2 sizes of return pipe is fine so long as the main is the smaller and emergency the larger. Reason being your return pump sizing will be driven off your main line. As you might imagine in the event of a clog you don’t want the emergency drain too small or disaster shows itself quick.

For return vs drain size my return is smaller than the drain, 1” vs 3/4” at the outlet

My vote is for the ceramic bio balls or bricks instead of rock in the sump. Way more surface area and much cheaper.

Good luck!