Replace corner overflow bulkheads without draining a tank??

[FL Gator]

Need some advice. I have a less then 2 year old 220 reef tank and I want to replace the return bulkheads on both ends because I'm replacing my sump with a 75 triton sump and have 2 cor-20s that require 1.25" pipe for max flow. Can I do this? Should I do this? I'll take any advice or suggestions.

 

[ndrwater]

If the bullheads are a direct swap, lower the water level in the display below the level of the return to the tank bulhead, then drain the overflow. Should be easy to swap bulkheads at that point

 

[lmm1967]

Photos?

More than likely - and I'm generalizing here without seeing the setup - you are not going to be able to swap out for much larger bulkheads as the tank is probably drilled for whatever size is currently in there. I would not attempt to drill the holes larger.

One option would be to bring your returns up and over the top of the tank.

 

[cracker]

Can we have a pic of the bulkhead ?
What's the diameter of the drain pipe
Thru the side or thru the bottom?
Thanks

 

[saltyhog]

It depends on your tank. My tank had larger holes and I could have used either a 1" or 1 1/4" . 1" requires a 42 mm hole and 1 1/4" requires a 51 mm hole. Who was your tank made by?

 

[ca1ore]

You can certainly replace the bulkheads - the corner flow walls are strong enough to withstand the level differences. You cannot, however, over-drill the holes for bigger bulkheads while it is full. Depending on the tank, you may not be able to do it at all as the bottom may be tempered.

 

[FL Gator]

Photos?

More than likely - and I'm generalizing here without seeing the setup - you are not going to be able to swap out for much larger bulkheads as the tank is probably drilled for whatever size is currently in there. I would not attempt to drill the holes larger.

One option would be to bring your returns up and over the top of the tank.

Yeah I wasn't going to drill a bigger hold I just wanted to swap out so the top of the bulkhead can fit a 1.25" inch pipe for return to the tank.

 

[cracker]

That's much better !

 

[FL Gator]

Can we have a pic of the bulkhead ?
What's the diameter of the drain pipe
Thru the side or thru the bottom?
Thanks

The diameter of the pipe I run now is 1" but want to make it 1.25". The bulkhead is through the bottom. Here is a picture.

 

[jtl]

Maybe I am misunderstanding but will a larger bulkhead fit in the existing hole?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Maybe I am misunderstanding but will a larger bulkhead fit in the existing hole?

It depends on the size of the existing hole and the bulkhead installed. If they drilled a larger hole but are using a small diameter bulkhead then yes, a larger diameter bulkhead will work. If not then the OP's next best option is to drain the overflow and drill in from the side and put in a bulkhead there. Well provided the back glass is not tempered of course.

 

[jtl]

It depends on the size of the existing hole and the bulkhead installed. If they drilled a larger hole but are using a small diameter bulkhead then yes, a larger diameter bulkhead will work. If not then the OP's next best option is to drain the overflow and drill in from the side and put in a bulkhead there. Well provided the back glass is not tempered of course.

I realize it depends on the hole size which is why I asked. My guess is that the 1.25" BH will not fit. The drain pipe next to the return line is probably 1.25. The OP could switch the return with the drain because with a full siphon two 1" drains is suffcient. I have a single 1" on my 100g tank and it is more than sufficient.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Now that I look at it, I don't think there really is a need to swap the returns out or put in larger pipe.

OP, while the Cor-20's flow is up to 2K GPH, keep in mind this is at the pump outlet with no heat pressure. Also I can't imagine a setup where you would need two of them running at full speed. It would be far more likely that these pumps would be running at 30-40%. That would be around 6-700 GPH for one or a combined flow of about 1400GPH+/-. If so a 1" return for each pump is more than capable of handling that kind of flow rate. That's a huge amount of water pulling through your sump and would significantly reduce the effectiveness of your skimmer to pull organics out as the majority of the water would be blasting past the skimmer. If you are needing increased water flow or turnover rate for SPS corals, then increasing your gyre output would be far more effective than cranking waterflow through the sump like that.

 

[FL Gator]

Now that I look at it, I don't think there really is a need to swap the returns out or put in larger pipe.

OP, while the Cor-20's flow is up to 2K GPH, keep in mind this is at the pump outlet with no heat pressure. Also I can't imagine a setup where you would need two of them running at full speed. It would be far more likely that these pumps would be running at 30-40%. That would be around 6-700 GPH for one or a combined flow of about 1400GPH+/-. If so a 1" return for each pump is more than capable of handling that kind of flow rate. That's a huge amount of water pulling through your sump and would significantly reduce the effectiveness of your skimmer to pull organics out as the majority of the water would be blasting past the skimmer. If you are needing increased water flow or turnover rate for SPS corals, then increasing your gyre output would be far more effective than cranking waterflow through the sump like that.

If I couldn't change the bulkhead I was just going to run 1.25" to the bulkhead then reduce to 1", do you think that would be worth it?

I do realize that it would be a lot of flow and I would only run them at 30% - 40%. I just wanted to be able to have flow without putting unneeded stress on the pump. Since I am redoing the sump I figured I might as well make sure I have the correct pipe.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

You can do that, and the load will be minimal at best. Far less than the head pressure put on it from the total rise they have to fight from the outlet of the pump to the return outlet. At 5' of rise on a 1.25" pipe the max flow rate drops to 1600 GPH. Dropping from 1.25 to 1" at say 35% power will not impose any more load on the pump than running 1.25" all the way up. I say this because unless you're running a wide open pipe on the return, you're reducing the outlet size with Loc-Line even more. As I said, you can update the piping underneath to clean it up and go with 1.25" up to the bulkheads. It's not going to hurt anything by doing it like this. I have run my 6010 Eflux pump in a similar configuration for months with no issues. I'm going 1.25" soft line to the check-valve then T's off to two 1" lines, up to a pair of 3/4 bulkheads and open port Loc-Line. I'm only running the pump at about 35% and it's of flow for a 75G. So two Cor-20's on a similar configuration will be just fine and will not stress them at all. Just be sure to put in union check-valves after the pumps and then true union ball valves after that for maintenance reasons. You never know if your check valve will fail to close properly forcing you to have need to shut the returns down completely to work on it.

 

[FL Gator]

You can do that, and the load will be minimal at best. Far less than the head pressure put on it from the total rise they have to fight from the outlet of the pump to the return outlet. At 5' of rise on a 1.25" pipe the max flow rate drops to 1600 GPH. Dropping from 1.25 to 1" at say 35% power will not impose any more load on the pump than running 1.25" all the way up. I say this because unless you're running a wide open pipe on the return, you're reducing the outlet size with Loc-Line even more. As I said, you can update the piping underneath to clean it up and go with 1.25" up to the bulkheads. It's not going to hurt anything by doing it like this. I have run my 6010 Eflux pump in a similar configuration for months with no issues. I'm going 1.25" soft line to the check-valve then T's off to two 1" lines, up to a pair of 3/4 bulkheads and open port Loc-Line. I'm only running the pump at about 35% and it's of flow for a 75G. So two Cor-20's on a similar configuration will be just fine and will not stress them at all. Just be sure to put in union check-valves after the pumps and then true union ball valves after that for maintenance reasons. You never know if your check valve will fail to close properly forcing you to have need to shut the returns down completely to work on it.

I also have flex pipe right now and was considering doing it again. So do you think it is worth it to run the 1.25" or just keep the 1". I'm glad you brought up the Loc-Line because Im considering getting rid of it because of that very reason.

 

[ca1ore]

Durso drains aren’t going to be able to handle anywhere close to the full output of a COR20 anyhow.

 

[lmm1967]

I just wanted to be able to have flow without putting unneeded stress on the pump. Since I am redoing the sump I figured I might as well make sure I have the correct pipe.

Quality pumps are completely fine with "stress" - or back-pressure.

I would leave everything as is if I were you - especially if you have no leaks.