Tips and explanations on plumbing drilled tank

[Justin1997]

I have a 60 cube and 30 gallon sump I am moving and when I move it I am purchasing a new drilled tank. I plumbed my tank myself so I kind of have an idea if it's similar can someone please explain some steps for me please.

 

[glb]

Following.

 

[AZDesertRat]

This should help along with some of the other articles he has on his site:

What is a sump? | Melev's Reef

And you may get some use out of this too:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/eq...iltration/34973-installing-bulkhead-tips.html

 

[Justin1997]

Yea guess my real question is for an explanation of the intake and outtake in the safest way possible I've some videos of a drilled hole in the PVC for the in take (usually shaped as an upside down J) is there any specific place this hole should be drilled, I realize it's to break siphon so I'm assuming as high as possible so sump doesn't get too much water in it

 

[AZDesertRat]

If you are purchasing the tank new have an internal overflow box installed and bottom drilled so you can install a proper standpipe configuration. I prefer the simple Stockman standpipe design but there are many good designs today. For the return(s) you want to keep the placement close to the waters surface so there are no issues with backsiphon and flooding when power goes out.

Never rely on drilled holes in the return as they are a false sense of security and can and do fail much like check valves. With the return close to the surface only a small, easily calculated amount of water siphons back before the return is exposed to atmosphere and the siphon breaks. Water cannot jump uphill so it cannot be defeated and best of all no cleaning or maintenance.

 

[Justin1997]

Now when I bought my overflow box there was a gph limit, is there a limit to some internal ones depending on how they're made?

 

[AZDesertRat]

Yes. The size and placement of the drilled hole and bulkhead, standpipe, pipe size and pump size will determine the flow rate. Generally a properly designed 1" overflow and standpipe can handle between 750 and 900 GPH which is usually sufficient since you don't want high flows and velocities through your sump anyway. It is better and cheaper to make up your display flows with powerheads or wavemakers and keep the return flow moderate (3-5x your display volume is a common flow). Powerheads and wavemakers consume 5-15 watts or so and move 1000 or more GPH each while a return pump can be 60-120 watts to pump 900 GPH so much more expensive to run 24/7/365.

 

[Justin1997]

Yea I have all my pumps and power heads from my existing tank just making sure I'll be safe using the return pump I'm using now, thanks for the help

 

[AZDesertRat]

You can always, in fact you should install a ball valve on the discharge side of the return pump to fine tune flows if needed. It in no way harms the pump and often makes it more efficient by adding head and placing the pump in a more efficient point on its pump efficiency curve.

 

[redfishbluefish]

If you're installing your own overflow, take a look at Glass-Holes. They are a fraction of the size of a conventional overflow and are drilled through the back or side of the tank....not the bottom.

 

[shred5]

I really like the X-aqua X-inout over flows.

They take up very little room and just look nice. They take up almost no space like giant internal overflows.
I had a pair I installed on my last tank that ended up not going ahead.
If I ever have another project again I will most likely do these again.