chiller hook up opinions?

[prow]

hello all. i will be getting my new external pump for my chiller sometime this week. i was planning on running a closed loop with in the sump to the chiller. i was going to drill the sump but, i am not sure if the glass is tempered, going with the idea it is. so no drilling. the water level in the sump is 6" form the top, dont think a overflow box will work here, perhaps a DIY. the main tank is acrylic and can not fit a overflow box. dont really want it to run through the main tank anyway. so now i am planning on using a u-tube in the sump. i have heard some things about it, but wanted to get some thoughts here. any thoughts on starting a syphone on the u tube to the pump then to chiller and back to sump? what are the real dangers/issues here?

[sasquatch]

You want to draw from the sump to the pump, thru the chiller and back to sump? oter than debris and the odd fish/snail nothing i can think of, unless, the pump is elevated above the water line or the sump runs dry to the point the pump sucks air.

[Frankie]

Sasquatch made a good point. You should try to see if you can isolate the area you draw water from. The water you run through the chiller you want as clean as possible. I have mine returning from the skimmer area. Also you want to install a ball valve or something to control the flow with.

[lcstorc]

Also be sure you are not re-chilling the same water. I have my chiller taking water from my skimmer area and then returning the water to my return area. As lonf as the chilled water is added after the intake water to the chiller you should be fine. I have a u tube feeding my sump from my fuge and it works great. A bit of adjusting when we set it up but now no problem at all.

[mps9506]

You can run a PVC pipe over the top of the side of the sump and into the water, as long as it goes back down below the water level on the other side, and you have a way to prime the system(A T at the top of the pipe coming down the outside of the sump that has a removabal cap that you can fill with water before starting the pump will work here). This obviously is not an ideal setup, I would recomend considering an internal pump.

[prow]

aaa some very good points here thanks everyone. i have some rethinking to do now. i will take a look and see what i can come up with. thanks again as always a big help.

[flier-x]

I just hooked up a JBJ 1/15 hp using a closed loop as follows:
Maxi-jet 1200 (with output pointing straight up), connected to U shaped tube to go out and over the top of the tank, down to the chiller, and then up to an output jet in the tank. Was simple enough to install, seems to work fine.

[prow]

well i am still undecided. i just through one of my extra(new in the box) pumps. i am using a sedra 1200gph pump. just dropped it in the refugium and added a wedged in baffel and it empties on the other side of the baffle. i did the filling gallon jug and calculations and its getting about 500-550gph. this is actual. i estimate because it might have been 7sec or maybe 6.5 or 7.5sec to fill the gallon jug. i think i am just going to build a new sump, i want a frag section too.