comments, opinions, thoughts on a planned system upgrade.

[funkpolice]

I have formulated a plan, and I want to run it by you guys and see what you think. I currently have a 55 gal tank, with an aqua c remora pro skimmer, and a fluval 304 canister filter I use for activated carbon. The space in my tank stand is such that I can only fit one 10 gal tank on each side of the middle brace, so here are my intentions.

I'm going to buy a single drain, hand on the back overflow from my lfs. He has them with 1" and 1 1/4" drains, I'm leaning towards the larger, but I'm looking for help with that issue. The overflow with drain into a 10 gal tank under my tank. In this tank I will put my skimmer, heater, and temp probe. The water will be pumped from this tank, through a diy activated carbon reactor, and into a second 10 gal tank. In this tank I will have some macro, and LR rubble. Finally the water will be pumped back to the display tank.

If it all works out, I will add 20 gal to the system, eliminated my canister filter, hide some equipment, and have a fuge to aid in nitrate removal. The main issues I have are what size drain should I use in the overflow, and what size pumps/tubing/pvc do you suggest. Also, any oversights/potentials for disaster you see. I also have a 20 gal long tank I intend to plumb into the system and use as a frag tank, but that would be down the road awhile.

thank you for your time,
bill

[reefsmoker]

Originally Posted by funkpolice

I have formulated a plan, and I want to run it by you guys and see what you think. I currently have a 55 gal tank, with an aqua c remora pro skimmer, and a fluval 304 canister filter I use for activated carbon. The space in my tank stand is such that I can only fit one 10 gal tank on each side of the middle brace, so here are my intentions.

I'm going to buy a single drain, hand on the back overflow from my lfs. He has them with 1" and 1 1/4" drains, I'm leaning towards the larger, but I'm looking for help with that issue. The overflow with drain into a 10 gal tank under my tank. In this tank I will put my skimmer, heater, and temp probe. The water will be pumped from this tank, through a diy activated carbon reactor, and into a second 10 gal tank. In this tank I will have some macro, and LR rubble. Finally the water will be pumped back to the display tank.

If it all works out, I will add 20 gal to the system, eliminated my canister filter, hide some equipment, and have a fuge to aid in nitrate removal. The main issues I have are what size drain should I use in the overflow, and what size pumps/tubing/pvc do you suggest. Also, any oversights/potentials for disaster you see. I also have a 20 gal long tank I intend to plumb into the system and use as a frag tank, but that would be down the road awhile.

thank you for your time,
bill

Sounds great funkpolice! a real master plan. post pics pls

[AQTCJAK]

bill , i would opt for the 1" that is 600gph & draining to a 10 gallon that is alot of water in a little space the 1.25" would be 1200gph i think you would have a quick flood

[funkpolice]

is the 1"(600gph) too much for a 10 gal tank? Can I meter the drain piping? It seems it would be better to slow down the overflow drain than to get an over sized pump and have to throttle it down. Is using two pumps a bad idea, should I use gravity to move the water from the sump tank into the fuge tank? Thanks for the help so far.
bill

[NCguy]

If you slow down the overflow,your return pump will cause a flood.

[funkpolice]

ok, I'm obviously confused. What I am thinking is that as long as the gph leaving the tank and the gph going back into the tank, I'll be ok. So if I get a 400gph return pump, and then valve off the overflow to 400gph, I wouldn't have a flood. I'm not dismissing your reply, I'm just kind of confused. I don't even know what gph pumps come in, I'm going to look in to that later on tonight. If my 1" overflow is going to be 600gph, I think I should find a pump that is smaller. Right or Wrong?
bill

[NCguy]

Im sorry I re-read your posts...I though you already had the return pump but were trying to decide about slowing down the overflow drain.

[funkpolice]

so would what I'm suggesting work?

[NCguy]

To be safe...I wouldn't push it to close to the maxium that your drain can handle. The least little bit of blockage in your drain could be a flood. If you have a 400gph return pump and you have a 1" drain,you wont have to close the drain off at all..Just let it drain at 400gph.

[funkpolice]

So if the pump is undersized, the overflow won't overflow the sump? I was thinking that the gph out and in had to be exactly the same, and it was making me pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how the overflow would work, it would be great if it would only flow as fast as the pump was pumping.
bill

[NCguy]

It will only overflow as fast as your return pump pumps.

[funkpolice]

Alright. Thanks for your help.
bill

[NCguy]

You're welcome....Make sure when you look at a return pump,factor in the amount of head loss that you will have. If you get a 400gph pump and it has to pump the water up 4' or 5' high to reach into your tank the pump will only probably pump about 300gph(or less) now. Each pump differs with the amount of loss.

[PEMfish]

Use only one pump as you will have a flood with two as they will NOT be matched in GPH. Use gravity to drain the sump in to the fuge, or vise versa.