180 Gallon Plumbing Help

[MitchSutherland]

I have a 180 gallon center built in over flow. It have five drains. 3 are 1.5 inch, and 2 are 1 inch. I was going to plug both the 1 inch holes and 1 of the 1.5 inch. The person before me also drilled 2 1.5 inch drains on the back glass(1 on each back corner). I was going to use those as returns. I will have to T the return line and then elbow up to each return. and then elbow again to turn into the bulkhead. One return may be a little closer to the return pump than the other.(Is that okay?) Also, I have built my own sump. I uploaded a picture below. The first section will have two filter socks and a skimmer, the next section is a refugium(chaeto), and the last is for the return pump. I was looking at getting the Bubble Magus Curve 9 Skimmer. I basically just need to know is there anything wrong with this setup? And what pump should I use as my return? Any concerns or tips? I would like power consumption to be low as well.

[Mrramsey]

The two 1" holes were for the returns. I don't think I'd use the 1.5" holes in the back for returns. You will have to worry about drain back to the sump when the power is off and check valves in saltwater systems will fail.

[Bigcefa]

I'm sure he was running a bean animal , you should also

[MitchSutherland]

Thank you I totally forgot about that. So I will use the 1 inch. and plug the two in the back and one of the 1.5 inch on the bottom. With the returns do I break off pieces of the over flow box to allow them to flow back in? Any pump ideas? or other concerns?

[MitchSutherland]

Is there a thread on bean animal? I dont exactly know how to run that. ANy help is appreciated.

[MitchSutherland]

Found the thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1310585
How would i do that on a predrilled tank?

[ca1ore]

Picture of the 180 would help.

[MitchSutherland]

Here is the 180 with the drains drilled in the back

[MitchSutherland]

And here are the five drains in the center overflow.

[dnh828]

So normally you would use all the 1.5 inch holes to do the silent failsafe overflow, aka bean animal. One is full siphon tuned closely to the normal expected draining, one is a durso type drain for things like variations from wavemakers, and the third is a pure emergency full siphon drain. The two 1 inch returns were probably additional returns, potentially even a closed loop. If I were you I would close up the 1 inch holes and just use your preferred wave maker but I don't know what your goals are for the tank.

This is the overflow that would work best on that tank IMO: http://www.beananimal.com/projects/s...ow-system.aspx

[MitchSutherland]

I will do the bean style. So on the durso I wouldn't need an airline tubing correct? And how big should i drill the air hole be on the durso? And lastly I am a little confused and what to use as the return. I apologize. Thanks for all the help

[dnh828]

Durso can have the airline tubing, I like for it to since it works as a silencer. But yes, you could skip it. I would drill the air hole for whatever tubing you have lying around, I've always used the thicker tubing since I had some spare from an old RO system.

[MitchSutherland]

I realize it sticks straight out the durso. Just how far up? Does the airline tubing need to be below the emergency drain pipe? And I still need to figure out the returns.. If I use the one inch do I just break a couple piece off the overflow teeth so there is room to put it back in the tank?

[dnh828]

Airline tubing is (in the classic Bean implementation) bent in to a U shape. The end of the air tube is just above the emergency full siphon drain, so the durso pipe can go full siphon if the original and emergency siphon get clogged.

In terms of the height, there is relatively little difference in height here between the pipes. If the two 1 inch pipes were meant to be used as a return there should be a bulkhead on the overflow. I would simply plug them unless you want to drill in to the overflow box and add a closed loop (which IMO is no longer necessary with the glut of wavemakers we have).

So, to clarify:

Plug the two smaller holes in the overflow.

Use the 3 remaining larger holes thusly, from top to bottom in height:

1. Top drain is a simple pipe, no valves needed. This is the highest pipe, the emergency full siphon drain.
2. Middle drain is slightly lower than the first, ~ 1/4 inch at least, and is the durso stand pipe. You can skip the airline if it is confusing, but this is the overflow to catch anything the lower drain doesn't catch. Very little, if any, water should flow through this drain normally.
3. The bottom drain is a full siphon drain with a gate valve or ball valve. Gate valves are best here since they are more easily tuned. You want to install this lowest of all of the other drains, but not too low or else you can hear water splashing. This should have more space between it and drain number 2, at least .5 " in my experience.

You get this setup COMPLETELY silent (and when I have choice of bulkheads I always use this method) by tuning the bottom most drain exactly to your pump output. Open/close the drain by minute amounts until you are sucking down every bit of water coming out of the overflow. If you can't match it exactly and have it stay this way, let some water flow through the durso stand pipe.


In this image, the bottom left drain is the full emergency siphon and is the highest.

The middle drain is the lowest drain, and should be the one tweaked to the exact pump output and running full siphon.

The right most drain is the durso, and is the pipe designed to catch everything the bottom most pipe isn't catching.

[ca1ore]

Just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of the 180 (is it a standard 6x2x2)? I have never seen a 180 without a cross brace - unless using 3/4" glass.