Plumbing & Pumping Questions

Eclectic Taste · 12/08/2006, 12:58 PM

Hi, all, newbie here with my first saltwater tank. I have a 75 Acrylic I'm setting up to be primarily FOWLR with a few "easy" corals later (9-12 months). Rather than drill the tank & build an internal overflow, I just ordered a 1200 gph HOB overflow

This HOB is effectivly 2-600 gph overflows attached together. I'm putting together a sump/refugium using an old 20H tank & some baffles, copying melev's Design E or Design F.

I was thinking to put 1 overflow into the skimmer section, and put the other overflow in the fuge section. The skimmer is an Octopus NW150. I have on hand a mag 5 submersible and a Little Giant 2500 gph external that came off my pond. I was hoping to use the mag5 for the return from the sump, & the LG for a CL

The Little Giant has 2"In/I.5"Out, so for a closed loop I was going to drill a 2" hole in the back-center about 4-6 inches down, and return using 1.5" pvc then tee off to 4-6 3/4 locklines coming over the top of the tank.

Does this sound reasonable, or is this too much flow? Should I just use the Little Giant exclusively? BTW, I hate the look of powerheads in tanks, so I want to stay away from them as a flow solution.

tkeracer619 · 12/08/2006, 01:24 PM

Return the HOB and drill the tank. If you are planning on keeping this up for a while it will be much safer.

In the 9 months I have had my u tube overflow I have had 2 close calls. You will need to clean the tubes every month to keep it somewhat reliable at most. I have an old glass tank, if it was acrylic I would drill it in a second.

Remember your hole must be larger than the pipe you intend to use. A 2" bulkhead requires a 3.somthing" hole.

If you dont want the locklines to be a huge resistance use 8 of them or use larger than 3/4". You would need ~12 of them to match the flow of 1 1.5" pipe.

Eclectic Taste · 12/11/2006, 08:43 AM

Okay, I've gone ahead & built an overflow out of 6" ABS like Travis did in his thread on starting a marine tank. I also installed a 1-1/2" bulkhead. I am thinking to split the flow like this: with a Wye & ball valves, I was thinking to direct just enough into the sump/fuge that the mag 5 can handle, (about 400 gph after losses) direct the remaining flow to be returned by the Little Giant. I'll use a 1" return for the LG, and 3/4 for the mag5 to minimize losses. Sound okay?

12/08/2006, 12:58 PM	#1
Eclectic Taste Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Rocklin, CA (Sacramento) Posts: 144	Plumbing & Pumping Questions Hi, all, newbie here with my first saltwater tank. I have a 75 Acrylic I'm setting up to be primarily FOWLR with a few "easy" corals later (9-12 months). Rather than drill the tank & build an internal overflow, I just ordered a 1200 gph HOB overflow This HOB is effectivly 2-600 gph overflows attached together. I'm putting together a sump/refugium using an old 20H tank & some baffles, copying melev's Design E or Design F. I was thinking to put 1 overflow into the skimmer section, and put the other overflow in the fuge section. The skimmer is an Octopus NW150. I have on hand a mag 5 submersible and a Little Giant 2500 gph external that came off my pond. I was hoping to use the mag5 for the return from the sump, & the LG for a CL The Little Giant has 2"In/I.5"Out, so for a closed loop I was going to drill a 2" hole in the back-center about 4-6 inches down, and return using 1.5" pvc then tee off to 4-6 3/4 locklines coming over the top of the tank. Does this sound reasonable, or is this too much flow? Should I just use the Little Giant exclusively? BTW, I hate the look of powerheads in tanks, so I want to stay away from them as a flow solution.

12/08/2006, 01:24 PM	#2
tkeracer619 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Westminster, CO Posts: 17,289	Return the HOB and drill the tank. If you are planning on keeping this up for a while it will be much safer. In the 9 months I have had my u tube overflow I have had 2 close calls. You will need to clean the tubes every month to keep it somewhat reliable at most. I have an old glass tank, if it was acrylic I would drill it in a second. Remember your hole must be larger than the pipe you intend to use. A 2" bulkhead requires a 3.somthing" hole. If you dont want the locklines to be a huge resistance use 8 of them or use larger than 3/4". You would need ~12 of them to match the flow of 1 1.5" pipe. __________________ Hobby Experience: 9200ish gallons, 26 skimmers, and a handful of Kent Scrapers. Current Tank: Vortech Powered 600G SPS Tank w/ 100gal frag tank & 100g Sump. RK2-RK10 Skimmer. ReefAngel. Radium 20k.

12/11/2006, 08:43 AM	#3
Eclectic Taste Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Rocklin, CA (Sacramento) Posts: 144	Okay, I've gone ahead & built an overflow out of 6" ABS like Travis did in his thread on starting a marine tank. I also installed a 1-1/2" bulkhead. I am thinking to split the flow like this: with a Wye & ball valves, I was thinking to direct just enough into the sump/fuge that the mag 5 can handle, (about 400 gph after losses) direct the remaining flow to be returned by the Little Giant. I'll use a 1" return for the LG, and 3/4 for the mag5 to minimize losses. Sound okay?