SC Aquariums Owners Thread

[civics14]

looks like its a general consensus on the bulkheads supplied are terrible, guess I will be switching them out. I feel uncomfortable with them as well.

[SinCityReefer]

Originally Posted by civics14

anyone finished plumbing their tanks with the newer 1" holes? I noticed that a 1" PVC feels a bit loose on the underside. Not sure if even cementing it will seal it without having any leaks. Any comments, experience, feedback? Or should I just ditch it and order all new bulkheads?

I used them... Used a bit extra PVC/ABS cement to be sure, and made sure i held the fitting together for at least 15 seconds. Been running about 3 months now, zero salt creep around the fitting, they seem solid.

[acer]

update- Heard from the Rep - we are working toward a custom overflow that is more like a coast to coast = better surface skimming.

He confirmed via pics that the canopy on the 150 has a full hinge to access the tank and the top of the canopy has a center opening ( will ask for dimensions on the opening) and it is 10 inches away from water line.

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by acer

update- Heard from the Rep - we are working toward a custom overflow that is more like a coast to coast = better surface skimming.

He confirmed via pics that the canopy on the 150 has a full hinge to access the tank and the top of the canopy has a center opening ( will ask for dimensions on the opening) and it is 10 inches away from water line.

Are you doing the solid wood? If so I can measure tonight the size of the opening in my 150 wood canopy. Just note that the front "door" when flipped up covers part of this opening in case you were looking to have your lighting sit on top.

I was going to do that with my ATI fixture till I saw that and out the window went that idea.

[acer]

Soulpatch - Yes- planing on solid wood - thanks.... On the fence between which wood. How old is your setup- three one inch holes? Are you doing "Herbie" or what with the plumbing? I am going to do a Bean ( all three holes will be for downflow and send tube/pipe up the back for the return). - I think- . I am also trying to get them to increase the overflow length to the sides more to get better surface skimming action and allow for more flow into sump.

[soulpatch]

I got it in November and it has the three holes. I run Herbie as I was going to go open top and did not want to see the return plumbing coming into the tank over the top. I was going to have him drill me a hole in the back of the overflow box and run my return there but in the end I didn't want to wait and I couldn't care less now that it is set up. I mean sure a bean is safer then a herbie by having the second emergency but you really need things to go wrong before the second emergency is needed IMHO. I thought about it and decided I am good with the herbie. I have other failsafes in the tank and sump. Honestly I keep my sump such that it would run dry before the tank would overflow anyway so worst case I have a float switch fail to indicate low water in sump and not kill my return pump causing it to fry.

Making the skimmer box longer won't increase flow to your sump. That is dictated by the pipes. With proper water movement and aiming of the heads I don't notice any deadspots and can see the oil slick when I feed PE Mysis go straight into the overflow box. I would consider a coast to coast if you got rid of the center stack and instead has the back drilled for return and drains. Otherwise you are losing more real estate in the tank for limited gain.

[acer]

Yes- planned on using 2 one inch pipes for flow to sump (which is going to be downstairs). And only the third one inch pipe as emergency. I agree about the real estate issue by making his type of overflow larger. I do not want the full stack the hole way, rather keeping the stack as it is but expanding the sides out another 6 inches long by 4 inches deep by 4 inches front to back on each side. Thus as water goes over the edge is gets pulled toward the center were the down pipes are. I don't really know how well this will work. Just an idea to improve surface skimming and flow. Otherwise- yes - holes need to be drilled in the back, not the bottom. I tend to think outside the box- which can be good or bad. LOL

[soulpatch]

You are not running a bean with 2 full siphon pipes with one emergency. Both Herbie and Bean only have one pipe as a siphon. I personally wouldn't do that for a few reasons.

1. Your emergency would not handle the same load as your 2 siphons. Sure it is unlikely that both fail but we set these up for the emergency to cover the siphon and you wouldn't have that.

2. That is a ton of water to put through a sump. I can't think of any reason to be putting 1200+ GPH through a sump for a 150 gallon tank. I personally like to stay in the 4x turnover rate or so for the sump. Gives more contact time with media and my refugium. You would have one heck of a whirlwind sump at your rates.

[acer]

hmm... Nearly every one of the build threads and pics of Bean animal overflows I have seen use 3 pipes of the exact same size. Are they only using one pipe as a down flow and the other 2 as emergencies?

I thought they used one pipe ans a full siphon, then use the second as a pipe that has flow going down but is it throttled to be silent via a valve. And the third pipe is for emergency.

Planned on having about a 800-1000GPH turnover from DT to sump. From what I read the max the stock overflow can handle is 600-800 without getting loud - because of the surface area- not the pipe size. A one inch pipe can handle up to 2000GPH when gravity is pulling the water down 10 feet to my basement.

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by acer

hmm... Nearly every one of the build threads and pics of Bean animal overflows I have seen use 3 pipes of the exact same size. Are they only using one pipe as a down flow and the other 2 as emergencies?

Yes.

Herbie - 2 pipes with 1 as full siphon and the second left dry for full siphon emergency

Bean - 3 pipes with 1 full siphon, 1 slightest of trickle and an airline to convert to full siphon, and 1 as failsafe emergency with just open top.

The difference between herbie and bean is the second pipe for bean having the slight trickle with airline to go full siphon. Bean requires less tuning of the drain/return to have dead silent then Herbie but both run quiet and have emergency to cover in the case of an issue with the siphon.

[acer]

Ok, so again - why cant I use the three pipes as I originally planned - as a Bean animal? 1st pipe = full siphon, 1 pipe trickle, and 1 pipe as emergency. I want the tank to be silent- really silent- hence the sump and return pump in the basement.

Not trying to be a pain- I appreciate your input greatly.

[soulpatch]

You stated using 2 pipes as siphon which is not the same as a bean animal.

Again no difference in sound between a herbie or bean. Neither if set up correctly have any sound. So it is up to you to run the 3 drain bean or 2 drain herbie. Benefit of bean is the second emergency whereas the benefit of the herbie in this case is using the third hole to run the return as opposed to going over the top on the back or drilling more holes.

[acer]

ahh- yes I miss spoke totally , my fault. I knew some of the water was going down the second pipe. Anyhow- now that we are on the same page and I don tcare which plumbing I use as long as it is silent.

However, I still have the issue with the stock overflow design not able to surface skim as much as I would like or handle as much flow as I would like.

I actually found a flow calculator and a 1 inch pipe with water dropping 10 feet actually could flow over 3200 GPH - WOW. I had no idea.

[soulpatch]

Are you sure you are looking at the right calculator? That is not right. Though if you had to send water UP 10 feet with that head pressure you would probably want a pump capable of 3200 GPH to handle the 6-800 the drain is actually processing.

Again you can rearrange the outlay of the overflow as you wish but doing so does not increase your flow.

[acer]

OK - LOL, nope, I was talking about the siphon down flow of the one 1" pipe being up to 3200 PGH when the drop is 10 feet. Quote "water dropping 10 feet".

Yes - I will have to have a pressure rated pump capable of delivering 800- 1000GHP up 10 feet - which is something like this:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/iwaki-...-2000-gph.html.

[soulpatch]

I forgot about the height in the equation aiding gravity.

I guess I never had to think about my GPH since I run a fluval SP6 and even with headloss can push over 2K GPH into the tank if needed.

[acer]

That looks like a great pump - are you using that in the sump under the 150? Accoridn go this link ( see below) - you should be pushing 2000gph (at 6 foot head pressure) into your tank. are you throttling it back?

http://www.marinedepot.com/Fluval_Se...G14339-vi.html

[soulpatch]

I run a manifold off of the pump and it is still throttled some.

[acer]

It would be great under the tank,but not enough head pressure for me due to the sump being in the basement. Is it pretty quiet as well?

Maybe just making this too complicated and difficult- I just know that if you can do a Coast to coast overflow setup your skimmer works way better and you don't have to spend 500 on a skimmer. I have a decent, but not super high end ASM G3 skimmer that I have modified quite a bit ( gate valve, bigger /better pump,etc ) and was hoping to continue using it on the 150. And I hate the scum on the top of the water in a tank that does not have enough surface skimming (like my current 65 with a corner overflow) .

[GoGo98102]

Thanks Devaji!

SoulPatch, no. On the Herbie system, the 2nd pipe is supposed to trickle. You can't keep a full syphoned pipe balanced indefinitely. Herbie himself said that on his thread. Bean Animal, on the other hand, has a 3rd pipe that's supposed to be dry the whole time except emergency. That also comes from his own mouth on reef central.

[soulpatch]

I talked to herbie about the second pip in depth not that long ago. Should you set the second pipe for a trickle then you are over the amount a single pipe would drain and you have the tank out of balance should the siphon clog.

Beam it is supposed to trickle to account for fluctuations which the herbie doesn't handle well. That is why the bean is preferred. Less tuning

[GoGo98102]

No. Unless he changed his mind in the last few months (Herbie) stated that the emergence/trickle pipe should be bigger than the syphoned pipe for the reason alone- a clogged syphoned pipe.

[soulpatch]

Perhaps trickle if emergency is larger but when same size as drain it should run dry if possible so as to handle load of siphon pipe.

[GoGo98102]

You should always put a gate/ball valve on the syphoned pipe to regulate the flow. That's how you keep the pump/return balanced to begin with. Once it has a valve in place, the emergency pipe can be the same size as the syphoned yet able to handle much bigger volume in the event should the syphoned pipe clogged.

[soulpatch]

While I have a gate on every pipe there is no reason to really touch the gate on the siphon as the return should be gated and dialed in to adjust flow. Why would you want to reduce your siphon to restrict the size of a drain that you wanted for the flow? Makes no sense other then perhaps for the finest of tuning but the main valve to be touched should be that of your return...

Listen if you want a trickle in your emergency be my guest. I prefer to have my emergency inlet slightly above the very bottom of the weir teeth so that it runs dry but will switch over to full siphon if needed without any concern in the tank.