return pump question

First topic message reminder :

im picking up a 75 gallon reef ready tank with a 20g tank im gonna use for a sump, what is a good return pump to use for this ?

You want to go from where the out is on the return pump to where the water must enter the tank..

ok thats what i thought just wanted to make sure, thanks brian

first i wanna thank fishy,cwp , flippercon and everyone else for all your help and putting up with my on goin questions thank you so much ok hee we go:

just noticed something after getting the tanked cleaned up today with the drain pipe,heres a pic showing all the measurements for the in and out also .


now as far as the drain where i have it circled in red its 13" above the bottom of the tank , so does this mean when power goes out its gonna drain down to that elbow?

you cant see it in the pic but on top of that cap is a hole with a tube im assuming thats to break the suction? im thinking of going with a 30 gallon sump also

[img][/img]


ALL CLEAN :salt came off really easy with distlilled vingar


[img][/img]

it's a durso pipe. The tube in the top needs to be exposed to air. It makes it quieter. If you plug this you'll have this constant flushing sound. The water will drain in the overflow down to the red line when power goes out, but not out of the display itself because of the barrier the overflow makes. In my own overflow (which I can't photo) I have multiple intakes built into the overflow itself, and the drain sits low enough in the water I actually have quite a bit drain when the power goes out.

You should mark your sump (I used painters tape) to know where the backwash stops so you don't flood when the power goes off. This level will be different in your return area when the pump is running. for that reason I also marked the level on the sump where the water should be when the pump is running. This helps with top off in the event you're not running an ato unit.. .



Top line is the highest I want the water to be in the sump with the pump off. This way I never overfill. The white lines are baking soda btw, not salt. I'm messy with my dosing.

thank you for clearing all that up makes sense now. so basicly the power goes out ,water inside the overflow drians down to the elbow with has a small hole drilled in the elbow and the water stops right. thanks for the sump tips as well

while we're on the tip topic... I'd also cover the overflow to keep snails out. but make sure the hole in the top of the drain gets air.

thanks for the tip i apprciate it .


as far as plumbing goes whats the best option for both lines pvc or flex ?

PVC because Flex will collapse. glad to hear you can go a little bigger with the sump.

just a tip im sure others have tried this to the vent hole at the top if u have a 1/4 inch hole take a small peice of ridgid tubing as its runing and insirt it in the pvc air vent hole move it slowly up and down till the overflow is completly silent u can secure it with a rubber band just make sure u replace the rubber band about every 6 months a zip tie will work to its just harder to work with but last for years

missed the tube in pic but thats what the airline tube is for

cwhip wrote:

PVC because Flex will collapse. glad to hear you can go a little bigger with the sump.

what about some kind of tubing for the drain line ?reason i ask is my drain line from tank is just to the left of the center of the tank with my return line to the right of that . what iwanna do is line the return lines up exact so i wont need any elbows or anythng like that jus a straight shot to the return pump....thanks for the reply

fishy wrote:

just a tip im sure others have tried this to the vent hole at the top if u have a 1/4 inch hole take a small peice of ridgid tubing as its runing and insirt it in the pvc air vent hole move it slowly up and down till the overflow is completly silent u can secure it with a rubber band just make sure u replace the rubber band about every 6 months a zip tie will work to its just harder to work with but last for years

Cool idea i was wondering how loud this was gonna be. thanks.

As it stands right now im getting about 100lbs of live rock from a local guy taking his tank down and a coralife 125 skimmer all for $50.00 i know the coralife skimers arent the best but hey for $20 for it ill take it. ive read theres some easy mods to make it alot better .

im probally going to change my stand height a few inches higher also . i hve 1 question about the legs on a stand i built my first 75 gallon freshwater tank stands 2x4 legs with the widest part of the 2x4 facing in instead of facing out . it worked fine but should i do it the other way with the widest part of the 2x4 facing the front?

after a lil lbow grease and distilled vinager tank came clean i was supprised
[img][/img]

I would build a corner with three 2x4s. Look here.
https://usafishbox.forumotion.com/t9400-a-little-upgrade

nice design , now if i do that should i do a center brace on the front and back or will just the 4 corners be enough?

Just the four corners. I made a double 75g with the same design. I would put 2 125s on this design.

cool thanks. i was checking out another 75 diy stand simillar to yours and the inside 2x4"s dont sit flush to the bottom of the stand /floor is that how you did yours?

Basically I took two same size 2x4s and made a corner. The front of the corner should be the long side. The third one is longer and sits in the bottom frame and through the top frame. The picture where you see the legs sticking up in that last link are the longs ones in the frame. Then the other two equal 2x4s are the rest of it. Like jacks when you frame up a door or window to a header.

I'd have the wide side of the 2x4 facing front It'll allow more room for sump.

thanks everyone ,
tore down the old stand today and im redoing it by changing the height making it a few inches taller , changing the legs around like they should have been from the get go.

also picked up a 2 maxi jet 1200 powerheads locally for a good deal and 1 penguin 550 powerhead

just a update i decided to go smaller and sold the 75 gallon tank and got a 46 bow front always wanted one , anyways im gonna take all this great info and somewhere down the line apply it to my new tank and i have a few ideas for this i wanna throw at you guys. ill be making a new post soon ,thank you everyone for te help .