Help... Designing Plumbing Plan

[juke]

Please share with me your expertice/advise on my thought's for how I would like to plumb my tank/sump. I call it a closed/open loop. Here is what I am thinking:

I have a 25 gallon tank w/ an 18gal sump/refuge. I currently am running 2 MaxiJet 1200's in my tank with no sump hooked up yet. I was looking for a fairly low cost simple system to provide flow for the tank from the sump and remove the powerheads. I would like to use a single HOT overflow w/ 1" out to the sump. From the return chamber I would like to use a pump directly up to a SCWD and split to both sides of the tank for return.

My question's are:

1. is this a good design? Can you see problems? What should change to be better?
2. What type of pump should I use for good flow into the tank? I was thinking a MagDrive 9.5
3. How low should I plumb the return lines into the tank? At about the same height as a powerhead or lowere on one side?
4. Any thing else? Is this just insane newbie pipe dreams?

Thanks in advance,
Josh

 

[dnjan]

If you are not returning water close to the water surface in the tank, you need to drill an anti-siphon hole in the return line a bit below the water surface. Otherwise, when the electricity goes out, your return line will siphon water out of yuour tank, to the sump, all the way down to the lefel of the return outlet.

Personally, I would drain the tank and drill a hole for an overflow bulkhead close to an upper back corner of the tank. Install a bulkhead and use that instead of an HOT overflow. You will sleep better. You can put a shallow overflow box like:

over the bulkhead opening.

 

[H20doctor]

Josh , when I come up to your house we will figure it out..