Plumbing Feedback (inwall project)

[jlehigh]

Hey All!

So my plan is to put both a 110 gal and 46 gal in my office wall that is shared by my garage. I am currently wiring in new outlets on a dedicated 110V breaker and will soon cut the wall and construct the stand.

I have carpentry experience and have most of the structural components worked out however I am not a plumber and this is my first setup using an overflow/sump, and closed loop... sooo if anyone has any suggestions on my attached plan I am all ears!!

One concern I had was spurred by a private write up on Sumps claiming that skimming removes pods from the water. If this is true I would then want to rout the flow through the sump before the 46gal refug and return from the refug... Let me know your thoughts/experience. The purpose of the 46gal is to keep lower light specimens and as a refug for pods.

I'll post pics as the project progresses. One cool thing I am doing is putting the in-wall tanks on a rolling flatform to provide easier access to the tanks.

 

[mojoreef]

Its hard to tell how you have the skimmer hooked up, can you discribe the plumbing and such a little more

MIke

 

[jlehigh]

Well...those are details. I don't know details I figured the skimmer would just be sitting in the sump with a sumgered pump.. I am still shopping skimmers. I am feeling my way through everything as a newbie so I am clueless as to what my options are for configuring the skimmer.

The displays overflow spans 3/4 of the back wall and is split into 3 partitions. One overflow will be the out via a 3/4" bulkhead, the center use is undetermined and the right side will be the in.

The closed loop will be simple with a lil Giant pushing ~1100gph. I may add a SQWD to it.

The 46 Gal will have 2 Life reef HOT overflows leading into the sump with a pump that can push about 1400gph back to the display.

 

[Stang69]

Mike this is My old tank so you know how it is configured.


I dont know as I would use the overflow box's how you have them though. Would be better if ya can to drill it to gravity feed if I am looking at it right.



Jeff

 

[mojoreef]

ahh ok I got a little better picture now. I would try to get a little more then a 3/4 inch drain line, it doesnt allow for alot of flow. maybe drill in an other 3/4. As Jeff mentioned if you go drill the sump and refugium it would be better then doing the overflow. this way they could be inline of each other. Ok relooking at the drawing. I would use the two 3/4 inch holes both as drain lines, have one drain line go into the sump directly and then the other go into the refugium. this will get you the recirc you want but will also make the refugium a much lower flow, which is best for contact time with what you have in it. then drill for two 1 inch Bulkheads for returning your water. Even if you only use one you can simply cap the other until you may need it in the future.

mike

 

[G~]

i am a little confused on your CLS. do you have any holes for it? do you want to drill holes for it?

from your drawing it looks like you draw from one side then return on the other side of the display. i would suggest at least one inlet and and have double the number of outlets.

i do not know the size of this overflow. i do not know how much flow it can handle. whether or not it could be used for the CLS feed. i would normally think no, but it does look pretty big.:lol:

G~

 

[jlehigh]

Good questions G! I wasn't going to drill more holes for the closed loop but if it is simple enough with a dremel I just might do that. Instead I was going to make a U shaped hang-on type design and a spray bar along the back.

That is correct. The left side will feed out and the right side will feed in. The main reason I will only have one out is due to the limitation the HOT overflows have of 1400 gph on the refugium. I don't want to drill and install overflows in it as it's cycled and supporting allot of life as my primary tank now. The previous owner (strange69) only used one and was running a Mag12 as the return pump so running both sides out I'm sure would be more than 1400gph if I maintained a high enough water level in the display. One thought though would be to run one through the refugium (46gal) and the other directly to the sump creating double the flow... I guess the second could also gravity feed the closed loop!!! Too many options.. which is why I am here.. The center of the mamoth used to be a built in wet/dry. It doesn't have the slits for flow out/in. No idea how to make good use of it... I guess I could cut it out and increase the water volume.

 

[G~]

i do not have my photos here at work. i have a pic of my wifes CLS. it is i think what you are talking about. it has a U inlet and 3 outlets spread across the tank. it works great. i will post a pic when i get home.

G~

 

[jlehigh]

Awesome! That would be great! Lucky man.. You wife has ownership of a system.. My wife is incredible of course but is only interested in the pretty colors All things that are furry belond to her hmmm maybe a hairy crab would do the trick... ahhh but then she would try to cuddle it..

 

[G~]

the funny part is her tank is a predator reef! she likes things that eat other things. right now she only has a panther grouper in there, but she is trying to hunt down a small radiata lionfish. that is her favorite fish. it is kinda fuzzy in a porcupine kinda way.:lol:

G~

 

[Stang69]

Hey John call me I have an idea


Jeff

 

[gljjr]

G~,

I would strongly suggest getting rid of all the u-tube overflows! They are nothing but a pain! I had them set up on my 150 for about 3 months and would NEVER do it again! I had my tank drilled at Issaquah Glass and then made overflow boxes out of Acrylic and incorporated a trough along the back edge of the tank that flows into the overflows. This works phenomonally! No matter how much water I pump into the system will automattically drain back into the filter. Plus the whole surface of the tank is moving at all times!

You can look at my web page for some old pics of how I went about setting it up.

http://fp1.centurytel.net/TheAerie

 

[jlehigh]

Jeff PM me your number again please Lost all my pm's in the site conversion...

gljjr~
I did some extensive surfing on HOT overflows and heard/read a ton of bad things about many U tubes and a ton of excellent things about one, and that was the life reef product.. I reeeally don't want to take down my 46.. I figured moving 1400 through the overflows and another 1100 on the closed loop along with powerheads would be plenty of flow for a 110.. That's over 20X the volume per hr.

That is a very nice set up ya have! Did U have back typhoning issues with the U tubes?

 

[G~]

gljjr-i totally agree, but sometime it is really difficult to drill a tank after it has water in it, or you just do not like to drill your tank full of holes. that whole jumping out of a perfectly good airplane thinking.

on my wifes CLS, it is a U shaped inlet over the edge of the tank, it is a direct suck. not a part of the overflows.

the coast to coast overflow is a great innovation. hopefully the aquarium manufacturers will start incorporating it in their designs.

here is a pic of the back of the 75 showing the CLS. all i can say is follow the lines from the Quiet One! one inlet and 3 outlets. you can also see the drain i added so i can easily remove the CLS.

G~