Not new to hobby, new to sumps and all things related.

[Zoraidag]

Hello fellow reefers!

 

I'm not new to this hobby, a little over a year ago I had a 40g breeder, it was well established and all but unfortunately due to some very very emotional issue going on in my life at that time, my beautiful tank crashed. Prior to it crushing, I had acquired a new 65g which I had planned to upgrade breeder to, I just couldn't do it after loosing everything.

I've been out of the hobby ever since, but like many of you know, once you've had a taste of this beautiful hobby, it is very hard to turn your back to it for a long time. Well, the bugs has bitten again and here I am.

 

I had just started planning the setup of the 65g I had from before when yesterday I acquired a reef ready 65g long with stand on craigslist in excellent condition, all for $100 bucks! It had been a fresh water set up before.

 

Like I said before, I'm not new to this, but I'm a total noob to sumps and all the required plumbing and whatnot. I find it soo overwhelming and confusing! Like for example how do I determine how much water will flow back into the sump in a power failure? How do I figure out the turnover rate? What about plumbing, how do I even start? I really want to set-up the 65g long, that's why I've been doing lot's of research but can't seem to find a place that explains all of this with detail. Maybe some of you on here know where? Please...

 

The tank has 2 2"bulkheads on each upper corner with a box overflow, from the research I've done, I haven't seen any bulkheads of this size on saltwater, is this ok so I can proceed and how does this effect the whole plumbing and sump set up?

 

Thank you all so much in advance and I really appreciate the help of all that respond as I REALLY REALLY want this to work.

 

[Subsea]

For that size tank, you do not need 2" drains. On my 75G tank I have a 1" drain and a 3/4" return. Because I wanted a little more flow, I included a power head in tank and hid it behind live rock.

 

What size sump do you have? Calculate the volumn per inch of display tank and do the same for the sump. In my case, 1" of tank volumn equals 3" of sump volume.

 

Tell me what a box overflow is or take a picture. Usually the water leaves the display tank through a surface skimmer. In my tank, the overflow box is inside the tank with two bulkheads in bottom of tank.

[Zoraidag]

Sorry for such a late subes, I've seen suface skimmers refereed to overflow boxes on other sites and posts. I've been of something and would like the opinion of all of you. I was thinking of sealing the 2 holes located each upper corner and drilling a smaller one on the bottom. Please advice on pros and cons. Thank you

[Zoraidag]

Sorry.

Bump

[Subsea]

Do you know if bottom is high tensile glass, drilling will be difficult if so.

[Zoraidag]

I'm not sure Subsea, the glass is 1/4" think though.

[cruiZe]

maybe a picture would help me visualize it...

 

I have a 40B and have a single 1 1/2" "glass holes" overflow and drain and a 3/4" return. I run a Rio 1400 pump which is only about 300 gph at my head height.

 

To calculate drain back, measure how far down the water will drain - example display is 36" x 18" (40B and maybe your 65 is the same, but taller?) x say 2 inches. 1296 cubic inches - google says that's 5.6 gallons. then if you want you can look at your sump and say 30 x 12" sump is 360 square inches - so that would raise the sump level 3.6" If you design your sump to run 6" down from the top- you're good to go.

 

Drain should be run full bore- no restriction (unless you have multiple drains)

If you want to slow down flow- put a valve on the return. and NO CHECK VALVES. Unrestricted drain and no check valves means less maintenance and chance of a disaster. If you have plenty of room in the sump - no worry of a flood

 

I used a loc-line return from glassholes and the rest of my plumbing is standard stuff I got at the hardware store. plastic PVC . Also good idea to use a black hose from your return pump so algae can't grow inside.

 

You should have a powerhead in the display right? Most people don't run a lot of flow thru the sump. 300-500gph seems normal .

 

 

I agree that you don't need 2 huge 2" drains - but im not sure how you would plug it that would be reliable and clean looking .