3/4" Bulk Heads To Small ?

[starr]

I KNOW THIS IS NOT A NANO. BUT I'M NEW TO REEFKEEPING I HAVE A 20H 3.5" PLENEM DSB 25# L/ROCK I'VE DONE GOOD FOR 18 MONTHS NOW AND A HOT SUMMER. I AM STARTING A NEW 55 TANK WITH A SUMP. I FOUND A GUY THAT DRILLED IT FOR ME. IT WAS A LOCAL FRESHWATER STORE AND HE PUT IN 1/2" B/HEADS THAT I FOUND OUT THAT WAS TO SMALL SO I MODIFIED THEM SO THE ID IS 3/4" AND THE PLUMBINGIS 3/4". IS THIS ENOUGH W/FLOW IF I ALSO USE POWERHEADS IN THE MAIN TANK TO GET HEAT AND SKIMMED WATER BACK AND FORTH AND TO CONECT MY REFU TANK TO? I WAS GOING TO USE A RIO 2100 PUMP AND ALSO PLENEM DSB IN THE MAIN TANK. MY LFS SALTWATER/REEF GUY SAID 1" MIN. ON THE B/HEADS. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?

[Joe]

Hia Star!

 

3/4 inch bulkheads on a 55 is ok IF!! your flow rates aren't over 300 gph other then that you could run into overflow problems. 300 gallon per hour takes into account total head pressure and everything. Before you do anything fill your system with fresh water turn on all the pumps ect with just fresh water and run it for about 1/2 hour with everything going how its gonna be when its running full time. if the bulkhead doesnt appear to be backing up then you are ok. One thing to watch when observing your system is make sure the bulkhead is not being covered by the waterlevel this could be a pain later. Another thing is when you plumb your bulkhead make sure there is a vent behind the tank how to do this is instead of 90ing down T down and put a short piece of pipe at the top of the t to go above the waterlevel this will keep the bulkhead from air sealing and not draining the water from the tank..

 

hope this tips help

Joe

 

Ohh yeah one more thing if the one bulkhead is not enough take the tank back to where you had it drilled and have a second 3/4 bulkhead drilled in then plumb them into a 1 1/2 pipe as they go down that will work great too.