drilling 20 long?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

evil Nick

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
1,231
Location
CT
So Im going to be picking up my stand to convert my reef (term used loosely right now).
I want to drill my bulk head hole for now though and was curious what size and how low I should do this.
I dont want to degrade the strength of the tank by going to high nor do I want it to low so the water level always looks down.

I also want to make sure Im using the correct pipe size even though I will be installing a valve to control flow.

I plan on plugging the hole until the entire change is done then using my 29 its all in now as a sump, refug for it. I only plan on using the 29 with about 15 gallons of water though and then the media. I want the tank to have some extra space for whatever may happen.

I did have a question though. I of course am not using all the rock I have in the main display tank (20 long) and I am still fighting this algae issue. My plan was to pull a couple rocks out at a time and scrub them really good. Then possibly give them a quick peroxide hit. To kill anything on the surface yet hopefully keep the bacteria inside fine. I would like to then, after that, place them into a blacked out container for a week or 2 (or 3) and let nature kill off the rest of the algae. Do you think this will work? I of course plan on keeping them in water in the container with an air stone but just no light, at all. Do you think this will kill off any beneficial life? Do you think I would need a heater in there? My house gets down to about 57 in these months since we dont run the heat high when not home.

Once the algae is dead Ill place the ones I want in the new tank. redo the process with the left over rocks and then put those in the sump.


Any tips or corrections for me?
Thanks
 
Are you going to use a corner overflow? Over flow box would be my choice on a smaller tank. Order the box and drill per instruction. With a corner it down at matter, the slots determine the water level. People cure rock in barrels all the time. Not sure the temp will be an issue, not positive though.
 
Are you going to use a corner overflow? Over flow box would be my choice on a smaller tank. Order the box and drill per instruction. With a corner it down at matter, the slots determine the water level. People cure rock in barrels all the time. Not sure the temp will be an issue, not positive though.

I didnt know you needed an "overflow". thought you could just drill the hole and let that overflow into the sump using a valve to control the amount of water. Then use a pump to bring it back to the DT.

Thats how I planned on doing it anyway. Like I said I was going to put the hole towards the top of the tank and only use about half of the space in the 29 for my sump to give it a lot of extra room in case of over drainage during a power outage.
 
You could... than a snail crawls in ruins everything. That way you you don't have to drill to high, the way you describe would the water level far to low.
 
Look into the Eshopps Eclipse small.
This comes with the bit and a template to drill in right place..
Nicest overflow to come out in a while IMO .
 
You could... than a snail crawls in ruins everything. That way you you don't have to drill to high, the way you describe would the water level far to low.

okay, I just figured Id use a cover of some sort over the bulk. I def dont want to spend 100$ on one of these though.

Honestly I have some 1/4" plexi in the shed and some plexi weld. Im pretty sure I could make this. 50$? thats kind of steep for a box, then you need the bulkhead and lid.... 100$ easy. Couldnt a snail just climb through or over this?

If I did use an overflow, why not go with a siphon one and save drilling completely?
 
I made one, worked fine. Just paint it black, mine got ugly fast. Do you have a router?
 
Just drill it, one less thing to worry about.. if the siphon breaks you have a problem
 
Just drill it, one less thing to worry about.. if the siphon breaks you have a problem

got ya, if the siphon breaks then the pump keeps pulling up to the DT and can overfill that. didnt think about that.
 
What if on the bulk head I used a pvc 90 and etched for surface skimming?
 
You put a basket on it and keep it an inch below the water line or just let in 1" slots?? But yah.. that should be fine assuming the diameter keeps up with the pump? Specs on pump should provide that info.
 
I would look into a bean overflow to give you a good idea of what all is going on. It's been awhile, but there are usually more than one pipe to ensure proper flow into the sump. One of these is to prevent overflow of the display.
Either way, you want to have a return pump that has a higher rating on GPH than what is flowing through the overflow. This way you can plumb a valve in after the return pump. This way you can adjust the flow to match the overflow perfectly. Having the valve before the pump will cause damage to the pump and shorten its life.
 
I would look into a bean overflow to give you a good idea of what all is going on. It's been awhile, but there are usually more than one pipe to ensure proper flow into the sump. One of these is to prevent overflow of the display.
Either way, you want to have a return pump that has a higher rating on GPH than what is flowing through the overflow. This way you can plumb a valve in after the return pump. This way you can adjust the flow to match the overflow perfectly. Having the valve before the pump will cause damage to the pump and shorten its life.
Wouldn't you just put a valve on the overflow to tailor it to the pumps output? Unless it's an adjustable pump, restricting flow in any way will shorten it's life/ ruin it.
 
I would never restrict an overflow .Even sponges used all the time in the old days caused issue. A valve on the over flow is backwards..
You definitely restrict the pump after the intake.
It may shorten pump life. It would depend on pump and how much it needed to be throttled...
Once again I will go back to the HUGE benefit of digitally controlled pumps [Jeboa DC]...
Throttling our normal AC pumps may cause more extreme heat transfer to tank which is why many go to external pumps..They are air cooled vs using the tank for cooling...
 
Wouldn't you just get a pump to match the overflow or a controllable pump? What's the difference in restricting the overflow vs. Getting a metered overflow?? If you get 1500 gph but only need a 1000 than you turn it down?
 
A metered overflow ?
Restricting a pump is mechanical and easily and safely achieved ..
Overflows are controlled by pipe size completely...
I have run 750GPH overflows on 300GPH pumps with out any need to do anything.. The overflow slows since it never gets its rated flow..But it runs perfect none the less.
"Turning down" an overflow is you would restrict gravity ? No more safe then HOB overflow IMO.. It will misbehave eventually .. Remember your snail?
 
Wouldn't you just get a pump to match the overflow or a controllable pump? What's the difference in restricting the overflow vs. Getting a metered overflow?? If you get 1500 gph but only need a 1000 than you turn it down?

This is what I thought. All the designs I saw have a ball valve in the overflow then you just get a gph or adjustable pump for the retturn.

What size hole should I look at making. Also am I now doing two? Is this in case of a clog? Would one be enough? I'm looking to keep the return pump higher than lower in order to avoid the dt overflowing.
 
Back
Top Bottom