New tank, what to drill

[ellisz]

Hi all,

I am looking at a 5ft 120 gal tank locally but it is undrilled. The guy selling is going to get it drilled and add an overflow but I am not sure how many holes to drill. I am limited to the 700gph my overflow can handle now and need to have more flow. I was thinking of doing 4 holes 2 drain and 2 for returns. If needed I could use the returns for a closed loop?

If this was your tank, what would you do

Mike

 

[Brenden]

I would do 1 bulkhead for the drain and two returns. Do all the closed loop external.

 

[seaham358]

IMO no less then 2 for bulkheads overflows, No box is needed with bulkheads.
2 for returns sounds good.
I have 2 on my 125 and 55 and I adjust the flow down with elbows on the inside of the bulkheads, works well

 

[ellisz]

I had a 72 bow with 2 bulkhead drains that worked great but I always wondered about the surface skimming that the internal overflow gives you. I guess if I did not do any overflows, I could always change things later. I want to double my current tank flow. I have considered a closde loop on my current tank but I have never actually set about to do it.

 

[Brenden]

I have a 8000gph closed loop on my tank and really like it. I just turn off the sump return pump off when I feed so the food is not pulled into the wet/dry. With the closed loop I still have plenty current in the tank.

 

[greenmaji]

If it were mine.. I would get them in the top back and install a long overflow on the inside of the tank all the way across.. you can drill lower for the closed loop or put the output over the overflow box.. I just gave ace some pics in the DIY section a few days ago.. check it out..

 

[ellisz]

Thanks Green! The guy I am buying the tank from has his reef set up just like that. I was not real familar with it though. I like it.

Hard thing is to decide if I need to drill for a closed loop. I know that would be ideal but only have 1 big pump at the moment. I guess it is better to drill it now than later.

My other issue is weight. When I did put the 75 in my office, I had to run the tank parallel to the floor joists. The tank would jostle a little when walking in the room. I added 2 4x4's braces underneath the floor joists to help support the tank. I wonder if a 120 gal is really feasible in this spot? I thought of putting a 2x12 across 3 or 4 of the joists underneath the tank on each side and then using the 4x4 underneath that. I meant to do my current set up this way but the 4x4's themselves took care of it better than I thought it would.

Wife is wondering if really need this too A 5ft seems perfect to me though. It is the same width as my 75 which some think to too narrow but nothing I am not used to. I can use my 4ft light fixture too so upgrading my light won't be needed. I just need to build a canopy.

decisions .... decisions

 

[greenmaji]

no problem ellisz!!!
Im of the oppinon that you need to only draw in as much water as your skimmer can process.. so if you had a becket around 1000 GPH would do.. most average sized needlewheels run around 500 GPH... I would shoot for most of the flow with the closed loop.. depending on the size of your big pump it could be used for the closed loop.. who needs all that flow in the by there skimmer anyway.. LOL (you need serious head preasure pump for your sump..) whats the height on that plumbing setup?

reinforcing the floor is a great idea.. wait untill you move the current tank out of the area to relive the preasure in the area.. and you can install pieses of 2X10 (assuming your floor joists are 2X10) between your floor joists in two places, between each set of joists involved) to help distribute the weight across all the joists under the tank.. HTH I might be overcautious here but I think it would really sure up the spot for the tank..

Im not exactly a fan of the 18" wide 120gal (I love more with.. LOL) but 5 foot gives you some swimming room for fish that wouldnt do quite as well in the 75.. I'd be all for it..