advice for sump return line placement

[93MSB]

I need advice for placement of my return lines from sump to aquarium. I want to drill and place bulkheads in the back panel because I want a very clean look, so I need to be sure of my placement.

The aquarium will be housing a colony of demasoni and probably yellow labs

The tank is a 60gal seaclear acrylic(48x18x15) w/30gal sump. I have a 400-800GPH return pump. I am thinking of going with 3/4" pipe/bulkhead/loc-line fittings. The loc-line fittings I'm thinking about are split w/flare ends (as pictured below). I am not worried about surface agitation because the overflow and sump should take care of that.

here is an image of where I think might be the best spots.

some thoughts i had about changing are splitting the returns into 4 locations with a single loc line nozzle at each location.

any other thoughts/suggestions?

 

[coralbandit]

Your placement seems fine IMO.
My tanks with overflows and returns have the returns in the overflow space to be outleted with locklines to one side or the other of the overflow.
This may be a leak pre caution worth noting ?(how much do you trust you bulkheads?)
Otherwise with locklines you can aim them anywhere and eve adjust whether they are on surface or below(beware of syphoning if this is your first sump/overflow setup.


Keep asking as more questions always arise along the build!
Tell us more about your sump.
I have made many before.

 

[93MSB]

thanks for the response!

My overflow is a nice ebay copy of the reefsavvy ghost overflow, there just isn't any more room to plumb the returns through the box. I am hoping I can trust the bulkheads??? I have not ever used them before, should I be looking for a specific brand or vendor to purchase them from? anty tips on installing them? like should I use a little vaseline on the o rings?

I understand the concern with siphoning, or I would have liked to put them lower. See if these calculations sound about right. My weir is 1-1/4" from the top of the tank, and I placed the return bulkheads at 3" from the top. So if the pump was off and it siphoned from the weir to the bulkhead that would be 1-3/4" of water level draining into the sump (obviously the loc line placement is what ultimately matters). So......using a volume calculator that is approx 5.45gal siphoning into the sump. The sump is an aqueon 29g (30x12x18) if i place my baffles at 12" height my sump would be filled with approx 18.7gal, giving me about 10 gallons of siphon space.

FWIW I am estimating 1/4"(400gph)-1/2"(800gph) of water height over the weir when the pump is on

as far as filtration for the sump, I want to do a fluidized bed filter with kaldnes k1 media. The mechanical filtration would be 2x 200 micron socks. Probably just like this

 

[coralbandit]

Make sure you have an air brake on your returns.
Drill a hole on top of the "Y" of the lockline IMO.
As far as Bio filtering I am the sponge guy!
EVERYONE can waste as much money and time as they like on their filters!
THIS IS MORE THEN HALF THE FUN IMO.
I have made sump/wet/dry filters for my self and a few LFS since the 90s.
Mechanical is KING in FW and BIO happens !
You will change water or not enjoy "keeping" to its fullest capacity IMO.
There is NO NEED for all the concern on best bio media and again IMO most are completely fooled on this issue all the time!
BIG TIME!
A healthy aquarium will need ,nor generate any more BB then it needs???
A million gallons of spinning balls ain't going make hay for a tank less then a million gallons????
My 180g has two sponges!
Aprox.4x3x12.
Make life easy for you and your fish my friend!

 

[93MSB]

thanks again!

drilling a hole in the Y is a great idea!

I might rethink my mechanical filtration. A family member bought me some filter socks for christmas last year and ill probably give them a try to see how I like them. Although, I do like the option of buying big rolls of quilting sheets like I do for my other two aquariums. It definitely keeps the costs down.

I know the kaldnes is expensive but I love the idea that I wont ever have to replace or do maintenance to it for the life of the aquarium.

 

[Mebbid]

Coralbandit - Thank you, it's nice to finally see someone else take bio filtration the same way I do.

thanks again!

drilling a hole in the Y is a great idea!

I might rethink my mechanical filtration. A family member bought me some filter socks for christmas last year and ill probably give them a try to see how I like them. Although, I do like the option of buying big rolls of quilting sheets like I do for my other two aquariums. It definitely keeps the costs down.

I know the kaldnes is expensive but I love the idea that I wont ever have to replace or do maintenance to it for the life of the aquarium.

You could get the exact same effect with cut up straws for a miniscule fraction of the price.