nick h
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hello, I bought a 150 gallon tank from Craigslist (bigger is better, right?) and had some questions about the plumbing. My plan is to have freshwater, a wet dry sump, and have sunfish. The guy I got the tank from had an overflow box with 2-2" drains in it and 2-3/4" returns all drilled in the back. The size coming from the sump pump housing is 1 1/2". The pump will be lifting water close to 5'. My first question is, that seems to be a little small going from the 1 1/2" sump pipe to 2-3/4" pipes for the return. Isn't that going to restrict the pump from its full potential?
Second it seems the drain pipes are way oversized. I guess you would never have to worry about your tank over flowing because of to much water coming from the sump. What I'm thinking is to have the 2-2" drains run seperate to the top of a sterilite container, then go through my wet dry and pump back into the tank. I was wondering if I could put a check valve in the return pipe so it doesn't siphon back water from the tank. Does this sound like it will work or am I missing something important. Here are some pics. Having trouble posting pics, I'll get them up.
Second it seems the drain pipes are way oversized. I guess you would never have to worry about your tank over flowing because of to much water coming from the sump. What I'm thinking is to have the 2-2" drains run seperate to the top of a sterilite container, then go through my wet dry and pump back into the tank. I was wondering if I could put a check valve in the return pipe so it doesn't siphon back water from the tank. Does this sound like it will work or am I missing something important. Here are some pics. Having trouble posting pics, I'll get them up.
