Glass Holes Kit

[Zer0]

Has anyone used any of these kits before? Their prices are actually pretty good, and since it looks pretty simple and comes with instructions, i think i want to do a sump. Just so i can have more space for my tank, and put a fuge in there and all that good stuff.

So my question is.. for my 25G Rimless Cube, which has the dimensions of 18x18x18, what size glass holes kit should i purchase? The Nano Complete Kit? Or the 700gph Overflow Kit. I honestly haven't the slightest clue on what size overflow i should have for this size tank, but i'm pretty set on setting up a sump for it. So any help would be appreciated.

Here's the site: Complete Overflow Kits - Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff

Thanks.

 

[neilanh]

Never personally used them, but am convinced that if I ever do a non-RR tank again that I will.

For such a small tank, I'd use their nano kit (front page on the link you showed). It provides for a 1" bulkhead, which gives you almost 600gph. I don't think I'd run that much of a return pump, but you'd have the capability in the overflow in case you wanted to.

If you did run it all the way at 600 though, that'd be all the flow you need (might want to split the output to 2 or more outlets though)

 

[Zer0]

Nice! Thanks neilanh! You always help me in the equipment section.

I think the best part is though.. is that my tank won't be any higher than 4ft total.. so finding a return pump that will factor in the head loss should be easy. I may even have one already. Just need to find the proper fittings.

Also, for the return pipe, should i use hose? Or would i be able to use PVC piping just like you would for the overflow?

 

[neilanh]

You can do either. I have a bit more head height, but I actually did both.

I use rubber hose right at the output of the pump. This allows for some flexibility and because it's rubber it also absorbs the vibration coming out of the pump. I then used a barb and converted to PVC to give me a straight up run to the tank, then 2 90° to jump the lip of the tank.

You can use rubber hose for the whole run if you can get it to work. It's hard to make hose of that size make the 180 turn accross the top lip of the tank.

If you do use PVC, do like I did and use at least a small section of hose between the pump and the PVC to absorb the vibration - otherwise the PVC will translate all the vibration against the back of your tank and/or the lip. Not an issue per se, just noisy.

 

[neilanh]

Here, you can kinda see what I'm talking about. This is my sump setup. The return pump is bottom right. There's a few feet of 1/2" rubber hose, then you see where it converts to PVC right below the top deck of the stand.

 

[Zer0]

Nice, i see what you mean exactly. I have a question though.. how come you have so many pipes? Could i just run one PVC pipe from the overflow down to the sump? Or do i have to have a network of pipes like you do..

 

[neilanh]

my overflow has 2 outlets (2 1" bulkheads for a total of 1200gph). In addition to that, I split one of the outlets to feed my fuge, which is a separate tank (it's to the right, not in the pic) then the one long horizontal pipe is the overflow from the fuge feeding back into the sump all the way on the left.

So no, you don't need all that, it's just the way I have my system setup

 

[Zer0]

Oh alright haha. Still, that sounds like a sweet setup. I'll be trying to cram everything in to a 10G.. so i might not have the luxury of a fuge. I'll see what i can fit in there. Do you think it would be possible for me to make one half of the 10G the area for the heaters and the return pump, and then the other half the fuge? Would the flow be too intense for a fuge on such a small tank? I could put a couple baffles to try and slow the flow down.. but do you think it would still be too much? If so.. what other size tank do you think would be a good choice? The stand i'm going to build is 20x20.. so i'm guessing i'll only have around 19 inches to work with under the stand.

Eh.. idk. I'm thinking maybe i will make the return pump/heater section of the 10G a quarter of the tank, and then have 75% of the tank dedicated to the fuge.

 

[neilanh]

you can do either way. Be careful making the return section too small... wherever your return section is will be where you see the effects of evaporation, so if it's too small the water level will drop really quickly - don't let your pump run dry.

You're right, it's a lot of stuff to cram into a 10g. While nice, they're not necessary so perhaps you hold off... or consider a HOB fuge

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, that's true.. it might just be too small. Would making the fuge smaller be an option too? I mean.. the fuge would be nothing spectacular.. but is there a size limit on how small you could make it? Sorry for all the questions, i'm just copying all this down so i can refer back to it when i start the tank.

 

[neilanh]

no size limit, but as always in this hobby bigger is better

 

[Zer0]

Indeed. I'll have to see what i've got to work with. But something is better than nothing right? The fuge might be a little less than half of the 10G. I'll just put up two baffles to slow the water flow down a bit.

 

[neilanh]

Yes, anything is better than nothing, i absolutely agree.

The baffles won't help, though. When we talk about flow in a fuge we're not talking about velocity, we're literally talking about the amount of turnover of water. If your pump is pushing 700gph, baffles aren't going to slow that 700gph down, it's still 700, it just doesn't have as much force behind it.

I'm not saying 700gph is too much for a fuge, btw, just illistrating the point. Most of us like a slower moving fuge because it allows more contact time for the water to be with the macro algaes, allowing the algaes time to actually consume the nutrients better. I don't know that there's a magic flow rate for contact time in a fuge, but for me my fuge runs at about 100-150gph, and I'm able to control that due to my setup. You're a little more restricted, just based on available space, so I don't think you can achieve that - but still, like I said initially, anything is better than nothing.

 

[Zer0]

Great point. Then i'm not sure what i'll do. I may just not have the benefit of having a fuge, and all i'll be able to have is just a sump for the heaters and the extra water volume.

In your opinion, do you think there would be any way for me to have the best of both worlds without having to do a HOB fuge? Or does it look like it's just going to be a sump for me.. considering the tank size.