Well, I come to you once again.

[d9hp]

Ok, well, last night I took my tank down, and put it all into the 10 gallon. Everything is still living (damsel and lots of feather dusters) I am getting the tank drilled today! I am also getting the Maxi jet 1200 powerhead. I wanted to have it split two ways and go to opposite sides of the tank, knocking out the need of a bulky powerhead. Unfortunately I dont think it is gonna do it, but o well. I think a really small minijet wont hurt anything. The overflow is suited for 300 GPH, so even with the maxijet running at 0 head it wont "overflow".

Here is why I come to you. I want some feedback on the whole ordeal of flow. I have attached a picture of the two possible returns I am looking at. Do you think I will need a powerhead in the tank if I have two returns (with 45's attached to them going into the tank) which are connected to a tee (Kevin I couldnt find a 45 degree tee, you were right) I am gonna try all this out and see how it all works.

Another question... What size should the tank be drilled to fit a 3/4 pipe, it will have to be one inch because that is the size of the pipe, but how much space is the bulkhead gonna take up?

 

[Guest]

The picture throws me off. why all of the 45* angles? I know it makes for good flow, but it looks rather bulky for a 7 gal tank. IMO you will need more than a Maxijet1200 for flow if you use 2 of them. The output will be close to 145 gph or less depending on the amount of twists and whatnot...Then you are splitting that in two. to lessen the flow to the outlets to 70gph. That may be enough for a 7 gal tank though, in keeping with the 10 times rule. the total flow will be 20 times for the tank.

What size should the tank be drilled to fit a 3/4 pipe, it will have to be one inch because that is the size of the pipe, but how much space is the bulkhead gonna take up?

If the size of the pipe is 3/4, you will at least need a hole 7/8. if it is 1 inch, you will need at least 1-1/8. etc...The size of the hole is going to be determined by the circumfrance of the bulkhead. it is hard to know how much space the bulkhead is going to take up, because I do not see dimensions for that. But a guess from what your pie sizes are, I would say about 3 inches or so..

 

[fishfreek]

For reference my 1" bulkhead needed a 1 3/4" hole. But really i would rather purchase the bulkhead first then drill rather than drill and then find a bulkhead to fit the hole.

 

[d9hp]

There will only be one elbow in the tank, and then all the others will be hidden behind the tank. There is a good amount of space behind it. I am gonna find a bulkhead to fit my pipe, and then drill it. Thanks for the input. I would love some more.

BTW, at three feet of head the maxi-jet 1200 is giving my approx. 175 GPH. When you throw the elbows, and tee into the mix, you lose about a foot of head. at 4 feet of head the pump has 125. That means the tank will turn over 17 times an hour.