Drilling and Plumbing for a 75 gallon glass tank...

[ChadO]

Greetings,

So, I making plans to drill my 75 gallon standard glass tank - it is currently not drilled. I have pretty much decided that I want to do the BeanAnimal method which will require 3 drain holes. While I am drilling, I am thinking that I might as well drill the return holes unless folks suggest otherwise. I am also considering an inside the tank Coast-to-Coast box, but am not 100% sure yet since my tank is only 18" in width, and the overflow box would take up some noticable room in a tank that size. My goal is to have a saltwater community tank with some soft corals for color. I would also like to have a little bit of sand for the bottom, but not a deep bed.

My questions:

1. Does it really matter where on the back wall that I drill the group of three drain holes? I have seen some tanks have them in middle back, and others in either one or both corners. I guess really the question is whether center or one of the ends makes more sense?
2. I will be draining this down into a Aqueon ProFlex 4 sump. This sump has two 1" inlets for the drain water to come in. With the BeanAnimal setup, how might a person plumb three drain pipes into two inputs? Should I do combining, or should I make a special 3rd hole in the top of the sump just for the emergency overflow (i.e. the 3rd pipe in the BeanAnimal setup)?
3. Do people that have drilled returns like them better than a tank without them? I really don't have an opinion here, and am open to the advice and experience of others. I don't have my heart set either way. Since I have the drill out, I would be happy to drill, but if that might be a limiting idea, then I can just og over-the-top as well. If drilling returns, should they also be on the back, or are the sides a better choice?
4. My plan was to drill for 1" bulkheads (that would mean 1.5" holes), and if drilling the returns, they would be to accomodate .75" bulkheads. Does this seem reasonable?

I know some of these questions can really come down to personal preference, but when you've never set up a tank, you don't yet have that preference.

Thanks!

ChadO

 

[jrgilles]

My system is using overflow (weir boxes) instead of drilled. If I did it again I might drill, but not sure. I got the overflow boxes cheap on ebay. They work great, but I have some black ducktape over them to stop any light from getting in. I am using a herbie method (one 1" drain ran at full syphon, and a backup 1" drain that only engages in case of emergency.) It has worked awesome. Backup drain has only kicked in a few times, but has been a life saver.

For my return, I am using an eheim 1262 return pump. Actually it is a bit more pump than I need, but works fine. It is a 3/4" return line. I would have to look into the beananimal method more to understand the three drain system. I have read the post, but it was a long time ago.

A few things I did to my return line that I am glad I did:
I put a '+' piece on the return (so instead of a straight pipe, it splits off to the right and left also.) On the right, there is a ball valve that I can open to let the water circulate back into the sump (a loop) instead of going to the display. On the left, there is another ball valve that goes to a hose barb and a flexable hose.

In short, this lets me do water changes very easily. I open the loop to the sump, and the sump fills up pretty full with water. I can then open the hose barb/flex tube, and use the return pump to fill up 5 gallon buckets for the water change. It can fill the 5 gal bucket in 15-20 seconds, making water changes a breeze. Opening the loop to the sump can also allow you to adjust the rate the return pump is returning water to the main tank (although I have heard just an inline valve to decrease the flow also works, and the pump uses less watts if you do this. It does seem that this would put more strain on the pump though.) Maybe this only works with a large sump though. Mine is 50 gallons. Not sure what size the one you listed is

 

[ChadO]

Great info, thanks! I like your idea and implementation of the splits in the return that you did. I am all for simplicity of maintenance!

So the Aqueon sump that I will have is about 40 gallon capacity. The pumps that I have available are a MagDrive 5, 9, and 12. I plan to use the MagDrive 5 on the AquaC EV 120 skimmer. That will leave either the MagDrive 9 or 12 for the return pump.

 

[estanoche]

I'd bite the bullet and drill a hole for ur 3 rd bean animal too.. No point to a backup if it pipes into another that might be clogged! 99% of my clogs are due to my not changing my filter socks often enough hahaha

And, fwiw I have an 18" wide tank with a coast to coast and bean animal overflow, the coast to coast doesn't affect my ability to put corals anywhere I want in the tank... Heck I find frags growing in the back under the overflow all the time!

 

[ChadO]

So the coast to coast hasn't been a problem, that is great to hear. What are the dimensions of your box? Maybe I will go this route then.