help plumb my new system :)

[brian_e]

OK iam going to need some help here on closed loop and stuff.OK here is what i have 270 gallon acrylic tank 72L 36W 24T built out of 3/8 sides and bottom with 1/2" and 1" top braces.I plain to run 2 ampmaster 3000 on closed loop with atleast one 1 1/2 actuated ballvalve on it if not two of them.iam running the tank to a 320 gallon plywood tank for a sump with a ampmaster 2100 for return or bigger all tied to a 100-150 gallon fuge with atleast 1x125 inline frag tank have a 28x15 room to work in .
There is one thing i would like to change on this tank as i dont wont to view it from both sides it has island overflows and i want them out this is what i was thinking cut the boxes out drill the 1" hole to 1 1/2 and use them for intakes to my closed loop and make me a overflow box in the back of the tank center or corners what ever would work best

Here are a few pics if u need to see more of know more let me know

 

[Porkfat]

Brian,
Wow, that a pretty intense setup you have going there. 320 gallon plywood tank for a sump? You must be a pretty accomplished carpenter there, I wouldn't know where to begin.

So the tank is going to be against the wall, just like in your second picture? If so I agree that the center overflows have to go, if you don't need them there it would disrupt the overall look of the tank not to mention that it would make aquascaping a nightmare.

Closed loop intakes on the bottom of the tank hmmm? That might be interesting because running 3000 gph through each intake on the bottom can be a little dangerous. If you're not going BB then you would have to raise them off the bottom anyway and they would do the same thing as the center overflows. If you have any fish or inverts or pieces of rock sink to the bottom and wander by the intake you can say good bye to the animal or your pump.

Were you thinking about a back overflow something like this? (But with 1.5" drains)

As for the returns, what are you thinking of, bigger systems allow for some pretty fancy stuff. Thinking about a manifold or spray bar? I found some good examples in another forum (I hope it's ok to post links and pics from them, so sorry if I'm not... because I really do love RF)

Spray Bar Setup

Good big setup thread I found.


I don't know much about this kind of stuff so take it with a grain of salt, these are just questions that were pop'n in to my brain as I was reading your post.

~Brandon

 

[brian_e]

Tank will be a inwall the second pic is the back side of tank and my fishroom the tank will also be BB sand will be in my fuge so i can change it out at anytime

something like that overflow box but not realy sure if i want teh returns to come in beside the drains or not

 

[NaH2O]

Brian - I don't know how much you remember about my closed loop design. I have my CL running with an Amp 3000, and the 2 1-1/2" intakes are great. I've seen snails walking on them, so having them divided up is essential. I thought maybe running one closed loop with the MBV on the tank ends/sides. Have it switch from one end/side to the other end/side....maybe 4 outputs per side? Then drill the back of the tank similar to how mine is drilled. If you do a second MBV on the back of the tank, you could either set it to go bottom outputs switching to the top outputs, or left to right like mine. For the overflow, can you make a coast to coast?

 

[brian_e]

I would like to kind of keep the back side of the tank where i can uncover it to see in so that wouldnt work to well with a coat to coast would it

 

[NaH2O]

Check out this link and see if it helps. There is a calculator in the article that helps determine the best size of an overflow box. You could always do the center back overflow if you don't want to do two in the corners. Designing Your Overflow for Efficiency and Safety (scroll down to overflow placement and size).

 

[mojoreef]

Hey Bri looks like a neat set up. Cutting out the overflow boxes shouldnt be a big problem. With the closed loop drains you can put them inplace but remember if they fail its a toough fix, also you are going to have to maintain them so raising them to a point where you can acess them is something you should keep in mind when plumbing them. As per the overflow box in the back you could go with standard corner overflows and then just drill for new drains, as per returning the sump water, I would just use that flow to break the surface of the tank water.

Now on the closed loop, do you have any plans?? existing equipment you want ti use??


Mike

 

[brian_e]

overflow boxes are gone and holes redrilled to 1 1/2 holes
as for closed loop i was thinking of using a 1 1/2 actuated ballvalve on one of my closed loops going to try to get 2 of them to use
right no wi have 2 dolphin 3000 pumps i can use for closed loop and tring to get 1-2 more or a bigger one to use. When i do drill the holes for my closed loop will the 3/8 acrylic hadnle a lot of holes in the walls or could i take some 1/2 acrylic i have and cut soem out and layer the wall where iam going to drill it and drill the holes trough the 2 sheets

Thanks

 

[mojoreef]

Did you want to return the closed loop water through the wall of the tank?? or come in and then distribute with some kind of a manifold??


Mike

 

[brian_e]

i was thinking through the wall what do u think would be best
i was looking at the pic u posted when i was going to redo my 320 and was thinking something like that but with the actuated ballvalve in there

 

[brian_e]

OK i was wrong th etank sides are 3/8 acrylic and the back and front are 1/2 acrylic i didnt even think to look at that before

 

[mojoreef]

Brian shoot me a link to that plan, I cant find it


Mike

 

[brian_e]

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3538&page=2&pp=15

 

[brian_e]

dont worrie about helping me plumb thi sthink for sps iam going to just do it fish only after almost not coming up with the money for my high ass light bill its killing me


Thanks for any help
brian

 

[Frankie]

Hey Bri. I think that looks good the link of the drawing Mike did.
I'll keep an eye on this thread, good brains ticking here
Fish room looks cool! I think a road trip is coming up soon to see you. sorry to be slackin on that, im working my butt off.