I'm going to be drilling a tank and plumbing in my own durso stand. A few months back, someone (in another thread I'd posted about this) responded with a link on how they should be plumbed. I can't seem to find it now. Anyone out there have any suggestions on where I should drill? How many holes I should drill? and how I should plumb everything? The tank will be a 75 gal and I'll be using either an old Wet/Dry that I'll convert into a sump/refugium or I'll be using a 29 gal tank that I'll put some dividers in for a sump/refugium. I'll probably go with the wet/dry sump as it's already built and plumbed. Should I drill holes for the drain and return or just the return? Should I drill 1 hole for drainage and 2 for return?? I'm badly in need of suggestions!!! lol.
Plumbing and drilling
- Thread starter returnofsid
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Krish
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Hmm...Not sure which thread you are talking about. Was it a diagram on how to plumb the tank or how to make your own durso? Also, as for how many holes to drill and what size, it all depends on how much flow you need the drain to handle and how you want to go about returning the flow back into the tank. You can easily get away with just 1 hole for the drain and then if you didn't want to put any more holes in the tank, you can just do your return over the top of the tank. It all depends on how you want to go about it...
First, I'm sure you know this, but you can't drill the bottom if its tempered. If it is tempered and you need to drill the bottom, you can take off the bottom pane and replace it with 3/8 inch glass for about $60.
You need to remember that bulkheads have a rim around them that hold the washer. Flange I guess its called. A 1" bulkehead is about 2-2.5 inches in diameter. Do not drill your holes to close to the plastic rim or edge or your bulhead won't fit.
Now you need to decide how you want the tank plumbed. If your going to be placing close to a wall or veiwed from both sides, you'll want to drill the bottom so your drain can go directly into the stand. Your return can go over the back or it that's unsightly to you, you can drill another hole for the return. For this you'll need a overflow box that goes from the bottom of your tank to the top. You can buy these commercially or make on from black plexi and a router.
If you want to come out the back , you can drill holes in the back and put your durso outside and have a shallow overflow box on the top. This is a great option because the shallow overflow box is easier to keep clean and easier to get clownfish out of that decided to jump in.
You can put your overflow in the center or in the corner. Commercial tanks that you buy predrilled, usually have two corner overflows. The old thinking was to run huge volumes of water through a wetdry filter and back into the tank. This is a waste today in my opinion. I think one overflow is plenty. The most water I have going through my sump, is enough to keep the temperature stable (heaters and chillers are located in the sump) and enough to feed my skimmer. My skimmer has a 900 gph pump on it. I'm guessing it puts through ~600 gph because its restricted by a nozzle. So to keep from reskimming water, I want at least 600 gph going through my sump. Flow in the main is handled by a closed loop or power heads.
You can get better input on specific plumbing if you let us know what your design plans are.
Mike
You need to remember that bulkheads have a rim around them that hold the washer. Flange I guess its called. A 1" bulkehead is about 2-2.5 inches in diameter. Do not drill your holes to close to the plastic rim or edge or your bulhead won't fit.
Now you need to decide how you want the tank plumbed. If your going to be placing close to a wall or veiwed from both sides, you'll want to drill the bottom so your drain can go directly into the stand. Your return can go over the back or it that's unsightly to you, you can drill another hole for the return. For this you'll need a overflow box that goes from the bottom of your tank to the top. You can buy these commercially or make on from black plexi and a router.
If you want to come out the back , you can drill holes in the back and put your durso outside and have a shallow overflow box on the top. This is a great option because the shallow overflow box is easier to keep clean and easier to get clownfish out of that decided to jump in.
You can put your overflow in the center or in the corner. Commercial tanks that you buy predrilled, usually have two corner overflows. The old thinking was to run huge volumes of water through a wetdry filter and back into the tank. This is a waste today in my opinion. I think one overflow is plenty. The most water I have going through my sump, is enough to keep the temperature stable (heaters and chillers are located in the sump) and enough to feed my skimmer. My skimmer has a 900 gph pump on it. I'm guessing it puts through ~600 gph because its restricted by a nozzle. So to keep from reskimming water, I want at least 600 gph going through my sump. Flow in the main is handled by a closed loop or power heads.
You can get better input on specific plumbing if you let us know what your design plans are.
Mike
Well, I'll definately be drilling the back. As for an overflow box, I'll make my own by cutting a length of black ABS pipe in half (lengthwise) so I'll have a long, half-round piece that will hide the hole and durso stand. I'll cut teeth in it for skimming action. I'll most likely drill a second hole for a return....although I could just come over the top. I'm not worried about how that looks. I will be looking at approx. 500-600 GPH flow through the sump and also adding a few powerheads to the display to make up more flow. I'll put a skimmer in the sump, then a refug. section and then the return pump. I want to plumb in a simple durso stand on the drain end to keep noise levels down but have forgot the link that explained how to make them and what they should look like. I'll be building that part out of PVC and I'm probably going to go with a 1 1/2" hole. If I remember right, the Durso stand starts at the same diameter as the hole and then decreases in size?? I've never done a system plumbed like this so am totally unfamiliar with the process. I just want to stay away from the troubles and worries of having a HOB overflow that could flood. I do realize that there's still a worry about flooding if the return pump looses power but I'll put a small hole in the return line to break the siphon in that event. I'll also probably install Ball Valve shut offs on the drain line and after the return pump...just for maintenance purposes.
