Hello everyone!
Here's a bit of background information on my setup:
A few years ago, my dad dismantled his custom 20 gallon cube aquarium sitting on a live-edge topped iron sewing machine base (manual foot pedal). He gave this setup to me and I've been planning on starting a FOWLER and eventually plan to switch to a reef. While the sewing machine base is not suitable for a sump (dad was using a HOB for his freshwater setup), I purchased a 29 gallon tank to use in an adjacent room which is currently fitted with a sump baffle kit I purchased and installed. While this is likely way overkill, it's a fun opportunity with the adjacent laundry room setup I have: RO, a drain, and water lines are directly above the sump. Keeping the "overkill" theme, I decided to buy a the Jeboa DCP 400 variable DC pump rated for 1050 GPH at its top speed. Running the pump at 50%-100% should get me less than 10-20x the total water volume, but that's crazy high if you only consider the display tank.
Here is what isn't overkill... I didn't do proper research on plumbing and tank drilling, AT ALL. My tank currently has two 1 3/4" diameter holes (1" bulkheads) on the rear glass that are 1 3/8" from the top edge. I have a very small (4.5 x 3.25 x 4.75) overflow box mounted over one hole, flush to the top of the aquarium. Because the tank is in a different room, I wanted to use flexible tubing to reach the sump. I pitifully attempted a test setup with 3/4" tubing connected to the return and drain, which I now understand would have essentially yielded <100 GPH or down the drain. LOL.
Just to see if I could avoid drilling a second drain hole, I tested a 45° run of schedule-40 1" PVC with a T fitting before the bulkhead to introduce air into the PVC. While there was significantly better flow, I think the maximum flow a single 1" bulkhead will ever yield is 300 GPH in my situation. Also, this setup was insanely loud. Of course, I've now learned of the many intelligent plumbing designs like the Herbie and Bean Animal that significantly reduce noise, provide redundancy, and potentially a little more flow. I think the placement and size of the current drilled holes were a big mistake, but I want to make the best of it and hopefully still get my tank running.
I don't think I'm getting away from drilling a second or third drain hole, (especially since they're both close to the top edge). I'm also completely fine with achieving a slower flow rate, I just want to be able to use my pump which only reduces to 30% power. I also know I need to buy a larger overflow box. I'm considering drilling a second hole 6" lower to utilize in a herbie and enclosing both in a larger overflow box.
With this, what would you do if you were in my situation?
Here's a bit of background information on my setup:
A few years ago, my dad dismantled his custom 20 gallon cube aquarium sitting on a live-edge topped iron sewing machine base (manual foot pedal). He gave this setup to me and I've been planning on starting a FOWLER and eventually plan to switch to a reef. While the sewing machine base is not suitable for a sump (dad was using a HOB for his freshwater setup), I purchased a 29 gallon tank to use in an adjacent room which is currently fitted with a sump baffle kit I purchased and installed. While this is likely way overkill, it's a fun opportunity with the adjacent laundry room setup I have: RO, a drain, and water lines are directly above the sump. Keeping the "overkill" theme, I decided to buy a the Jeboa DCP 400 variable DC pump rated for 1050 GPH at its top speed. Running the pump at 50%-100% should get me less than 10-20x the total water volume, but that's crazy high if you only consider the display tank.
Here is what isn't overkill... I didn't do proper research on plumbing and tank drilling, AT ALL. My tank currently has two 1 3/4" diameter holes (1" bulkheads) on the rear glass that are 1 3/8" from the top edge. I have a very small (4.5 x 3.25 x 4.75) overflow box mounted over one hole, flush to the top of the aquarium. Because the tank is in a different room, I wanted to use flexible tubing to reach the sump. I pitifully attempted a test setup with 3/4" tubing connected to the return and drain, which I now understand would have essentially yielded <100 GPH or down the drain. LOL.
Just to see if I could avoid drilling a second drain hole, I tested a 45° run of schedule-40 1" PVC with a T fitting before the bulkhead to introduce air into the PVC. While there was significantly better flow, I think the maximum flow a single 1" bulkhead will ever yield is 300 GPH in my situation. Also, this setup was insanely loud. Of course, I've now learned of the many intelligent plumbing designs like the Herbie and Bean Animal that significantly reduce noise, provide redundancy, and potentially a little more flow. I think the placement and size of the current drilled holes were a big mistake, but I want to make the best of it and hopefully still get my tank running.
I don't think I'm getting away from drilling a second or third drain hole, (especially since they're both close to the top edge). I'm also completely fine with achieving a slower flow rate, I just want to be able to use my pump which only reduces to 30% power. I also know I need to buy a larger overflow box. I'm considering drilling a second hole 6" lower to utilize in a herbie and enclosing both in a larger overflow box.
With this, what would you do if you were in my situation?
