Drain Lines

[dme_d]

Good afternoon! Hope everyone is doing well!

I am trying to start up my own reef tank and wanted to do a little homework prior to its setup.

It's a 60 gallon, reef ready tank (holes are drilled already). The size of the holes allow for 1x 1" drain, 2x 3/4" drains.
- I was wondering if plumbing Bean Animal would suffice... I intended to do the 1" as a Main drain and have the other 2 3/4" drains as secondary and emergency.
(I did look this up a bunch but only found people advising to use 3/4" drain and 1" emergency; however, this looked to be because of the plumbing method they were using (Herbie vs. Bean)
- I just want to know if having the 3 holes serve as drain pipes internally with 1x 1" Main and the 2x 3/4" secondary/emergency will work. I understand the flow rate of the 1" is more than the 3/4" but if I have 2 (the secondary and emergency) will this still work?
- I do intend to plumb the returns over the back since I will be using the 3 holes for draining.

I am open to suggestions and ideas on the best way to tackle it. I don't have a return pump picked yet (again... doing the homework so I can start it up).

Thanks!

 

[nereefpat]

Welcome to R2R! You have options, for sure.

I think your plan is okay, especially if you don't try to push too many gph from the return pump to the drains. The volume that a 3/4" pipe can handle will be slightly over half of what a 1" pipe can handle, and you would have 2 of them as trickle and emergency, if that makes sense. And as long as you are okay with running a return or 2 over the back. That is an awful lot of plumbing for a 60 gallon tank.

What I would do, since the 3 holes are already there:
Run a Herbie with 1 smaller pipe as the main, the larger pipe as the trickle/emergency, and the other smaller one as the return. That would be easy, safe, and less plumbing. Just my opinion, obviously.

I would shoot for around 400 gph through the return pump after head loss. Maybe an Ehiem 1260, or 1262 valved down.

 

[Dburr1014]

This^^^

 

[dme_d]

Welcome to R2R! You have options, for sure.

I think your plan is okay, especially if you don't try to push too many gph from the return pump to the drains. The volume that a 3/4" pipe can handle will be slightly over half of what a 1" pipe can handle, and you would have 2 of them as trickle and emergency, if that makes sense. And as long as you are okay with running a return or 2 over the back. That is an awful lot of plumbing for a 60 gallon tank.

What I would do, since the 3 holes are already there:
Run a Herbie with 1 smaller pipe as the main, the larger pipe as the trickle/emergency, and the other smaller one as the return. That would be easy, safe, and less plumbing. Just my opinion, obviously.

I would shoot for around 400 gph through the return pump after head loss. Maybe an Ehiem 1260, or 1262 valved down.

Thanks for the feedback! Everything you said makes sense.

I was aiming for the most effective setup I could think of. I read having larger holes would've been nice to have 1" plumbing (drain/return). Obviously, not the case for me. So, I wanted to see if what I mentioned was "effective". I like your idea. I was also looking for quiet, bean animal ensured that; I believe herbie can too.

Question: Going with your layout, is it smart to leave the Main drain without a tube inside the overflow? I understand that water, once the return pump is turned off, will drain into the sump (obv makes sense to make sure sump can hold extra capacity). I figured, less friction and less distance to travel.

You probably already guessed, I am looking to maximize turnover.

Also, the plumbing would not be more than 2 maybe 3 feet since the holes are on the bottom and the plumbing to the sump is rather close. (To give you an idea).

I also want to make a manifold so was also trying to think of ideas for that as well. Anyways, I digress, let me know about my question, please and thanks!

 

[nereefpat]

Question: Going with your layout, is it smart to leave the Main drain without a tube inside the overflow? I understand that water, once the return pump is turned off, will drain into the sump (obv makes sense to make sure sump can hold extra capacity). I figured, less friction and less distance to travel.

You can do that. You just have to be sure the sump can handle the volume when the pump is shut off or you lose power.

Less pipe would be less flow restriction, yes, but not by much. You do need the siphon at least a few inches under water or have a couple elbows so that you aren't making a vortex.

I also want to make a manifold so was also trying to think of ideas for that as well. Anyways, I digress, let me know about my question, please and thanks!

I'm not a return pump manifold guy, although I know people do it to minimize devices in the sump.