Overflow question

Subliminal

Subliminal

AC Members
Feb 21, 2007
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Princeton, NJ
Hey guys,

I have a question, or rather a series of questions.

Right now my tank is running very stable with 2 Marineland Emporer 400s hanging on the back for filtration. with about an ounce of fish in the tank, I'd guess this is enough. However, I'm a little worried about the future, as fish tend to grow, I'd like a couple more, and eventually would like to start reefing it up with some coral.

So, here's my question:

I have a 55 gallon acrylic, which already has fish in it. Can't drain it, but I can lower the water level temporarily. I've read that I can pretty much just put a bulkhead up near the top somewhere and do an overflow for a sump that way.

But, I don't want to have to worry about flooding, and I'm a little confused about where I would go from there. I know I need an overflow box of some sort, but kind of lost on exactly how to do it.

Any ideas or help you guys could lend would be greatly appreciated. ;)
 
Hiya..

The best solution to get a simple sump setup going is to buy an overflow ( rated a whatever gallon per hour you choose ) and use this to take water off down to the sump, then fit a return pump ( which matches flow per hour of the overflo box ) in the sump and take a pipe over the back wall of the tank and end it just below the water line for the return..this way, its minimal equipment...flood proofing the system is down to the water level that is set by the overflow box and the return pipe depth below the water line with syphon break holes. The main thing to remember when flood proofing, is to allow enough empty space in the sump tank to cater for the water that will flood back to the sump in the event of a power failure...

That is just a basic overview really..Here is a good site that gives you more info on sumps and how they can be connected...

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

Any more questions or idea, please shout up...oohhhhh...i like the thought of a potential DIY project starting here...

Niko
 
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