New 72 gallon bow front!!!

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kandibrandy

kandibrandy

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Dec 27, 2006
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Hi all, We got a bigger tank!!!
I'm so excited! We are building the sump from scratch. Got ideas from the net...what gallon capacity should it be for a 72 gallon tank? The dimensions we have guessed so far are: to use up most of the room in the stand.
18"H x 11 3/4"W x 36"L , can't remember what hubby measured for baffles. I believe each was about an inch drop to the return tank.
We bought a bigger then necessary pump(for upgrading to bigger in the future)2800gph? "Quiet One 900" brand.
A highly recomended p skimmer(can't remember brand name) "V" somthing?
4' long T-5 lighting 3 10K and 3 actinic 65 W(hubby welding light mount from aluminum)
2 holes are getting drilled on the back of the tank(bottom glass was tempered so couldn't use the bottom)in the center for overflow box(build our own)and return.

Sorry so long, does any one have any DIY suggestions?
 
Reefscape

Reefscape

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all sounds exciting to me...

1) on the sump side of things, fit the biggest you can fit in the stand.
2) Cant comment on baffles for the sump untill you have the exact dimentions
3) T5 lighting sounds good..
4) I would not be drilling the tank back in the centre. If your using an overflow box, then you would not need a hole drilling for the water outlet as the overflow box will take care of that..For the return, i would just come over the tank back wall in an inverted "U" type tube and have this going just below the water line and ensure that a couple of 1/8 holes are drilled below water line in the return pipe so that the syphon breaks in the event of a power failure..
5) On the pump, it will only return water at the rate at which the overflow box removes it from the display tank....

By all means, view http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90499 ....this is when i was planning the layout of my sump..it was not the finished article, i might add, but it may give you a little insight into what is involved..

Obviously, that is just a quick few thoughts on what you have spoken about so far above...To get this planned out correctly, you need to start getting pencil and paper together and start doing some drawings for the pipe work, sump layout and dimentions....

Niko
 
kandibrandy

kandibrandy

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Dec 27, 2006
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atnixon said:
all sounds exciting to me...

1) on the sump side of things, fit the biggest you can fit in the stand.
2) Cant comment on baffles for the sump untill you have the exact dimentions
3) T5 lighting sounds good..
4) I would not be drilling the tank back in the centre. If your using an overflow box, then you would not need a hole drilling for the water outlet as the overflow box will take care of that..For the return, i would just come over the tank back wall in an inverted "U" type tube and have this going just below the water line and ensure that a couple of 1/8 holes are drilled below water line in the return pipe so that the syphon breaks in the event of a power failure..
5) On the pump, it will only return water at the rate at which the overflow box removes it from the display tank....

By all means, view http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90499 ....this is when i was planning the layout of my sump..it was not the finished article, i might add, but it may give you a little insight into what is involved..

Obviously, that is just a quick few thoughts on what you have spoken about so far above...To get this planned out correctly, you need to start getting pencil and paper together and start doing some drawings for the pipe work, sump layout and dimentions....

Niko
Click to expand...
Hey Niko,
Thought you'd chyme in on this one...hehhe(hoped you would). We didn't want any pipes hanging over the top of the tank so the over flow is going to be built in the middle of the tank from the middle and up(hope it makes scence)We have some stuff down on paper, mainly the sump design. Overflow still deciding, but we need the tank at home to do measurements.

I guess we will have to take pic's of our "chicken scratch"

The return will be one intake and then T'd into different area's of the tank...still have to scetch those.

I'm sure we'll ask lots of question, but thanks for your advise Niko...
 
Reefscape

Reefscape

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Ok, i guess when you say "overflow", i think your more refering to a "weir" if i understand you right...

All good stuff, keep us informed of how your getting on, and ask lots of questions...believe me, its easy to get wrong.....

Niko
 
kandibrandy

kandibrandy

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Dec 27, 2006
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In the display tank a section off to the side and rear of the tank is sectioned off and the top water flows into it, then is sucked down into the sump. "Weir" or "overflow" which ever the correct terminology, may have bio balls in it...We won't use bio balls due to there maintenance and negative attributes.

Thanks for your input...we have lots to do...Still very excited!

Cheerio for now...
Brandy
 
drobes

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Hello, congrats on the new 72G. I'd also recommend thinking about how everything that needs to go in your sump will fit comfortably and then making sure that all of this equipment will be easily accessible.

I recently completed a DIY sump/fuge setup in a cabinet style stand with an open self center section. I ended up building two seperate acrylic tanks to fit into each side cabinet and plumbing them together with dual pvc bulkheads. It was very challenging for me to get everything to fit comfortably and remain accessible.

Check out things like how tall your skimmer is, will it sit in sump or external, how high is the return gate from skimmer, what the water level will be in sump, will you raise the skimmer up, etc.

I'd also recommend a bubble trap with one raised baffle between two normal baffles right before your return section. I ended up adding one after I was running...

I may not have followed you on your overflow design, but it sounds like rather than an overflow box you are essentially planning a drilled tank "reef ready" style except that rather than drilling the bottom you are drilling the back? If this is the case, I imagine you would have difficulty fitting a durso standpipe over the bulkhead and you may have to deal with draining noises. Personally I swear by the durso's, I added a home-made one to my overflow box and it runs completely silent. Noise is important to me because my tank is in my living room. Also make sure that you go with large enough bulkheads to support the flow you intend to push through the sump.
 
kandibrandy

kandibrandy

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Dec 27, 2006
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Calgary, Alberta Canada
Drobes,

Thanks for the input. We will be cutting out the middle brase on the top part of the stand and then dropping in the complete sump. And then of course re bracing the area we took off. Hope that makes sense. As for the standpipe idea we are using it. We have some measuring and sketching to do but that is the plan. The skimmer will be hung on the outside of the sump on the intake side and we will probably put an extra baffle at the other end to eliminate the excess bubbles. Also the last area of baffles will have a hung rack of some sort to put filter media for extra filtration.

Thanks again to all who input suggestions. Can't wait to get this thing going..!
 
Mr.Firemouth

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I may not have followed you on your overflow design, but it sounds like rather than an overflow box you are essentially planning a drilled tank "reef ready" style except that rather than drilling the bottom you are drilling the back? If this is the case, I imagine you would have difficulty fitting a durso standpipe over the bulkhead and you may have to deal with draining noises. Personally I swear by the durso's, I added a home-made one to my overflow box and it runs completely silent. Noise is important to me because my tank is in my living room. Also make sure that you go with large enough bulkheads to support the flow you intend to push through the sump.
Click to expand...
If you drill the back of the tank use 2" pipe and bulkheads. Use 3" to 2" reducers for overflow cups. See pics of my tank below...You will also need to vent the drain pipes with a tee and riser, also run the drains seperately to reduce back pressure and to increase flow!

Here are some pics...

vent piping


overflow, the other pipe is the spray bar piping.


you can see here the overflows and that by using threaded bulk heads the overflows rotate off center to adjust the water hieght.

HTH, Rich
 
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