Plumbing to another room

[boojumsnark25]

I would like to plum the overflow of my tank to another room where the sump would be, and then plum the return back to the tank. The reasons I want to do it are:

1. The other room has a cement floor and the tank is on carpet
2. Noise
3. I could use a 55 gallon tank as a sump instead of a 20 something gallon tank.

My tank uses two 1 inch overflows from 1 u-tube and my return pump is pumping about 600 gph, best I can figure.

However, here is the problem...I have a hole in my wall that has enough room for two 1/2" hoses. I would much rather not drill any more holes. It seems highly unlikely, but is there any possibility of somehow condensing the two 1 inch overflows into a 1/2" hose? Can a 1/2" hose handle 600gph? It sounds impossible to me, too much water, but I just wanted to check.

Also, I am running 4 berlin airlift 60 protein skimmers at the moment (crazy i know...but its what I had at the time. Goes through a lot of airstones!). They seem to pull a bunch of crap out, but is one good, $150-200 skimmer better than 4 small ones?

Thanks for the help!

[jasoncw]

Not sure on the skimmer, but yes, you are correct, that 1/2" pipe will definitely not flow 600gph. Why not just drill the holes a little larger? What are the walls made of, wallboard?

[dahenley]

you could always plumb one of the overflows to the other room reducing it to 1/2in and keep the under tank sump. for the skimmer, if its not broke dont fix it. Plus with a seperate room, you could run a big fuge and that might help you out too. by the way, how big is your display tank and any other information would be great.

[Rhodophyta]

Most walls are mostly "hole" inside. Whether drywall or cinder block, they are mostly hollow, open space inside, so adding another hole or even cutting out a big pass-through is no problem, and with most wall treatments, easy to change back later restoring the wall to original.

[uncleof6]

I am not liking 1/2" pipe for any plumbing on an aquarium other than sub loops for reactors and such. It will definately stop up the drain. FWIW

Jim