Plumbing setup 40/ sump

[oscar]

Hi, been out of the hobby for about 5 years. Looking to get back in, just got a 40 gallon tank and was planning on drilling it. (previously had 75gallon mostly soft corals and couple anemones) Want to put 2 1" drain bulkheads connected with PVC with a slot cut lengthwise to drain/skim surface. Saw a couple posts with a design like this seems almost like an overflow but without the box. Also planning on using one 3/4" return, not sure about pump yet.

I plan on setting a sump up in 3 compartments skimmer/pump/refugium . My plan was to drain one of the bulkheads to the skimmer and the other to the refugium.

Just looking to see if anyone has any opinions or see any problems with my plan, before I get started.

Been looking everything up for past couple weeks and I forgot how addictive searching the forums were :crazy1:

THANKS!

[uncleof6]

Hi, been out of the hobby for about 5 years. Looking to get back in, just got a 40 gallon tank and was planning on drilling it. (previously had 75gallon mostly soft corals and couple anemones) Want to put 2 1" drain bulkheads connected with PVC with a slot cut lengthwise to drain/skim surface. Saw a couple posts with a design like this seems almost like an overflow but without the box. Also planning on using one 3/4" return, not sure about pump yet.

You really need to reconsider the drain system/skimmer your plan to use. These devices do not work well at all, and are a huge disappointment, considering the amount of video/hype that has been put out on them.

3/4" really is too small for marine use, as the friction loss is rather significant. Good practice is to up-size the return plumbing 1 size above the actual pump outlet size, in general making 1" pipe the smallest practical size for marine systems.

plan on setting a sump up in 3 compartments skimmer/pump/refugium . My plan was to drain one of the bulkheads to the skimmer and the other to the refugium.Run all drains into the skimmer section, where they drain water needs to be, and feed the fuge from a tee in your return line. Odds are that you will be using air assisted drain lines, unless you change your plans considerably. These types of drains should not have valves, or any other control devices/splits in them. Even with two drain lines, dumping raw tank water into the fuge, simply turns the fuge into a garbage dump. Feeding from the return line allows better flow control, and the ability to take the fuge offline without shutting down the system. Not to mention air assisted drains filling your fuge full of micro bubbles.

Sump design is fairly simple, however, the space available under a 40 gallon tank is going to limit the size of the sump, and I think you will find that the sump you can fit under it, will not be large enough for a practical 3 section sump, and barely large enough to fit a skimmer with a safe volume in the return pump section.

Just looking to see if anyone has any opinions or see any problems with my plan, before I get started.

Been looking everything up for past couple weeks and I forgot how addictive searching the forums were :crazy1:

THANKS!You will certainly get many opinions on these topics, the trick is to sort out those methods that will lead to the least amount of problems, and things that actually work well, opposed to those things driven by popular opinion, that don't work all that great, and those that really don't accomplish anything at all. (specifically the skimmer bar idea)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2202870

[oscar]

Thanks for your response, you saved me the time and disappointment when my plan for the skimmer bar didn't work.

Regarding the sump under the tank I was think of going either with a 20l or a 20h. If I go with the 20h I would just do 2 compartments and have space hopefully to fit an auto top off system. If I go with the 20l I don't think I would be able to fit one in. What would you say would be more important to have the fuge or to have the top off?

Thanks again