overflow plumbing

My last tank was a waterbox, and came with the appropriate baseline piping for the overflow + return lines. My next tank is a used tank minus the plumbing in these areas (specs are attached). Given I lack any experience in building my own overflow + returns, would anyone here be able to help...

Included diagram should hopefully give a good sense of what I’m asking. Do people prefer sumps that dump water directly to the mechanical filtration or should they have some sort of spillover “staging area”? I’m assuming the spillover staging area might keep things a little quieter, right? Also...

I currently use an Oase Biomaster 250 on a 20 gal tank, but I'm building a cabinet sump. I've heard of others using a canister filter instead of a return pump, the difference being that a filter sock and bio media are no longer required in the sump. Mine would just be a skimmer and a refugium...

I am new to this hobby and jumping in with both feet and am having a 48” x 18” x 24” / 90 gal acrylic aquarium made. I’ve started conversations with Clear Fabrications and Midwest Custom Aquariums, but would consider others if folks have strong recommendations. I had originally thought I’d...

Hi everyone! I am currently building a shallow tank 90*65*30 (cm) or 35*25*11(inch). My return goes throught the center bottom of my tank fully aquascaped around it. (like a volcano) Since I want 4 clean (no equipement) sides.., I am considering my overflow also throught the bottom with a...

Hey Guys - I picked up this custom tank last week, it’s already been drilled, plumbed and running for a year. The way it’s engineered is strange to me - there is a bulkhead drilled into the bottom left corner, and a pipe coming out - around 2” I’d say. Then there is like an overflow tower that...

I’m putting together a 14 gallon cube tank with a standard 10 gallon for the sump/refugium. I’m planning on using 3/4 pvc pipe for the overflow drain pipe. Has anyone used something other than pvc cement to glue together the fittings? I’m leaning towards using aquarium silicone, since it’s...