1st Reef Tank Build, question about bulkhead sizes.

[Taylor Wilbeck]

Hey all,

This is my first post on R2R and I need a little guidance. My wife gave me the go ahead to build a reef tank and custom fit it into the build-in around our living room! I had to custom make the tank to fit within the parameters of the built-in.

My tank measures 72Wx23Dx30H. I"m wanting to do a wier style overflow with the holes drilled into the bottom of the tank so that way I don't have to have extra room behind the tank for plumbing.

I'm thinking about doing 1.5inch drain pipe giving me approximately 1400gph flow to the sump. My tank will be just under 200gallons and everywhere I read they say that I need 10x/tank size flow per hour. Meaning that I'd need 1800gph. I'd also be adding a 1 inch return pipe through the bottom of the tank and up over the wier.

My questions:
Will the 1.5inch drain pipe and the 1 inch return pipe be big enough?

When people say 10x flow per hour are they referring to just the filtration flow rate to the sump or total flow including all powerheads, pumps etc.?

Lastly, any reason not to use schedule 80 bulkheads on this build?

Thanks,
Taylor

 

[jsker]

Welcome to R2R lets see if,we can get you some answers.

 

[dorky]

You off to good start and as for the flows it usually mean the total flow all together. I will keep checking on progress.

 

[mfinn]

First, the 10x the tank volume is not set in stone.
I like a slower flow in the neighborhood of 5x the tank volume. So my 240, I'm running a Vectra M1 as my return and it's running a little over 50% of total volume. ( it's a dc pump with adjustable volume.)
Schedule 80 bulkheads are good.
Make sure the person who is building the tank and drilling the holes knows exactly what bulkheads are going to be used, and probably should have them on hand before the holes are drilled.

 

[Pepcrylic]

IMO you do not need 1800gph running thru your system for it to work. However I would employ more than 0ne 1 1/2 '' drain line . I would also use 2 return lines. Thats just me. And yes use sch80 bulkheads

 

[KStatefan]

I would look at the beananimal style of drains.