300g Tank: What size drain would you choose?

[revhtree]

Asking for a friend...

If you were having a new 300g or larger aquarium built how big would you want the drain size of the overflow to be?

1"
1 1/2"
2"

Please let me know your thoughts!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Any idea on how much turnover you (Or your friend ) are looking to achieve? 5x 10x?

 

[Potatohead]

With a full siphon 2" would be plenty

 

[revhtree]

Any idea on how much turnover you (Or your friend ) are looking to achieve? 5x 10x?

No honestly it is for a friend! HA! As far as turnover goes what would you like? The question is what would you choose personally!

 

[Crabs McJones]

No honestly it is for a friend! HA! As far as turnover goes what would you like? The question is what would you choose personally!

Well if I had a 300 gallon tank would like to run the Triton method on it which requires 10 x turnover, plus I like alot of turnover. so id choose 2 inch

 

[User1]

I'm partial to 1 1/2" which is what I used for my overflow utilizing BeanAnimals design. I think there is a calculator around the interwebz that helps calculates based on length and height. I might have the equation wrong - I forget.

 

[stylaster]

I did dual bean animals on my 312g tank and used 1.5" pipe so for a total of six 1.5" drains (primary, secondary, and emergency) this is coupled to a hammerhead pump doing 6,500 gph and i still have the dual primaries opened only 3/4 of the way. So dual 1.5" can handle i would say roughly around 8000 gph in your overflow if doing dual. If a single 1.5" then your good for atleast a 3,000 gph return pump if i did my math right

 

[mfinn]

I don't like single drains on anything, so if it were me, dual 1-1/2" drains for the least I would recommend. Bean Animal style using 1-1/2" pipe is what I would prefer.

 

[User1]

Yup - Bean's design is great. Allows a lot of flexibility, safety, and I have yet to have my primary fully opened like @stylaster noted.

 

[foxt]

Lots of other things to consider in the math, like what is the plumbing configuration to the sump, what kind of overflow method is desired, etc. When I designed my 220g, I went with 2” bulkheads on an external bean overflow. I wanted the flexibility that 2” gives me, can always choke it down but you can’t make it bigger after the hole is cut ....

 

[mtraylor]

I have 1.5" on my 255 with bean animal and its chocked back with a reeflo dart return pump. I use the dart on a manifold as well to run my reactors.

 

[ca1ore]

1 1/2" is more than enough - I use a bean drain on my 450 with three 1 1/2" drains.

 

[AlexStinson]

I am looking to do the same, I would go with 1.5 just for the ease of plumbing.

 

[me & my baby]

When I had my 300 I had two 2” drains . That way pretty much what ever turn over I wanted I was covered .

 

[GoVols]

 

[Want2BS8ed]

I wanted the flexibility that 2” gives me, can always choke it down but you can’t make it bigger after the hole is cut ....

^^^^this... particularly if you are shooting for a true 10x turnover. Sorta like the advice I was once given regarding a refinance - you can always double-up a payment on a 30-year mortgage, but you can't always extend a 15-year if something goes wrong.

M

 

[DarkSky]

I have 1.5" drains on my 45 gallon, so extrapolating out you should probably do 10" drains on a 300 gallon.

 

[scott11106]

i am building a 300 and i went with 2 1.5" and for redundancy and creating a beananimal. in reality one of the 1.5" does most of the heavy lifting so if you were to have only one a 2" would be the pick

 

[Luno]

I have a 300g build happening ATM, Australia sizing is a little different but I'll be using bean animal overflow. 40mm drain (roughly 1.5"), 32mm Durso and emergency (roughly 1.25") and 25mm duel returns (roughly 1").

 

[MarineMalecki]

I built my 300g with 1 1/2” drains in a bean animal setup. Even with my Hammerhead doing 6500gph, it’s rare that the 2nd drain is ever used