Herbie or Durso? And will this work?

[7digits]

I have a 60x24x24 Tsunami aquarium. I'm ready to plumb. Here's my plan. Is this a good way to go? The tank is brand new. It's was made for a durso setup with a 1" drain and a 3/4" return. It is center overflow and I don't have room to add a hole. When I had it made, I had them put a hole in the top on both back corners. The holes will accommodate a 3/4" bulkhead. I didn't intend for it to work out this way. I didn't even think about drains or returns when we discussed the design. I'm thinking I will set it up as a herbie using the return line as the emergency overflow. Then I'll have a return line coming over the back and into one of the top bulkheads with lockline for direction. I will have a second pump feeding through a uv and running into the top bulkhead on the opposite side. Will this work? Is it a good idea? What troubles am I going to run into? I need validation before I proceed. Please. I have no one else to ask.

 

[UncommonSense]

This works great! It’s worth looking into low profile bulkheads to see if you can find any in 1” that will fit in the return hole… — Herbie is safer with the emergency drain >= primary drain size!

I will have a second pump feeding through a uv and running into the top bulkhead on the opposite side. Will this work? Is it a good idea? What troubles am I going to run into?

Will it work? Sure! Is there a better way? Yeah!

I propose a single pump to both return bulkheads on the wall of the tank, UV plumbed in-line on one of the two, with a valve to reduce flow rate! — UV sterilizers tend to like lower flow!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

This works great! It’s worth looking into low profile bulkheads to see if you can find any in 1” that will fit in the return hole… — Herbie is safer with the emergency drain >= primary drain size!


Will it work? Sure! Is there a better way? Yeah!

I propose a single pump to both return bulkheads on the wall of the tank, UV plumbed in-line on one of the two, with a valve to reduce flow rate! — UV sterilizers tend to like lower flow!

What @UncommonSense said. :)

Also, for safety, I'd consider some sort of float switch mounted at the top of your overflow that will cut the pump if the emergency drain fails to keep up with the primary's flow if it should become blocked.

 

[7digits]

This works great! It’s worth looking into low profile bulkheads to see if you can find any in 1” that will fit in the return hole… — Herbie is safer with the emergency drain >= primary drain size!


Will it work? Sure! Is there a better way? Yeah!

I propose a single pump to both return bulkheads on the wall of the tank, UV plumbed in-line on one of the two, with a valve to reduce flow rate! — UV sterilizers tend to like lower flow!

I didn't even think about the size difference in the drains possibly causing an issue. Any idea where I can get a 1" bulkhead that will fit in a 1 1/2" hole? With the return pumps, I was thinking 2 would be better than 1. The return pump that I have is 1320 gph. With head height, I don't think it would be enough. Both pumps are jebao dc pumps.

 

[KStatefan]

I would switch it and have the smaller be your siphon drain and the larger the emergency/trickle drain.

 

[Tcook]

Make sure you drill a pinhole on the underside of your locline corner returns so they don’t siphon your tank during a power failure.

 

[UncommonSense]

I didn't even think about the size difference in the drains possibly causing an issue. Any idea where I can get a 1" bulkhead that will fit in a 1 1/2" hole? With the return pumps, I was thinking 2 would be better than 1. The return pump that I have is 1320 gph. With head height, I don't think it would be enough. Both pumps are jebao dc pumps.

Your 1” drain plumbing is only capable of 900-1,000GPH, so one pump is going to almost outflow your main drain!

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Is the pump speed controllable? A 60x24x24 tank is around 150 gallons. A turnover of 5x per hour would be plenty so that's only 750 gallons per hour needed. I'm not sure of how much head loss you'll have with plumbing though. If you stick in the 4x turnover then you'd be in range of the 3/4 inch pipe's max flow, for safety.

 

[UncommonSense]

Is the pump speed controllable? A 60x24x24 tank is around 150 gallons. A turnover of 5x per hour would be plenty so that's only 750 gallons per hour needed. I'm not sure of how much head loss you'll have with plumbing though. If you stick in the 4x turnover then you'd be in range of the 3/4 inch pipe's max flow, for safety.

To add on to these wise words; here’s an interesting thread I brought up a while back, questioning commonly quoted turnover rates!

Are our sump turnover rates missing a factor?

I know, I know… Sump turnover rates are a topic that’s been discussed to death… But, I’ve been thinking… I believe the general consensus of sizing your sump return pump to turnover DT water 3-5X max per-hour might be too generalized… Before you start sharpening your pitchforks… let me...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[7digits]

Is the pump speed controllable? A 60x24x24 tank is around 150 gallons. A turnover of 5x per hour would be plenty so that's only 750 gallons per hour needed. I'm not sure of how much head loss you'll have with plumbing though. If you stick in the 4x turnover then you'd be in range of the 3/4 inch pipe's max flow, for safety.

They are controllable.

 

[7digits]

Would it be worth it to widen the smaller hole enough to accommodate a 1 inch bulkhead? How hard would that be? The tank is acrylic and it has some water, rocks and sand in it. I have had some marco rocks brewing with some tampa bay saltwater rocks and tbs sand for about a month, but the water isn't high enough to go over the overflow yet.

 

[UncommonSense]

Would it be worth it to widen the smaller hole enough to accommodate a 1 inch bulkhead? How hard would that be? The tank is acrylic and it has some water, rocks and sand in it. I have had some marco rocks brewing with some tampa bay saltwater rocks and tbs sand for about a month, but the water isn't high enough to go over the overflow yet.

Oh! It’s acrylic! Yeah you can just increase hole diameter then!

Here’s an in-depth how-to I wrote up on accurately enlarging holes in pretty much any material a hole saw can cut!

Closed Loop Questions

Let me know if you’d like a few tricks on increasing the diameter of a hole-sawn hole accurately, or drilling acrylic in general! Please tell about the best method to drill holes in acrylic? I am an electrician by trade and have had to cut existing holes to larger sizes. But I have not had to...

www.reef2reef.com

It could be worth even going to 1.25” drains, assuming your overflow box has the clearance around the proposed larger hole for the bulkhead flanges!

Also, I recommend Hayward brand bulkhead fittings; they require a slightly larger hole size than most equally sized bulkheads; this is the perfect opportunity to size your tank holes for high quality bulkheads fittings!

 

[7digits]

I think I'm just going to use the ¾" as the drain and the 1" as the emergency drain. Making the holes larger would require too much work. I already have some rock, sand and water in it. I was in the process of setting everything up when I realized I could switch to a herbie overflow. Thanks for all of the advice. I was originally going to run the durso and then do a closed loop in the sump for the uv sterilizer, but I think this way will work out better.

 

[UncommonSense]

I think I'm just going to use the ¾" as the drain and the 1" as the emergency drain. Making the holes larger would require too much work. I already have some rock, sand and water in it. I was in the process of setting everything up when I realized I could switch to a herbie overflow. Thanks for all of the advice. I was originally going to run the durso and then do a closed loop in the sump for the uv sterilizer, but I think this way will work out better.

Duroso is also typically somewhat loud, Herbie can be made essentially silent!