Plumbing help for a 40 Breeder

CJ Monty · Nov 28, 2019

First time plumbing a tank myself. I was going to go with an Eclipse overflow. Either the S or M (600 or 800 GPH). I feel like the 600 should be fine but currently can actually get the M cheaper. Is the S enough flow. Based on a 10x turnover that seem to be fine.

As for the returns I was thinking 2 1/2 return lines? Or should they be 3/4? For reference I was going to repurpose a Varios 4 which maxes out at 1050 GPH. Which I know is more than I need for this tank but I was planning on running a carbon reactor off it as well. Would that work?

Is there some reference I should use in determine where to drill the return holes?

Crabs McJones · Nov 28, 2019

I used the eclipse S in my 40b and loved it. However if the m is currently cheaper going with that wont harm anything. Biggest piece of advice is when drilling put the template on the inside of the tank all the way up to the trim, if you put it on the outside on the bottom of the trim your water line is going to be highly visible.
Also for your return a single 3/4 inch would suffice. Drill down far enough that the bulkhead clears the trim.

CJ Monty · Nov 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
I used the eclipse S in my 40b and loved it. However if the m is currently cheaper going with that wont harm anything. Biggest piece of advice is when drilling put the template on the inside of the tank all the way up to the trim, if you put it on the outside on the bottom of the trim your water line is going to be highly visible.
Also for your return a single 3/4 inch would suffice. Drill down far enough that the bulkhead clears the trim.

Thanks for the info. I like have 2 returns for more disperse the water. So if 1 3/4 is good then I will go with 2 1/2s. If I understand what you are saying about the return. Drill it right below the trim and the returns will be in the water.

Does the template accurately show the water level the tank will be add post drill? From what I think you are saying is put the template on the inside of the tank and put it as high as you can?

Crabs McJones · Nov 28, 2019

CJ Monty said:
Thanks for the info. I like have 2 returns for more disperse the water. So if 1 3/4 is good then I will go with 2 1/2s. If I understand what you are saying about the return. Drill it right below the trim and the returns will be in the water.

Does the template accurately show the water level the tank will be add post drill? From what I think you are saying is put the template on the inside of the tank and put it as high as you can?

Correct, put the template on the inside as high as it will go. And drill from the inside out. If you put the template on the outside, up to the trim, your water level will be visible.

dhof · Nov 28, 2019

I have the eclipse-M on my 40 breeder it's fairly nice. You are correct in that the M can handle way more flow than the tank needs, but I view that excess as a benefit. The eclipse-S may work fine, but when I was looking at the two, I remember some people that thought the M was easier to get your hands and brushes in there to clean, so that is another factor you might consider.

Water line will be visible even if you drill it on the inside as high as it will go. Some of us put a sheet of acrylic on the inside wier, held on with nylon screws, to adjust the water level a little higher (so it is hidden by the rim), and I've seen other people dremel out the rim to make the Eclipse line up even higher. There are many threads on this board about trying to manage that. I did the acrylic sheet in there to raise the water level up, and the only downfall of that is that the water drops so far that you hear a bunch of noise, so I have to keep a piece of matala mat in the inside section to keep things quiet. They really need to consider re-designing these overflows a bit for those of us with rimmed tanks. Seems like almost every week there is someone trying to figure out how to correct this on a rimmed tank.

CJ Monty · Nov 28, 2019

dhof said:
I have the eclipse-M on my 40 breeder it's fairly nice. You are correct in that the M can handle way more flow than the tank needs, but I view that excess as a benefit. The eclipse-S may work fine, but when I was looking at the two, I remember some people that thought the M was easier to get your hands and brushes in there to clean, so that is another factor you might consider.

Water line will be visible even if you drill it on the inside as high as it will go. Some of us put a sheet of acrylic on the inside wier, held on with nylon screws, to adjust the water level a little higher (so it is hidden by the rim), and I've seen other people dremel out the rim to make the Eclipse line up even higher. There are many threads on this board about trying to manage that. I did the acrylic sheet in there to raise the water level up, and the only downfall of that is that the water drops so far that you hear a bunch of noise, so I have to keep a piece of matala mat in the inside section to keep things quiet. They really need to consider re-designing these overflows a bit for those of us with rimmed tanks. Seems like almost every week there is someone trying to figure out how to correct this on a rimmed tank.

Thanks. I will have to hunt those threads down. Maybe the less flow option is better after all. If you reduce flow going down water in tank rises.

I noticed you used some aquamesh behind your overflow. Any particular reason other than get crap out. Dont know if you were solving another problem with the overflow.

dhof · Nov 28, 2019

CJ Monty said:
Thanks. I will have to hunt those threads down. Maybe the less flow option is better after all. If you reduce flow going down water in tank rises.

I noticed you used some aquamesh behind your overflow. Any particular reason other than get crap out. Dont know if you were solving another problem with the overflow.

The blue mesh you see is what I called matala Mat. It is only there to solve water noise issues when u put a piece of acrylic or hdpe in there to raise the water level then water falls further and makes a ton of noise. No matter how low I run the flow, the water in the tank will be lower than the rim. I currently run 200gph but have tried much lower flow and higher.

There really is no way to keep the water level hidden by the rim with these eclipse overflows unless you put a sheet in the weir(like I did), or you cut the rim with a dremel. I change my matala sheet twice a month and rotate two pieces back and forth.