So I have a situation

[Knight_Fall]

So, i have a situation. Not a problem because problems can't be fixed, or so i am told. Looking to see if anyone can come up with some creative ideas that i haven't thought about yet. I have a 300 gallon aquarium that i finally got running last night. i had a few slight miscalculations though. the biggest one being how much water i would need to run the system and how much water is going to back-flow if/when i lose power. the tank itself is 8'x2'x31" tall. i currently have half of a durso pipe set up for the over-flow(the 'T' without the elbow on it). the problem is i only have about a 40gallon sump, give or take and it is going to drain roughly 20-30 gallons if/when power goes out. just a couple other things i have had. i can't slide the current sump out. the doors on the tank aren't wide enough. to get it in i cut a door on the side that faces the wall. at the time i didn't want to actually build a cabinet door so i just spun the tank back so i wouldn't have to look at the hole.(i know, shame on me, but it was the easiest/best solution at the time for a sump). the sump is currently a 30 gallon that is drilled and connected to a 10ish gallon acrilic tank. other things about the tank. the drains and returns are 2" ID PVC pipes. drilled into the middle of the tank so i don't have an over-flow box. anyone have any ideas?

 

[Degener8]

Slowing the flow going into the main display will lower the amount of water that is above the weir on the overflow. You will need to remove some excess water when you do this. Or add more 10g tanks to the sump are a in line with the current ones to give added volume. This could also help with additional space for future reactor additions etc if needed. Some pics of the sump layout.. Overflow etc may help spark some more ideas if this doesn't hit the mark.

 

[cdness]

hmm... situation indeed... Pictures of the setup would greatly help if you have them so we can see the plumbing and where things run...

With many assumptions in hand, since the pipe is drilled into the middle of the tank, you can still put in an overflow box. Build the box to go all the way from the top to the bottom of the tank like the normal Reef Ready tanks. This way you can help control the water height a little better. You will need to shut it down to silicone in the overflow though. Since it was just running last night there should be no livestock to worry about. No overflow box situation solved

With 2" drains and returns you must have one MASSIVE return pump. No issue with clogging though so that's good. The water volume of these pipes though is going to cause you an issue for sure. You have two options off the top of my head. Option 1 involves removing the current sump and adding something larger. Since you would need to drain the tank to solve the first part, you might as well fix this one now too. Just remember that if the maintenance of the tank isn't easy it will never get done. Make yourself an access door just in case it needs to be removed to service the sump. Option 2 involves the use of flapper based check valves. You will not be able to put a check valve on the drain, but you could on the return. Put it in close to the return pump so the whole pipe is protected. Now these are NOT fool proof as they can clog, but if they are operational it would cut down on the amount of water back-flowing to your sump. Be sure to use the flap type and not the spring ones as the spring ones will corrode and fail.


Hope this helped a little

 

[Knight_Fall]

i am at work right now, i will have to get pictures up tonight.

 

[Knight_Fall]

here are the photos. thanks for the input guys

 

[Degener8]

From what it looks like you could put a stree L on the returns to make them surface skim with little efftor.. Just drain the tank down some to dry the fittings for glueing. Surface skimming would be better imo anyways. This would not allow the tank to drain to the bottom of the T's opening.. saving some space there.
The returns are down toward the bottom of the T's opening also. Perhaps angle them more for surface agitation and thus the siphon on these would break soomer as well saving sump space also.

For quick simple mods I would try this.