Sumping questions

[ScubaSkeets]

Hi folks!
I'm in the planning stages on putting a sump on my 125G. I have a few questions:

1. Is a 55 gallon tank enough? I have enough room so size does not matter.

2. Since the tank is still empty, I plan to drill it. Are all (most) glass tanks safe to drill? I guess some tanks have tempered glass on the bottom, which wouldn't be safe, but besides that would it be ok? Got any suggestions for a overflow box? Preferably one that comes with a hole bit.

3. I plan on plumbing it down to the floor from the overflow box, then an appropriate turn (45°) into a wall, though the wall, and into another storage room. Maybe 6-8 feet of travel, then up and over into the sump, which will be on the floor. Then back to the tank. I would like to have the piping as close to the floor as possible, horizontally along the floor. And then up and over into the sump. Will this work, as long as the plumbing and ST is lower than the DT?

3. What size return pump would I need? Do I need a larger capacity one in order for the water to travel that long of a distance?

Any other suggestions/advice?

Thanks!

 

[ZoixDark]

1. Plenty

2. It CAN be drilled by to prepared for it to go bad and ruin the tank and obviously find someone with experience in drilling tanks.

3. The physics would work. Do you have a plan for how you're going to be able to get into the pipes if you ever need to clean them?

3a. You'll just need to choose based on head height. add each vertical foot of height, add 1 for each 90* turn, and 1 for each 10 feet of horizontal travel.

 

[Snoopy 67]

I suggest you put the sump UP on a bench & run the pipes on the wall.
Your knees & back will thank you every time you work on it.

 

[theMeat]

1- 55 is plenty but you may want something less tall, like a 40 long

2- go with a ghost style overflow, which gets mounted/drilled on side/back, not through bottom. If the bottom is tempered it won’t matter, and you can determine if sides/back are tempered.
Pretty easy to drill. Just go slow, don’t force/let drill bit do the work, and keep bit/glass cool with a spray bottle. Most overflows come with a template

3- the length of travel isn’t as much of an issue for pump output as much as height is. When figuring pump size you should look at flowchart for given pump, which will show head height. Would shoot for 4-5 times display tank volume per hour

 

[theMeat]

I suggest you put the sump UP on a bench & run the pipes on the wall.
Your knees & back will thank you every time you work on it.

Going this way you will cut down on drainage gph. And if top of sump is higher than display tank drain this no workie

 

[Greg P]

My sump is remote - 6' of drains and 5 x 90 degree fittings. My first plumbing with 1-1/2" pipe wasn't enough to keep up with less than 600gph, and the sump only allowed a couple inches drop. I needed to throttle back the pump.
A straight shot to a sump below the tank would have been closer to 900gph.

I built my second sump as short as possible (18" tall vs 21") to allow the most drainage drop, and built the sump longer (4' vs 3' ) to accommodate more water/equipment with the loss in height.
My second drainage setup is 2" and handles the return pump wide open.
I recommend you step up one pipe size from what would normally be run direct to a sump under the DT.

Although you don't want to, run the drains as high as possible from the DT to the sump.
Going down and back up will IMO impede proper drainage, but it may work - I've never tried it.
You will most likely end up with sediment buildup in the low spots as I don't feel the flow rate on your tank would be enough to keep sand and other heavier stuff from settling out in the lower section of your plan.
You'll need to experiment with the possibility of needing to start over by tossing some wasted plumbing, and re-doing holes in the walls.

 

[theMeat]

My sump is remote - 6' of drains and 5 x 90 degree fittings. My first plumbing with 1-1/2" pipe wasn't enough to keep up with less than 600gph, and the sump only allowed a couple inches drop. I needed to throttle back the pump.
A straight shot to a sump below the tank would have been closer to 900gph.

I built my second sump as short as possible (18" tall vs 21") to allow the most drainage drop, and built the sump longer (4' vs 3' ) to accommodate more water/equipment with the loss in height.
My second drainage setup is 2" and handles the return pump wide open.
I recommend you step up one pipe size from what would normally be run direct to a sump under the DT.

Although you don't want to, run the drains as high as possible from the DT to the sump.
Going down and back up will IMO impede proper drainage, but it may work - I've never tried it.
You will most likely end up with sediment buildup in the low spots as I don't feel the flow rate on your tank would be enough to keep sand and other heavier stuff from settling out in the lower section of your plan.
You'll need to experiment with the possibility of needing to start over by tossing some wasted plumbing, and re-doing holes in the walls.

Yup. For a single drain set up 1 1/2 at least. Knowing and living with multiple tanks over the years would only go with herbie or bean animal, where 1” drains would be more than enough