Brian's 75 Gallon

okay ladies and gentlemen

i have finally got everything but two things...
lights
live sand(or more sand depending on what i decide to do because i have heard so much excitement on this subject)

but i set everything up and wanted to see what everyone thought
please tell me everything, even the smallest things i have done wrong...

the sump was used from my cousin... so it already had purple in it

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

Looks gooooooooood to me!

What do you have as a return pump?

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

its a cheap one off drfostersmith.com
Aquarium Water Pumps & Water Movement: Lifegard Aquatics Quiet One Pumps
the 2200 model

i think it will work...am i wrong?


and i also have a octopus skimmer not in the pictures that will sit in the center portion of the sump.

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

You will want to turn approx. 10 times the water or 750 gallons per hour. With that pump you are under what your ideal would be.

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

yeah. but i was told the 1 inch drain i had on the tank would only handle about 300 to 400 gal of water an hour.

was that wrong?

i have seen that in many places

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

600gph through the drain max at 1in

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

Okay. Then I will upgrade definitely soon. I'm just gonna at least get it cycled with this pump.
I will probibly getvthe new pump when I get my light fixture

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

The pump will work just fine, as long as you provide flow in other ways, like using enough powerheads. If it works for you, no need to waste the money and buy a new one. You have to make sure that you don't accidentally flood the sump, if the pump is unable to keep up with the drain. You'll probably have to restrict the flow down to the sump.

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

thats exactly what i was thinking biff

so then that will be good

im mixin my water now :)

im so stoked

ohh and i painted the back of it black this morning!

Aint but one thing I can wrong in those pics.
There aint no water in it:D
I'm one of those that actually like a slower flow rate through the sump.That way the skimmer and refugium(if used) has time to do there job and clean the water.

haha thanks yote

im workin on the water.
its just taking a while

but i will have a refugium on the left of my sump.
and it will have slow flow through it.

Plus one Biff and Yote. I like a good flow through the sump, but not too much. I think you're just about perfect there. The drain like mentioned is not your only flow. You'll get you main tank flow from you powerheads. Speaking of power heads which koralias do you have in there 2's, 3's, 4's?

You tank looks very nice and looks like you're setting it just right.

thank you bobby

i have one koralia 3 and one 4
i hope thats not too much for my little 75

not at all.

Brian_G said:

thank you bobby

i have one koralia 3 and one 4
i hope thats not too much for my little 75

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I'd probably add one more of each in there.
The rock will break up the flow some.But you want enough to keep waste in suspension so it'll end up in the sump where the skimmer can get it.
Having enough flow is where most new hobbiest mess up.And flow is IMO just as important as good water quality and the right light.

Like mentioned that wont be too much. Also like yote said you might want to add more. If it blows the sand around don't give up too fast. Keep playing with the aim till you get the perfect flow. It might take awhile but you'll know when you see detrius floating and the sand stays down.

ha yeah.

i cant tell if the sand is floating or staying down right now or not.

i have skim milk in my tank right now and cant see a thing

i was thinking i was going to get one more powerhead. i was going to get a 2 and shoot it down the back of my rock. but i guess i will get a three or 2 threes if needed.
we will have to wait and see.

Re: woooohoooo! new tank! well sort of...

Bifferwine said:

You have to make sure that you don't accidentally flood the sump, if the pump is unable to keep up with the drain. You'll probably have to restrict the flow down to the sump.

Click to expand...

either i'm not reading something right, or i'm gonna have to disagree with this part of the statement.

sump floods are caused by overflows set too deep into the DT, and return lines not having proper syphon break holes.

you should NEVER restrict the flow from an overflow going down towards the sump, and the flow rate through said overflow is defined by the delievery flow rate of the return pump(s). (assuming that the overflow has the capacity to handle all of the flow)

it dosent matter if you have a 1" overflow, or a 6" the flow will be the same, cause its controlled by the GPH of the return pump minus losses. so for example, 1" can flow 600gph, and lets just say that 6" could flow 20kgph, but your only using a 500gph pump, and with head loss, lets say the delievery volume is 300gph, then the 1' overflow just like the 6" overflow would be flowing 300gph. it makes no difference, so by adding a valve all you would be doing would be to reduce the capacity of the overflow.

if you try and control the overflow flow rate with something, like a gate valve for example, and then something goes into the overflow, say a chunk of algae or a snail, it could clog and cause the DT to overflow, or the sump to run dry, thus running your return pump dry.

therefore, if you want to reduce the flow rate, you should control it on the return pump side, and not the overflow...

i got what you mean project. its been running since last night and it hasnt overflowed or even come close. i just wish i could see through the tank, but its clearing up.

once clear i will post pics

yea, that clowdy stuff takes a little time.

if you want to check to make sure that you have it all set up right, unplug the return pump and watch the sump.... if it gets too full then you either need to raise the overflow, or raise your returns, or drill syphon break holes..

if it dosent overflow, then your good.

and you should give it a good 5 min to see if its gonna overflow the sump... thats about how long it takes for mine to finally get done gurgeling and stuff..