Need to Fix my plumbing issue

[spikehs]

I have a problem w/ the plumbing on my tank (36x18x18) ... For whatever (brain fart) reason when I got the tank made I got two holes drilled, which can only accommodate 3/4 tubing. Its been a year and I've managed to get away with it, but I have to have my flow waaaay down and even then It provides barely enough flow from the sump. I actually caught a flood in progress as some algae had restricted the flow on one of the tubes.

Anyways, I am looking for some ways to upgrade my plumbing to increase the flow.. About the only options I can figure are

1. Add a HOB overflow, i'm not wild about this as their reliablitiy always seems iffy to me

2. Take tank down, and get an external overflow added (the stand I have wont accomadate an internal one)

3. Add some plumbing bits to increase the diameter of the tubing after the bulkheads... although i'm unsure how much this would help.

Basically just looking for some ideas/advice. Thanks!

[Canuckgod420]

are you using only 1 hole for your drain? If so why not use both holes for the drains and return your flow over the back.

[PoonTang]

I would go with option 3. It wont increase the flow much but it will atleast be safer. You dont really need a high flow through your sump anyway.

[spikehs]

nope, using both... i figured it'd be more than enough given the low flow I have going through there.. guess not. Yah i was leaning towards 3, except Rona didn't have the need parts in stock. Arg.

[Canuckgod420]

You know in my tank I dont have a tonne of flow in my sump either.....I think my return pump is only pushing about 400-500GPH.
I just have lots of flow in tank...works good for me.
With this flow I dont need to have baffels in my sump to contain micro bubbles from my skimmer.

[Zylumn]

Drill out the holes larger to accommodate an one inch hole.

I am pumping 450GPH through 2 x 3/4" bulk heads with no problem and could go quite a bit bigger like 600+ GPH.
Kevin

[jslaney]

You dont specify that you tapper them up. The actual hole may only be 3/4 inch but if you taper them up to a 1 1/2 inch pipe right after the hole you will be able to pass a lot more flow.

I guess you still have to drain the tank to do this.

Jon

[spikehs]

You dont specify that you tapper them up. The actual hole may only be 3/4 inch but if you taper them up to a 1 1/2 inch pipe right after the hole you will be able to pass a lot more flow.

I guess you still have to drain the tank to do this.

Jon

yah i was going to taper it up to 1 1/2" but couldn't find the plumbing parts yet.. i figure thats my best solution... would it increase the flow considerably if I doubled the diameter after the hole?

[spikehs]

anyone know where the best place in calgary is to get some plumbing like that? Tried the revy in weshills/macleod, and the home depot by chinook... thanks.

[mark]

Playing with the RC drain/overflow calculator (http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/drain.php), the 3/4" is good for 330gph, 1"-600gph, 1.25"-900gph, 1.5"-1300gph.