Cheryl's 165 Gallon upgrade

[daplatapus]

Ahhh,I think I get it now. The pics helped a lot. So let me see if I get this correctly:
You have 2 pipes in your display. The one on the left comes up to the level of you maximum water level and you have a strainer on it. This would be considered your safety drain in a herbie set up.
You have a second, or primary drain, on the right. It seems to me you have a 3/4" or so running inside of 2" or 3". Then on the back side of that "sleeve pipe", at you water surface level, the 3/4" 90's out and then 90's down again with a strainer on it.
Like you said, with this arrangement you have no surface skimming. And because of the height of the tub your skimmer sits in and where it ties into the sump with the bulkhead, you cannot use much of the water storage capacity because the tub would overflow.
Is that a correct rough summary?

A couple questions:
1: What is that sleeve pipe on the right with the little grooves cut off the top that the drain runs out the back of?
2: Are you looking to have a full siphon system (herbie)? These do tend to be the quietest because there is no air entering the pipes to make any noise.

[CherylMcKay]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Is that a correct rough summary?

A couple questions:
1: What is that sleeve pipe on the right with the little grooves cut off the top that the drain runs out the back of?
2: Are you looking to have a full siphon system (herbie)? These do tend to be the quietest because there is no air entering the pipes to make any noise.

Yes, that right.

The returns are 1" PVC. The sleeve I have over the one is only for aesthetics. I have plugs on some of my live rock and I use the 4 " PVC sleeve to hang the rock. There isn't one on the left because I kept knocking it off the glue as I couldn't get the weight balanced.

I want a full Herbie, but with no surface skimming I don't know if that is the best idea. I am looking at figuring out how to fix this plumbing with what I have ( I may change the skimming container no matter what.) and then ordering a custom sump, that will work with this setup anyway.

If I end up having to drain the tank to do any work on these pipes I will have a problem as all I have left in the house is a 20 gallon quarantine tank. I would then also consider doing it properly with an external overflow, if I could find someone local to cut my glass.

[daplatapus]

Hmmmm. I think you're right. The easiest (without draining and re-doing you system) is a hang on overflow. I've heard nasty rumours about them and they appear to have a greater risk of flooding for some reason. I've never used or seen one so not sure.
I'm wondering if there is some way either replace the 4" PVC sleeve with one that has overflow teeth and somehow get it to seal where it meets the bottom of the tank to create a centre style overflow. Then you could just cut that one drain so it's 3"-4" below the water line inside that centre overflow. I think you said you have a gate valve, which you would put on that line to control the flow....
I'm just not entirely sure how you could create that seal between the bottom of that 4" PVC and the tank...
As far as the skimmer tub is concerned, if you didn't want to or can't get a full sump yet, try looking for a deeper tub. One that is the same height as you sump. You may also want to either increase the size of the bulkhead joining the 2 or add another one to allow quicker flow for when power fails on you get a sudden rush of water back into the sump system.

That's all I got
Maybe someone else can chime in about creating a centre style overflow in there without tearing it all apart..

[CherylMcKay]

So I raised the stand pipes and got my gate valves in. I am still having issues trying to get in and out balanced. It is never right on.

I got a really good deal on a 35 g tank, stand, 20 lbs of rock and sand. I washed and added the sand and the rock. The level in the sump didn't really changed but the level in the tank is quite a bit higher. I think we have the return turned down too much. This is harder than I thought it would be.

I think the next step is to change the skimmer container. Raise it so it is the same height as the sump, and put a 1 1/2 inch bulk head between the 2 containers. I am hoping that will help with the balancing.

My husband is worried that with all the fiddling that needs to be done our kids won't be able to fish sit and we will have a mess while we are away. Maybe he is getting more interested in the hobby....miracles do happen. ;p

[CherylMcKay]

Well, I guess you don't always have to have a LFS to get live stock. About 2 week ago I purchased a 40 gallon with about 50 lbs of live rock, 30 lbs of sand and 2 fish. A small perc clown and a convict blennie. Cost me $250

Today I was approached by a lady that asked for some help. She inherited a tank when she bought her house. Her light has broken and the guy in town that was helping her doesn't have time, and she was desperate. I have now been given a 75 gallon with 4 fish and about 50 or 60 lbs of live rock. The fish are another convict blennie, an onyx clown, a pink anthias and a tang... Not sure what kind, Greg with pin stripes down the length of his body with a white dot by his tail. I will post a picture.

From what I have read... The convict blennies should get along, but I would love some advise. I am a little worried about the tangs. I have a Sailfin, I have had since about 2009.

She has lots (holy crap) lots of bristle worms. She admits to major over feeding, so the rock will go into QT with no food while I am on holidays ( 3 weeks).

I would love to hear what people think about the dynamic of the fish in my 150 gallon. Current stock list is
2 Perc clown fish
2 pink skunk clown fish
1 sailfin tang
1 convict blennie
1 red striped hawk fish
1 bi-colored blennie
1 long tenticaled anenome


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[CherylMcKay]

So, I made a change to the plumbing on this tank and I noticed that the bulkhead on the tank was wet on the threads. I don't want to take the chance of the bulkhead failing so I am moving the fish, rock.... Everything but the sand to the 75 gallon. Drain the tank. Replace the bulk heads and build overflows. I am trying to figure which will be best, 2 overflows around the current bulkheads or a large one at the back with the PVC then running to the bulkheads in the centre of the tank? With the second option I think I would run the PVC along the bottom of the tank, then using a 90 degree, run it up the inside back to the bulkhead in the overflow.

I don't know which would be a better way to go?

[Madmak]

You could build an overflow box (3 sided around both of your stand pipes) out of glass or acrylic similar to the picture below. This will give you a full herbie drain, an emergency drain, and surface skimming. If you build it full height you don't require any additional bulkheads or holes drilled. Another advantage is that the top of the overflow will dictate a constant water level in the tank. A gate valve on the full herbie drain should let you fine tune the flow perfectly. You do loose some tank real estate but worth it IMO.

I use 2 30 gallon tanks for a sump, maybe you could use the 10s and 20s you have to increase your sump volume??

[CherylMcKay]

My problem with that is that the two hole drilled in my tank are in the centre of the tank and are 3 feet apart. If I go with a overflow around the current pipes, then I will have to build 2 one around each.

That is why I was contemplating a single large overflow inside on the back, with PVC being run to meet it.

I will try to draw what I am thinking and scan in the drawing tomorrow. I am not sure, if I want to re-drill the tank or not.... I think I would prefer not.

[Madmak]

I understand better now that I had a closer look at the pics. That's a difficult layout to make work.

You could definitely plumb the 2 existing holes to an overflow at the back of the tank. The wider it is the better the surface skimming. Hiding the plumbing with rock would be fairly easy as well.

2 separate overflows gets tricky to tune and you really don't end up with an emergency drain.

Post a few more pics and you'll find a solution.

[CherylMcKay]

How far should the water fall? My internal measurements for depth of the tank, is 21". I was thinking the over flow would be 12" deep with 1-11/2 " for the egg crate. The fall to the bulk head will be 10 1/2 to 11 ".

I am thinking my overall dimensions will be 48"x 7" x 12"? I was thinking 7" as my Euro-bracing is about 3" wide, and this will allow me to get my hand in.

Thoughts?