Drilling a tank, where's best?

[Paul_MTS]

Just got my marine tank yesterday 24x15x15 and it's looking a great size for a pile of live rock, coral and couple of fish, only problem is they forgot to drill it. I'm not complaining as I got it for free in the end!!

But i'ved found the right size drill bit on ebay to use 25mm rigid piping- http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...5976795620&rd=1

question is what is the best place to put the hole(s)?

which is the queitest as it's running in my room?

which is most fish safe??

whats the best method in drilling the tank aswell?

 

[Ed4567]

Personally I think it's easiest to drill in the top back corner if you have space behind the tank for the pipework. This avoids a large amount of space in the tank being taken up by the overflow box due to the tank being drilled in the base.

Have you thought about circulation in tank- since you are drilling it, maybe a closed loop would be worth thinking about?

 

[Paul_MTS]

Plenty of space for plumbing, I was thinking of there remebering Navarre's tank design.

you'll have to explain them!? I'll consider/do anything thats worth doing as long as it doesn't clutter the tank up with powerheads.

 

[Navarre]

Here is what i would do with a tank of this size.

Being the size it is i would try and get as much room in the tank as possible. This means a bottom drilled tank is not ideal. A mini wier (as pictured here) is an ideal space saver. If you fit Eggcrate over the wier then this will stop fish from falling down into the sump. If eggcrate is not available then perhaps an acrylic combe attacked to the weir to stop fish getting past.

Remember to have the return hole (should you drill one) as high as possible so that in the event of a power failure the back syphon will be minimal. Also remember to make sure the sump can take the amount of water that will back syphon should a power out actually take place. (we dont want a wet floor and a week on the couch do we!)

I would still put a powerhead in this setup. Next to the wier and pointing back against the returnflow. This will increase the flow and make turbulance which is far better than a steady stream going around the tank.

Hope this helps.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Cheers Navarre thats great, I'ved got a sheet of acrlic being delivered today (hopefully) to devide up my sump so I'll also build the mini weirs, Is there much noise from that design system?

Would a spray bar return pointing into the centre of the tank be a good idea?

oh ok, so probable 1 power head in the tank...what kind of lph would I want it? I'm looking at buying a 1000lph return pump.

 

[Ed4567]

What sort of corals are you looking to keep?

 

[Paul_MTS]

good question!!

I'ved got just over 5WPG for it though so should have quite a range hopefully!

 

[andywg]

A good system to eliminate noise would be to use a modified durso standpipe, like this:

 

[Paul_MTS]

cheers andy thats great and well do able easily!

 

[Paul_MTS]

right after a bit of thinking I think it's going to be easier to drill both holes on the back side, my pillar drill it's tall enough to take the tank on end.

this way from the bulk head for the inlet i can jus stick a spray bar in there covering the hole width of the tank.

how does this sound?

also is it benefial to me do do the closed loop system??

 

[Paul_MTS]

I got the tank drilled today, first 1 messed up a bit and ended up scratching up the tank a bit but won't be seen so no worries there.

just ordering all my pipe work. running 25mm through out, although on the return i'll use ehiem 16/22mm hose to reduce drag then take that onto a hosetail throught the 25mm bulk head then reduce it down to a 20mm spray bar.

i ordered my 1250 eheim pump aswell, got it for only £35.

 

[maestro]

andy, is that a durso stand pipe for mini weirs? is there a website with instructions or info on it? ive seen normal durso standpipes for big weirs but never a mini weir design

 

[andywg]

It was a picture I found on a random website, but it appears to be a design for mini-weirs. I reckon it should work nicely. An extremely useful modification IMO.

Effectively you:

Place the bulkhead over the hole;

Connect that to a downturned corner piece inside the weir;

On the outside connect it into a t piece;

Continue as normal from there (with a pierced end cap at the top and a run straight to the sump at the bottom).

It shouldn't be too hard. Basically you are just moving the bulkhead from the bottom to between the intake and the tee.

Does that make sense?

Andy

 

[maestro]

Yes it does make sense, I must prefer the mini weirs but have always been told they are noisy, do you know how much clearence you would need at the back or side of the take for one of these, do you think 3 inches would be ok?

 

[Paul_MTS]

all depends on what size pipe you use.

I know I can easily do it with in 3" using 25mm pipe.

I might have the tank running as a freshwater for a while until i get rid of the fish in the sump tank I'll be using.

I got my pump today and have to say I'm kind of annoyed with it as I can only run the meduim sized eheim (1/2") hose off the pump outlet, I wanted to run there 16/22mm one ideally, oh well will just have to play around with it a bit.

will hopefully have the piping tomorrow to have a play around with.