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125 gallon overflow build advice


Marvollo

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I bought a used 125 gallon tank that has an internal coast to coast overflow. The tank has 2 bulkhead drains drilled on the back of the overflows.

Do I need to drill a third drain to make a bean animal overflow?

can it work safely as is?

I will be running two sumps - one as a refugium and the other for equipment.

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Herbie is basically a bean without the emergency overflow. I switched to one in my vertical overflow from a durso by converting the return line to the primary drain and the main overflow is my secondary.

I find the easiest way to get it silent is use a ball valve on the primary drain like Jimbo662 suggested or use a smaller diameter overflow for the primary to allow it to run at full siphon and a larger vented secondary drain which acts as the backup.

The key in all this is to keep the primary running at full siphon and the secondary should only run something like 30% of rated flow to keep it silent. The physics of this are a siphon without sucking air is silent. A vented overflow is only silent when the water being pulled down it forms a laminar flow along the sides of the tube with a column of air in the middle. Too much and you'll get a gurgling or toilet flushing noise. An adjustable return pump or a ball valve on the main return line can help a lot as well.

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I would keep the two bulkheads and do as Jestep suggested. My internal BeanAnimal overflow isn't completely silent because I used 1.5" pipes, but it's pretty close.

There are a few ways that you can connect two sumps. Are you trying to add two sumps because the inside of the stand isn't big enough? It's much safer to do one big sump and add a refugium section. The problem lies in maintaining a water level. If you can put one sump higher than the other then you can use an overflow to regulate the water level. If you place them on the same level, then you'll have to use a pump and try to match the drain to the pump flow. The problem is that the pump performance will decrease as slime builds up and it gets dirty. In either case, it's widely considered best practice to split the return line and use a ball valve to supply flow to the refugium.

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Here are the two pictures of the bulkheads. So herbie is ok to run if drilled on back of glass and not bottom of the overflow? the bulkheads have an inner diameter of 1 and 3/4"

I have two sumps. One will be on a platform and overflowing to the second pump with a gate valve to control.

I have a bunch of plumbing equipment but I am kind of overwhelmed as I am used to nano tanks. If anyone lives near Kyle to stop by I would love some help figuring this all out. I could throw $20 for the advice and help.

post-3979-0-56407200-1480791534_thumb.jp

post-3979-0-61100700-1480791550_thumb.jp

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You should eliminate the horizontal run and take the plumbing straight down. I would also install a 90 degree elbow on the inside of the overflow to prevent gurgling.

You're planning to use a pump to take water from one sump to the other?

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I believe the previous owner used the 2 bulkheads in the elevated sump to drain into the sump that will be installed on the right without a pump. The drain feeding the refugium has a gated valve.

He had the right drain from the tank feed unrestricted into the equipment sump on the right. He also had the gated valve.

The right side sump would have the return in it which I might want to add a manefold to feed a skimmer, reactor, and expansion possibility.

I will follow the advice on making the drains vertical. I think they were sideways from the transporting of the tank.

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