New tank design graphic ... Tell me what you think...

[Megalodon]

Originally Posted by Myka

Yes, this is what I meant. You said you'd use it intermittently though, wouldn't it be better to run it all the time? Albeit, I don't know much about these...

I'd use it sometimes on my other tank as well.

[Zylumn]

Good job a lot of thought has gone into this so far.
I hope you don't mind a few suggestions.

- I liked the idea of 1 overflow feeding directly to the refugium. Why run another pump when you really don't have to. (you would need then ball/gate valves on your lines)
- Your return pump would essentially be in a chamber of about 3 or so gallons of water. ( If you don't mind topping up every day it should be no problem, but you will have to keep a close eye on your water level) I would make area (L) just large enough to house your skimmer and make your return area as large as you can; possibly switching dimensions. This will give you a few days before a top up.

- Also your bulkhead (I) should be below or equal to the hight of your baffle between (F) and (G)

Kevin

[Myka]

Is the tank drilled yet? I'm not a fan of returns. Is there a reason you're going over the top of the tank instead of drilling them? No room in the sump for power outtage overflow maybe...?

[Chin_Lee]

3 recommendations I would do if it were my tank:
1) in your fuge put in a backup bulkhead 1" higher that the primary in case the primary gets clogged.
2) put in gate valve (not ball valve) onto C or E to achieve herbie method for complete silent flow and pipes
3) put E straight down, then put in a union on E and C just below tank. Then put in 90" elbow fittings and pipes for the rest of the drain pipes. The unions will give you flexibility in terms of where you want the exit drain pipe to be by allowing you to "swivel".

[fkshiu]

You've obviously put a lot of thought and work into your plans, but perhaps you're over-thinking things a little bit.

Wouldn't you be able to achieve exactly the same results, but only have to use a single sump/fuge and a single return with melev's plan F?

http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/f/sump_f.html

Aside from the complexity, the main issue I see with your plan is that you would have two tanks draining into your sump in the event of a power outage. The result is that you'd have to have a lot of empty "safety" space in your sump to absorb this water leaving you with precious little water volume in your sump unless it's very big.

[Megalodon]

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

3 recommendations I would do if it were my tank:
1) in your fuge put in a backup bulkhead 1" higher that the primary in case the primary gets clogged.
2) put in gate valve (not ball valve) onto C or E to achieve herbie method for complete silent flow and pipes
3) put E straight down, then put in a union on E and C just below tank. Then put in 90" elbow fittings and pipes for the rest of the drain pipes. The unions will give you flexibility in terms of where you want the exit drain pipe to be by allowing you to "swivel".

Thanks Chin.

Check out version 4. It has incorporated all three of your recommendations.

I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with #3 though. I may go back to having the second drain go directly into the refuge.