Ghost Tank

[Ghost]

Hi
My 225L tank(about 55 gallon) will be delivered in this week. With help from this forum I will create a awesome saltwater Aquarium. I see you guys like pics so I'll take as many as possible. Any advice will be welcome. If you see I'm busy stuffing up, please tell me as I'm a beginner at this.
I decided to get my tank drilled, because I am a bit worried about flooding my lounge. Seems like it is the safer option(and down here we get LOTS of power failures) So first thing in the morning I'll phone the tank builder to ask him to do the drilling. Do I need two holes or can I just split my plumbing going into my sump?

 

[yote]

You'll need at least one drain and one return hole drilled since your going that route.

 

[reeffreak]

Welcome to the site.

Like Yote said most 55g have only one drain hole and one return hole.
Anytime you have any questions,feel free to ask.Oh yeah,we do love the pics.

 

[Piggy]

Welcome aboard. Yes we do love pics. Step by step.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Welcome to the reef....

 

[Ghost]

Thanks
The drain hole will go in the bottom back corner of the tank. Where do the return hole go, or can I just go over the the rim with tubing into the water?

 

[reeffreak]

Going over the lip with PVC or vinyl tubing will do just fine.I would at least put a loc-line spout on the end.

 

[Alexander]

drill an extra hole for a closed loop system. say goodbye to powerheads. its the way to go!

welcome to the forum.

 

[Ghost]

Closed loop system? Please explain that a bit. I'm very,very new to this
Thx

 

[Alexander]

water from the main tank is fed through piping to an external dry pump and pumped very hard back into the main tank through piping with directional nipples that you can put on the end of the piping to direct the flow of the water. it leaves a much cleaner look than powerheads and if you have a good pump will probably push more current aswell.

 

[Ghost]

Thanks redline.

 

[Ghost]

How strong does my return pump need to be?

 

[reeffreak]

You would want to go with a pump rated close to what your overflow/drain can handle.If your drain can handle up to 600gph than you would want one rated near the same or slightly higher at zero head height.Sorry,I don't have the conversion to liters per hour.

Example:Overflow/drain rated 600gph maximum

Mag Drive 7(rated at 700gph at zero head height)
1 ft.=650gph
2 ft.=600gph
3 ft.=550gph
4 ft.=500gph
This pumps will work for the drain since it pumps lower than 600gph at 4 feet height.I recommend a ball valve on the return side of the pump so you can throttle back the flow if needed.

 

[Ghost]

Thanks reeffreak.
Now how do I work out my overflow/drain rate?

 

[Ghost]

My tanks drain hole got drilled. I bought my heater and a 2000LPH return pump today. Amped and ready to go. Cannot wait for my tank

 

[Piggy]

When I first read that I was like holy cow thats a super big pump. Forgot it's in L. When does your tank arrive?

 

[Ghost]

It is suppose to be here Thursday morning early. But here the people only have two speeds. Slow and stop. Hope they not on stop this week

 

[reeffreak]

The people who drilled it can tell you how fast the drain is,but I guess you already know that.

Good luck on the project.

 

[Ghost]

First bad news. While drilling they cracked my tank base. now they dont want to drill it anymore. So I'll attempt building/drilling 6mm holes to creat sort of a wash basin drain

 

[Bifferwine]

That is bad news. Are you still going to try and use the tank? Usually if you crack it (especially the bottom), it's done for.