Plumbing my 29 gal question

[wakskat]

Hey Guys,

I am getting ready to drill and plum my new 29 gallon aquarium and have a couple of questions. The 29 gallon will drain down into a 40 gallon sump and then return with a mag 7 through a scwd. What diameter pvc should I use for the drain pipe and what diameter for the return from the mag 7? I appreciate your help on this one.

[magma01]

Usually people use a smaller size on a return than the drain. I have 1" on my drain and 3/4" on the return. Your return size also depend on the size of the inputs on your scwd.

[Paladin]

I'm setting up my 29g as well. I'll be using a Dolphin pump, which has and 1/2" outlet, just like your Mag 7. And I'll be putting in a 1" drain for my tank. You should be OK too if you use a 3/4" drain.

[wakskat]

I think I'll do a 1" drain and a 3/4" return cause that is the size of the scwd inputs (tubing not pvc). I will also put a ball valve after the pump so that I can restict the flow if I need to. What do you think?

[Paladin]

Yeah, I'll be using a bunch of ball valves, more for maintenance purposes than to restrict flow. I may need to service the pump or the SCWD, so those ball valves will allow me to take either of them offline without draining the tank.

[Paladin]

wakskat, are you drilling an acrylic tank or glass? I'll be drilling mine soon too. Just curious.

[wakskat]

I am using a diamond tipped glass drill bit and a dremel to cut the holes. I tested it on my 10 gal refugium last night and it worked great. Just make a dam around the hole with tape and fill it with water to keep the bit wet. I would also suggest making sure the hole is big enough because it is a lot harder to enlarge the hole than to cut it the right size in the first place. I am going to cut a hole out of cardboard first and make sure the bulkhead fits before tracing it out on the glass.

[Paladin]

Yeah, I'll be using dremmel bits #7134 and #7103. Are those the same you're using?

[wakskat]

I only used the 7134 tapered bit and it worked fine. Just went slow for the first hole and then worked it up and down around the perimeter. I found that was easier to control than scoring a trough like some people say to do with the 7103 bit.

[CletusKlump]

Plumbing my 29 gal question
Hey Guys,

I am getting ready to drill and plum my new 29 gallon aquarium and have a couple of questions. The 29 gallon will drain down into a 40 gallon sump and then return with a mag 7 through a scwd. What diameter pvc should I use for the drain pipe and what diameter for the return from the mag 7? I appreciate your help on this one.

I had a very simular set up and wasn't very happy with the flow of the mag7 and SCWD......so I had to add 2 Powerheads. To do over I would have used a Mag9. Remember you can always throttle back if needed. 3/4 and 1" should give you the ability to upgrade to anything you would like to use. Hope the tank turns out perfect.

Jeff

[Mekong]

What kind of glass tank do you guys have? I assume its not AGA or topfin?

[wakskat]

I have no idea what type of tank it is.

I water tested everything last night and the flow w/ the mag 7 was enough for me but I need to rethink my design for my overflow and drain cause right now it can't handle the mag 7 at full throttle which I need. I'll post pics later of the setup and maybe I can get some feed back on it.

Mark

[Paladin]

Originally posted by Mekong
What kind of glass tank do you guys have? I assume its not AGA or topfin?
I'm using an AGA tank. Why are you assuming it's not?

[Mekong]

I thought most 29g AGAs were tempered? Did you get a untempered one? If so could I ask how much?

[Paladin]

AGA's are just tempered on the bottom. I'll be drilling just the back glass.

[Vincerama2]

Put as large a drain as you can on it. Bigger diameter means less chance of clogging!

I believe the scwd input/output is 3/4" so a 3/4" return line is good.

V

[Paladin]

Hey Mark, I 'll be using a Mag 7 for my return too, and I'll be installing a 1" overflow drain. What size is your drain?

[wakskat]

I have a 1 inch drain line but it goes through a 3/4 inch bulkhead. That drains fine by itself. But I made a overflow by cutting grooves with a table saw in a 1 1/4 inch piece of pvc and it restricts the flow too much to handle all of the mag 7's output. I think that I will put another 1 inch drain in just to add some redundency and then make an overflow box. I was trying to do it cheap and easy and it doesn't seem to have worked.