4ft tank and sump setup

Hi,

i am getting a 4ft tank and a 2ft sump.

the issue here is that i do not want to cut the tank for the sump so i have been looking at PVC overflows.

I'm not familiar with flow rates, etc. i am looking for advice on PVC size and recommendations

thank you

 

Howzit
I'm getting a pretty high flow rate out of my DIY overflow. I've changed the siphon tubes to those grey tubes that come with your washing machine. Running around 1000l/hr and it's just coping. I tested with 1400l/h and the tank slowly overflowed. How many liters do you want to push?

 

Hi,

Thats pretty cool, i was looking around 1000l/h.

i take it that the siphone tube pretty much go to the bottom of the PVC with an angle cut into them?

 

i was looking at design like this just without the double (barrel)

 

Yup. I turn off the pump during feeding twice a day and it's never lost it's siphon. The only bit I want to change is the water crashes down the rigid PVC pipe to the sump and it's a bit noisy.

 

That's cool!

 

yup, so they use smaller PVC for the siphon, looks like it was meant to fit like that

 

Are you putting a lid on your tank or open top? Cos if you do a lid you will have to cut it to accommodate the overflow. I'm considering an overflow box to lower the profile so my lid can close properly.

 

mine will have supports with glass/plexi to cover.
if i go plexi (preferred) i will cut out the holes for the back and be hinged for the opening in front

 

What do you want to keep in the tank? Consider that CO2 and sumps are counter productive and also small fish tend to go down overflow pipes and end up in sumps

 

so i was looking at the German blue ram, pleco and not sure what else
i also want to maybe try planted
if i add an airpump into the tank will that sort out Co2?

 

No. You dont need CO2 for a planted tank but most plants do better with CO2 and some plants need CO2 or they wont grow. The problem with the sump is as the water is churned up the CO2 is replaced by air, thereby depleting it. But as I said if you chose easy to intermediate plants they should grow fine without CO2

 

cool, thanks for the info

 

BTW what diameter pipe did you use?

 

The pvc is 40mm
The flow rate is limited by the size of the siphon tubes, in the pic they're 20/16 which is a thick walled silicon tubing. (the thin walled tubing kinks when you bend it) inner diameter is 16mm which was not enough for the flow rate I wanted. I replaced it with 18mm internal diameter washing machine hose, which bends really easily: https://www.builders.co.za/Plumbing...1F_5J8cj0pLfecpqCd4sW390ZxKGq7t4aAia4EALw_wcB

 

Awesome thx

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