Will this sump work?

[bitterman]

IMO do it right and do it once.
If you want to take your time and build a 55g all in one awsome sump then take your time and build it properly now.

Its much more expensive to do things twice. It may take a bit longer to get the tank up and running, but it will be much less hastle to have it done right the first time.

+1000 to this!!!! Get a tank and do it right from the start! It will save you $ and headaches in the long run also.

Ensure you have your skimmer before you plan your sump......

Bruce

[kevin]

I will build a live Rock wall in both containers that should difuse the bubbles? Porous rock? I don't have room in my stand for a tank, it is too tight of a fit and I could never work inside it. The rubbermaid allows for more room.

[kevin]

Here is what I have so far, planning on filling everything with LR.

[bitterman]

Your looking at possible problems.

1 1/2" bulk heads only flow about 850-950 GPH and if something gets plugged your first section of your sump can overflow. You normally want redundancy... IE if you are flowing 800 GPH on your return pump at the head height you would want 2 1 1/2" bulkheads.

The other problem would be you have ball valves in the return line... not a good idea. You should always control the flow of the system by the return pump.

This is a pic of how I like to do it such that there is not restriction ont he pump causing it to be under more load and create more heat. There is another valve up higher in the setup the tank is hiding. The ball valve closest to the tank is only there if you want to shut all flow or trickle of water back to sump when the pump is off. The one that is hidden is not really used unless the 2 off shoots to drain flow can't handle it, (was only needed when I have a 5500 GPH pump on the setup)

[Greatwhite]

Those metal hose clamps are going to rust on you... You really shouldn't need them at all, because the barbs are designed to be tight fits into that flex PVC.

And yeah... 1 1/2" pipes are not ideal.  You don't want to restrict flow in the sump at all.  I'd use bigger pipe if possible. (smaller pipe can get gummed up faster and clog easier too)

[kevin]

Thanks for the input guys, my intention with the ball valves is to be able to cut off flow entirely if needed.
Unfortunately the tank is drilled at that bulkhead size, fittings are all 1 1/4". I'm running a mag 18 pump. I was told it was pretty powerful and should set up ball valves at the ruturn to slow down the flow? I meshed the top of the intake tubes wich have large spikes that should stop any critters from getting in there and plugging the system. What would be my options the increase the bulkhead size? You can't re drill a tank? Wouldn't that be potentially catastophic? This setup is 10 years old, it was the display tank in a fish store in kanata apparently.

[bitterman]

Thanks for the input guys, my intention with the ball valves is to be able to cut off flow entirely if needed.
Unfortunately the tank is drilled at that bulkhead size, fittings are all 1 1/4". I'm running a mag 18 pump. I was told it was pretty powerful and should set up ball valves at the ruturn to slow down the flow? I meshed the top of the intake tubes wich have large spikes that should stop any critters from getting in there and plugging the system. What would be my options the increase the bulkhead size? You can't re drill a tank? Wouldn't that be potentially catastophic? This setup is 10 years old, it was the display tank in a fish store in kanata apparently.

It is risky to re drill a tank also if the tank was ordered drilled, the glass might be tempered... 

A mag 18 will flow a lot more than you need! Also could create unwanted heat in the system. But they are reliable and powerful pumps.

I can help you if you want plumb the return line but the pic above has the main idea, basically it has 2 places the water flows back to the sump using ball valves to control them.

An easier method might be to decrease the size of the return pump. I did this in my kids 50g SW setup. You don't really need a lot of flow to the sump. too fast can actually cause problems.

Regards,
   Bruce