new to the Salt Water World

[alloymetals]

My first tank going to be 3 or 4 fish and Coral

well here is what i am starting with
lots of time to waste

125 gallon all glass tank
DIY Stand
DIY 1" PVC overflows
DIY 1" PVC returns
DIY Sump/refugium 40 gallon breeder

Need to get

ASM G3 Skimmer
BlueLine 40 HD-X External Pump
3 250W Metal Halide Lights
some kinda UV Sterilizer need some help here
140lbs of live rock


pictures soon to come

let me know what you think

[gouch]

wow, jumping right in......
im along for the ride sounds cool

[alloymetals]

the front of the tank you can see i have 8 return nozzles 2 every 2 foot and the 2 overflows in the middle



now the back you can see my mess



one of the soon to be drilled refugium



and another



and just a shot of the whole thing




tell me what i did wrong

thanks garret

[Jnicho]

Hard to tell for sure, but I don't think that will work right...it looks like your "overflows" are "U-shaped" over the top siphons, and only 3/4" pipe? I've done that kind of DIY setup before...two things I found out with those...1) It's almost impossible to start the siphon automatically...in theory they should, but I found that at least 50% of the time I had to "help"...I ended up adding a fitting attached to a small pump to ensure they would "start" every time. 2) This style of "overflow" is really slow...2 3/4" drains are not going to handle any amount of water at all on a 125g tank.

Also, do you plan to use all 8 returns from the sump?...that will be way to much flow through your sump even if your overflows would handle it (which they won't)...I would suggest one return from the sump and use the rest for a closed loop setup.

I know it sounds like I'm raining on your parade...but I've been down that road, LOL!

[alloymetals]

no they are 2 1" overflows and i have done a little changing and i made one a 1 1/2" overflow for the sump and has a 1 1/2" return for itself and the 8 returns are for a closed loop which will are feed by a 1" overflow and are split in the middle by a 1" SCWD.

[Loverotties]

Going to need more light!

[Jnicho]

Originally Posted by alloymetals

no they are 2 1" overflows and i have done a little changing and i made one a 1 1/2" overflow for the sump and has a 1 1/2" return for itself and the 8 returns are for a closed loop which will are feed by a 1" overflow and are split in the middle by a 1" SCWD.

OK...that makes more sense...glad you are doing the CLS...that had me worried, LOL! I wish I'd used an OM4 on my 125...if you're not too far along you might consider that even though it's a bit more $$$...Good luck with the DIY overflows...like I said, I've done them on 2 different tanks and neither worked all that well IMO.

[alloymetals]

here is some of the new items added the 1 1/2" overflow



overflow to sump



the modified 1" overflow for the CLS



G3 protein skimmer



ordered 2 pump eductors for the 2 empty holes in the CLS and ordered a Blueline 70 HD pump for the sump.

[alloymetals]

Originally Posted by Loverotties

Going to need more light!

yes those are the lights that came with the tank. will get 3 250w metal halide lights when i start adding live stock

[Jnicho]

So the CLS is fed by the DIY strainer pipe? My CLS is 1" as well...that looks like it should work...I'm still not sure about that siphon overflow to the sump...maybe you'll have better luck with it than I did, LOL!

[alloymetals]

Originally Posted by Jnicho

So the CLS is fed by the DIY strainer pipe? My CLS is 1" as well...that looks like it should work...I'm still not sure about that siphon overflow to the sump...maybe you'll have better luck with it than I did, LOL!

its worth a try i can afford a $200 overflow so..

[cutietwo]

wow that looks confusing. i couldn't do a diy project of any sort to save my life! Glad you know what your doing looks impressive/intimidating to me! ha ha

[alloymetals]

have done a few changes added a blue line 40 hdx and a 1" scwd to a CLS which is using the 8 outlets 6 with 1/2" fan nozzles and 2 with 1/2 enductor nozzles. went with a blue line 70 hd for the return pump. got everything plumbed and ready to go just have to make some rock lifts tomrrow and add the 200 lbs of rock i rounded up. going to scrap the fish list and start over very slow.

[fihsboy]

Have you tested out that overflow?

[alloymetals]

well i finaly made enough water to fill the tank, sump, and all the plumbing lines and fired up the pumps. so far no leaks..... had to take the 70 hd off the sump because the overflow cant keep up with it. the 40 hdx works perfect on the sump and the overflow works nicely. its a little noisy but i will work on that tomrrow. finaly i get to see my skimmer pulling some stuff out of the water. getting the rock in took sometime but i think im happy. going to let it run all night alone going to keep my fingers crossed........