Dirt4dinner's build up

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Tyler,

Looking good my brutha!!! Nice and clean just the way you wanted it. I really dig the sump. that is way sharp. were you able to get your leak test done yet???? Keep us posted.

[Dirt4dinner]

No water in the system yet. I still have a couple dozen more trips to HD. I love it there...NOT! So, hopefully tonight I can get back into it a little more. The biggest thing right now is modifing my return set-up. Thanks to DaveJNZ who can't leave well-enough alone! So thats going to require some drilling, cusing, and praying. I will keep you posted.

Eric is a poo-poo head.

[Dirt4dinner]

Ok, I got back to it last night and did some (IMO) MAJOR changes to the layout of the system. Here is the nitty gritty:

When I bought the tank it came with dual 1/2" returns in the form of 2 PVC pipes running up the inside of the overflow chamber, through the opening in the top of the aquarium and then doing a "U" turn back into the top of the aquarium. Like in the 1st picture (except in this picture they aren't actually screwed into anything, they are just sitting there, but you get the idea).

The new idea is to drill holes on either side of the overflow and plumb the returns to exit through these holes rather than having to make the trip up out of the tank and through two elbows (I was told that would cost me some water flow, and it didn't look very good IMO).

So once the holes where drilled, I mounted 1" bulkheads on both sides of the overflow chamber and I will run hoses up through the overflow chamber where the dual 1/2" PVC pipes once were and out the new bulkheads. This will look extra clean once I get my hands on some of that black socket joint flex tubing stuff.

The other modification I did was to add 2x 45 degree elbows to the overflow pipe (mostly because I accidently mounted the new return bulkheads in the way, and had to get the overflow pipe to go behind the new bulkheads). I also added a 1-1/4" "T" with a cap to make the system quiet (according to DaveJNZ...master of sumps and overflows). There is a picture of the overflow stand pipe laying on the top of my tank, and then another one where I am holding it in place with my finger...I should be a hand model, anyways.

So here are the photos of the new holes, my new over flow pipe, and me the made scientist who almost fainted at the thought of drilling holes in my new tank. But it worked!