Plumbing for an Oceanic reef-ready tank?

[Qeistalan]

Hello folks, my name is Corey. I have purchased an Oceanic 120-gallon reef-ready tank with two overflow corners. I will be setting up this tank for freshwater fish & plants, and will be using 4x55w PCs purchased from Kim at http://www.ahsupply.com. For now, my question is solely about filtration. Instead of a sump system, I am connecting two Eheim 2028 cannister filters to the plumbing (drilled through the bottom) of this tank. A few mixed theories and questions:

(1) The pipes which came with the tank are shown on this site (second row down, center photo): http://www.wetdryfilter.com/starting_from_scratch.htm. The pipe on the right is the intake pipe; it has millions of tiny holes for the water to flow down from overflow box to sump. Since I am connecting Eheim cannisters (not a sump), I'm concerned this will suck too much air into the filters and cause problems ... as well as create a very low water level in the overflow corners, thus causing a very noisy "toilet-flushing" sound! I have considered using a design called the Durso Standpipe (http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe_frame.htm), but I don't know if this would actually work with the Eheim canisters.

(2) The tops of the overflow corners have dozens of small vertical slots to allow waterflow from tank to filtration piping. I have read other posts on the web that these holes are large enough for smaller fish (1.5" or less) to get "sucked down" into the overflow corners and killed. Has anyone found a good way to cover these vertical slots without waterflow restriction, or not having to clean the slot-covering material constantly?

If anyone has solid suggestions about these two questions, your input would be appreciated. Thank you!


Corey

 

[wayne]

I assume you'll have an Eheim at each overflow rather tan trying to 'parallel plumb' them.
I can only offer some thoughts - yes I think the durso standpipe will fix your problems, and it's what I'd do.

2) Obviously the slotting is a compromise. You can stop small fish going down by covering the slotting with s very fine plastic mesh _ I got one from a building store that is tough, semi rigid and has 1 mm holes I guess. However you will have to watch out for clogging, though hopefully this won't be more than a once weekly task

 

[Qeistalan]

Wayne, how did you attach this "plastic mesh" to the overflow corners? And, what exactly is this "mesh" called (so I can locate it in my local Home Depot)?

Thanks for your prompt reply, too!

 

[wayne]

Sorry for the less than prompt reply this time. I live in Europe so I don't have home depot - however I found a fine green plastic mesh in the gardening section of my local DIY shop. I tihnk you just need to go down and root around.
Fixing it - I'd start with superglue, or if you're nervous a bit of silicon glue, and press the plastic into the damp glue.

 

[michael]

I like the standpipe design but i'm concerned about the tiny air hole at the top with the use of a canister filter. To my understanding, canister filters do not like any air leaks on the intake because this can cause the impeller to fail prematurely. However, plugging the air hole at the top would resolve this but now you would have to deal with the initial priming. If the Eheim 2028 have a primer your good, otherwise, priming might become troublesome unless you incorperate some fancing plumbing below the bulkhead. I would also add an extension on the standpipe elbow intake so the actual intake is closer to the bottom.

I hope this helps.

 

[Qeistalan]

Michael, the Eheim 2028 does have a "plunger" priming mechanism. I agree with you about the air-hole in the top of the Durso standpipe; I think it would cause premature impellor burnout, so I will try mine without the air-hole. I'm installing the plumbing tomorrow (10/25), so wish me luck!