90 Gallon Reef Tank

[awilliams4806]

I found a tank that I might buy tomorrow that is reef ready. It has an overflow box built in and 2 holes in the bottom of the overflow. Im trying to understand why there are 2 holes side by side. I was told that one hole was for it to drain, and the other was for return.
Now I can see how that works but, wouldnt that just keep draining the same water it just pumped back into the display?
I am thinking the reason for the 2 holes are both for draining. Maybe the bigger hole to drain more water into where the skimmer would be and the smaller to drain raw water directly into the fuge section?
I bought a 29 gallon rubbermaid tub to use for the sump. Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of material i could use to put the different sections into the sump?
Please help me out if you can thanks

 

[oceansidefish]

Yes one is a return, if its in use it may already be plumbed. Basically the smaller one is your return. The drain will go into (generally) the left side of your sump and the return will come out of your pump on the right side. Also I would ditch the rubermaid tub and go buy a 40 or 50 g tank to use.

 

[str8salt]

I would also suggest building a tank based sump with seperate refugium. If you want to use a single tank a 55 will fit but it leaves you with very liitle room for sump maintance. A 40 long works great as it has the same footprint but is not as tall.

 

[awilliams4806]

ok so I got the tank it is a 90 gallon Aqueon reef ready. It has one over flow box in the back middle with the 2 holes. I bought the tank sump and took back the rubber maid.
My question now is what size bulkheads do i need for the holes? I believe the drain hole it 1 3/4 in, and the return is 1 1/2 in.
And also what size pump should i look at for the return?
Thanks again for the help I will post pics and keep up to date as best as possible on my progress after I clean the garage and start working on the sump.

 

[girlina4x4]

For the return, I would suggest a Mag 9. Cuurently, there is a Mag 7 on my 65 gallon tank. As for bulkheads....

Haha, good luck though! Tank builds are fun!

 

[awilliams4806]

ok so I got the bulkheads figured out and tonight I put in the first baffle for the skimmer area in the sump and cut the other 3 pieces to size for the fuge and bubble diffuser. Hopefully can have the sump finished by wednesday and then work on the plumbing on new year vacation

 

[awilliams4806]

here is a pick of the sump so far

 

[kaingers]

What size tank are you are using for your sump? I just purchased a 90g RR myself and it came with a poorly made DYI 20g long sump. Sources are telling me that the sump needs to be in the 30+ range to be effective for a 90 gallon tank. Not to mention the footprint of the Octopus skimmer that came with the setup barely fits the 20.

 

[awilliams4806]

Mine is 30 gallons

 

[oceansidefish]

You are going to want to redo those baffles. You really want one on the glass, one about an inch up and then another on the glass to keep the bubbles away. Check out the DIY section.

 

[awilliams4806]

That is what I am trying to do I believe there is only one baffle in there so far and then there will be 3 more added.
Is that what you are meaning or am I missing something? please let me know if something is wrong I really appreciate all the help even when I do something wrong that way I can fix it now instead of 5 months from now when there is 120 gallons of water involved.