AGA overflow drain help

[jbailey52]

Hi everyone, so I am moving my 90 gal overflow tank. I had a thought and wanted to see the pros and cons of this. My tank now has a corner overflow with a 1" drain and a 3/4 return that goes to a 30 gal sump/refugium. I just installed the tank in my office wall and all of the equipment is now in my garage so I have tons of room.
I was thinking of using my 3/4 return bulkhead as a drain also, and then installing either a new drilled bulkhead/return line, or just a return loc line piece that goes over the top of the tank. The tank background is painted so it wouldn't be a problem seeing exposed piping. Is there any drawback from doing this? I figure it will give me some nice turnover. My return pump is a mag 18 so I know it has plenty of juice.
Also if I use one dual loc line return, what size PVC should I be using for return 1"? 1 1/4"?

 

[acrylic51]

Congrats on the move.......
My first question is what is the height between the garage and your new location of the tank......Actually I don't see a huge gain in the 3/4" bulkhead as the drain.....If anything and you mentioned about drilling a new hole, I would find out if the bottom of the tank is tempered....If it's not tempered I would try to enlarge the 3/4" hole to fit a 1" bulkhead to see a real gain.....
With that said as long as the Mag can overcome the distance your looking at pumping I don't see why it wouldn't work.....I would keep the plumbing as large as possible till just entering the tank.....

 

[jbailey52]

Thanks for the reply. I may have been confusing. The tank is about 34-36" above the sump which is directly under it. So I can look into enlarging for a 1" bulk head. What about sizing for the return line? Will 1" also work?

 

[jbailey52]

Also how can I tell if it is tempered? And would it mean it is tempered if it is already drilled?

 

[jbailey52]

Sorry for all the questions but now I am looking into tank drilling and I am seeing all the tempered glass / non tempered glass questions. My tank is already drilled, and people say the bottom is always tempered glass so can I safely increase the size of the 3/4" bulkhead hole to fit a 1" bulkhead? How about if I drill a new bulkhead in the side of the tank for the return

 

[acrylic51]

If the bottom is tempered you can't enlarge or drill the bottom anywhere.....The tanks or bottoms of the tanks are drilled and then tempered......As far as drilling the side or back you'd be fine. Not exactly sure if you can tell or not about temper, but I'm pretty sure it would be though, but you could always check AGA site.

 

[jbailey52]

Good stuff. Looks like ill just use the 3/4 as a drain also... I guess it can only add more flow even if its not preferable size.

 

[acrylic51]

If your looking to add more flow to the tank it should be done through the use of PH's or other means of circulation inside the tank.....Speeding the flow through your sump isn't necessarily the best or easiest way to go about it. Increasing flow through the sump could create micro bubble issue depending on size, construction of your sump.....

 

[jbailey52]

Thanks. Besides the return pump I use 3 koralia power heads. A 1450 a 1050 and a 750 so I do have good turn over in that respect but maybe I will rethink this.