Help on Plumbing for 180g

[howman1]

Plumbing Help/suggestions for 180g
hi, i am buying an oceanic 180g rr tank --72 inch(replacing the 100g). I have some questions and want some suggestions.

I have made holes behind the wall, where i will have a 20g refugium and 40g sump. These will be fed by the 2 overflows using the inlandreef.com plumbing design.
Currently, I own 3 inline pumps

GRI 510
Iwaki MD20 RLXT
Iwaki WMD30 RLT
Question 1) Which pump do you think I should use for the return?

CLOSED LOOP
I am thinking of having 2 x1.5 inch bulkheads placed in back of tank, 10 inches down and both two feet from each side.

Question 2: Are these the correct size bulkheads? Can I have this plumbing all done in the stand (not through wall in next room so I don't reduce head loss)
Question 3: Can any of my above pumps handle this flow, or do I need the ampmaster 3000?

Question 4: Should I have the closed loop returns come back with 2 3/4 inch sea swirls (they are kind of pricy).


Protein Skimmer

Currently, I have a myreefcreations MR1 powered by a Mag12
-Andy said he will sell me a new riser tube, does this sound sufficient,
Question 4: Can I use any of my above pumps for power skimmer?
Question 5: How would I plumb the skimmer with an External Pump

Thanks, I put a lot down over here and would appreciate all suggestions.

Howard

 

[suckair]

closed loop,

I have not done closed loop before but am currently building a new tank that is 100% closed loop. No sump.

The benifets are no head loss! That can make a big difference in large systems where you want to use a Ampmaster 3000 style of pump. Alos if you go totaly closed loop you don't have to deal with the space hogging overflows! This gives you more options in design.

One problem, killing critters that get sucked into a return and controling bubbles. I plan to use very large returns 2" on a 1/2 supply system. I also plan to use more than one to prevent critters from getting sucked in. This way if one return gets cloged the pressure is transfered to the oter allowing the cirtter to escape. These returns can be hidden behind rocks.

as for skimmers I would use a beckett style skimmer on a system that size.. I split the return form my ampaster 3k to the skimmer and the tank and only used one pump on the whole tank! I don't know what I would do with a 180 I would have to think about it.

You could go with a small beckett skimmer, and a sen 4k GPH pump to run the whole system. You would not have a backup incase of pump fail so maybe dual dolphin 3k's and valves to bypass incase of failure.

I think if I were to build I would go with dual dolphin 3k's and rainbow inline heater, and inline chiller or combo chiller/heater unit. I would also build a acrylic box to glue probes into so you could have probes inline as well and have not sump!

However as cool as these ideas sound I have never done it YET!

Randall