Starting my new tank

[MAReefer1]

Finnally Im going to have some room to work with.
Im going to be starting a 55 gallon, which is a step up from my measly 20. I have been planning for a few weeks, and I just cleaned out the tank today, which was Freshwater for about 3 years.

My idea was to drill two bulk heads in the tank. One in the top left and another on the bottom right. With some major help from my dad... connect them to a fuge/sump under the tank, which will likely be my old 20 gallon. Im going to split the 20 and make 1 part refugium (deep sandbed, Macro algea), and the other part for the skimmer.

I had a little fun with Google sketch up late yesterday, this is the idea that I was going for.

I have no clue what size pump to get, does anyone have suggestions? how bout bulkead size and what size PVC piping? Ill probly be drilling the tank later today or tomorow, and Im gonna take a trip to HD for the PVC.

 

[Triggerfish]

you're probably not going to want too much flow going through the fuge section, so i wouldn't get anything to strong.. maybe a Quiet one 3000 would be a good option.

 

[Moe_K]

Since you're only going to be pumping about 3 or 4 feet in height, you don't need to get a massive pump.
You have to figure out how much water your exit hole/bulkhead will allow water to drain. The bigger the hole/bulkhead, the more water it will drain.
This is key, because you certainly can't add water to the tank faster than it can drain out!
The size of the drain (and the return hole) will determine what size pump you cna use, and will help determine your plumbing.

 

[JayM]

In looking at your sketch, make sure that wherever you drill your 'drain' hole, make sure that when your pump is OFF, and gravity does it's work, that you don't flood your sump & fuge. Were you going to put overflows in front of either of the holes? You'll at least need a check valve on the lower hole, or 40 of the 50 gallons will drain into a 20 gallon tank once the power goes out (and it always does, eventually).

There is an excellent point about fuge flow as well. Consider a T for your drain with a gate valve to control fuge flow, and dump the rest into the sump.

 

[MAReefer1]

Thanks Jay, I probly would have made that mistake. I will move the bulkhead from the lower right to the top right.