# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Plumbing for an Oceanic pre-drilled tank?



## Qeistalan (Feb 17, 2003)

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 AHSupply. 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 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, 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?

I've seen James's site, and it appears he has used Eheim canisters as well, but on a self-designed drill pattern. If anyone has solid suggestions about these two questions, your input would be appreciated. Thank you!

Corey
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58-gallon freshwater tank, lightly planted, LEGO underwater base theme: 1 Fantail Goldfish, 4 Lyretail Swordtails (2 Orange, 1 Red Wag, 1 Pineapple), 4 Corydoras (Albino, Axelrodi, Paleatus, Panda), 12 Tetras (1 Cardinal, 5 Black Neon, 6 Glowlight), 8 Barbs (2 Cherry, 6 Odessa), 3 Bumblebee Gobies, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Clown Pleco.

[This message was edited by Qeistalan on Thu October 02 2003 at 07:49 PM.]

[This message was edited by Qeistalan on Thu October 02 2003 at 07:50 PM.]


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## Qeistalan (Feb 17, 2003)

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 AHSupply. 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 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, 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?

I've seen James's site, and it appears he has used Eheim canisters as well, but on a self-designed drill pattern. If anyone has solid suggestions about these two questions, your input would be appreciated. Thank you!

Corey
__________
58-gallon freshwater tank, lightly planted, LEGO underwater base theme: 1 Fantail Goldfish, 4 Lyretail Swordtails (2 Orange, 1 Red Wag, 1 Pineapple), 4 Corydoras (Albino, Axelrodi, Paleatus, Panda), 12 Tetras (1 Cardinal, 5 Black Neon, 6 Glowlight), 8 Barbs (2 Cherry, 6 Odessa), 3 Bumblebee Gobies, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 1 Bristlenose Pleco, 1 Clown Pleco.

[This message was edited by Qeistalan on Thu October 02 2003 at 07:49 PM.]

[This message was edited by Qeistalan on Thu October 02 2003 at 07:50 PM.]


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## imported_timlawyer (Jul 14, 2003)

I was thinking through your problems - I don't have any specific experience on this so please take my advice with a grain of salt. But -

Water level:
Shouldn't you be able to control the level of water in the overflow column at the time of filling to make sure that the water level stays above the intake pipe (the one with the perforations)? If the tank is filled and water is flowing from the overflow into the column and the water level isn't high enough - couldn't you just add more water into the column and maintain the proper level because the Eheim is a closed system? Another thought - how about just packing the column with more foam - to act as bigger prefilter and to increase the level of the water by effectively decrease the volume within the column.


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## superjohnny (Jul 31, 2004)

Where did you get a pre-drilled Oceanic tank? I'd really like to see pictures if you have a chance.

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Fish are the things that live with my plants.


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## daisydog (Feb 6, 2003)

I have a 135g reef ready Oceanic with corner overflow boxes. The tank is heavily planted. I'm using a sump. I researched and considered getting the durso standpipes but haven't done it yet. The overflow boxes really aren't that loud anyway. I also considered hooking my Eheim 2028 up to the overflow boxes. I never did it but I suppose it would work.

When I turn off my pump, the overflow boxes drain and the water in the sump rises. When I turn it back on, the sump water level falls and the water level in the overflows rises.

As timlawyer said, an Eheim is a closed system, unlike a sump. The amount of water in the Eheim itself never changes. Therefore, I don't think the level of the water in the overflow boxes would ever change either. The amount of water the Eheim pumps into the tank will exactly equal the amount that overflows into the overflow boxes. Even when you turn the Eheim off, the water level in the overflows shouldn't change much. I think you should be able to fill the overflow up as high as you want even without the Durso standpipe. You could even fill them up to the water level of the tank itself.

Regarding fish in the overflow boxes: At one time I really wanted to have a huge school of about 50 cardinals. I bought 20 of them but every day I would find about 5 of them in the overflow boxes. Every day I would fish them out and they were fine, but the next day more cardinals would be in the overflow boxes. Eventually all the cardinals died. I also have otos overflow quite often. I just fish them out and they are fine. I tried a few things to prevent this. Following someone elses advice, I bought some plastic screen (the stuff people use to do needle point) and clipped it over the overflow teeth. This prevented fish from going into the overflow boxes, but it also caused all kinds of problems. The water didn't overflow properly so it was more noisy. It was also constantly getting clogged so the water level would rise way up. I researched it for a while and finally concluded that the only good solution was to have bigger fish, which is too bad because I really wanted the school of cardinals. If you used Eheims and filled the overflow boxes up to the top then there would be no overflow problems. That might be the best solution for you. Let me know how it works for you. Hope this helps.


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## daisydog (Feb 6, 2003)

By the way, I'm using 4x96W bulbs over my tank. That amount of light seems about perfect with my tank, but I am running pressurized CO2 and fertilizing pretty heavily. I have the Black Oak Oceanic stand. It looks great with the grey color of the Onyx sand substrate.


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## superjohnny (Jul 31, 2004)

daisydog you're *killing* me. PICS!!!







That sounds like a really cool setup. What are the dimensions of the tank? Is it long or deep?

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Fish are the things that live with my plants.


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## Justin Fournier (Jan 27, 2004)

I have a 75G predrilled, one corner overflow and have no problem regarding fish. Cherry shrimp is a WHOLE other story. They swim in there on purpose. I mean why scavenge algae when you can sit on a sponge your whole life and eat leftover food?









You can use eheims like you described, but make sure your water level is high in the overflow pipes to ensure you don't have any airlock problems.


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## daisydog (Feb 6, 2003)

The pump that I am using moves quite a bit of water. I think it is supposed to pump something like 700gph. It probably isn't actually pumping that much but probably still more than a couple of Eheims. I have a lot of water going into the overflow boxes so it sort of sucks the fish in if they get near the boxes. I could probably dial back the pump a little and might have fewer fish going into the overflows.

superjohnny, my tank is 6' long x 24" high x 18" front to back. I don't think I would want anything taller than this because it gets too hard to reach the bottom. I don't have any pictures right now. Sorry. I'm still working on getting a digital camera. I'll post some pictures once I get one.

If I had to do it again, I don't know if I would get the reef ready tank. The overflows are great for keeping your tank clean because all the junk and surface scum goes into the overflows. Using a sump is nice too. On the negative side, the overflows take up a lot of room and small fish tend to overflow. One other positive: it would be easier to convert to a reef tank, if I ever wanted to, but that's highly unlikely.


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## superjohnny (Jul 31, 2004)

6' is really long. I think for my next tank I'm going to get a 4'x2'x2'. I'm still in the beginning stages of planning it. I hope to bring it to fruition sometime next year... springtime maybe. Plumbing it is going to be more difficult than I first thought.

I'm interested in seeing how yours turns out. Thanks for sharing guys









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Fish are the things that live with my plants.


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## dysfunctional (Aug 20, 2003)

I am planning a 6 ft by 2.5 ft by 2.5 ft tank woth two corner overflow / underflow filters that drain into a sump filter. I have been trying to get as much information as possible on using sump filters on planted tanks but most people in Singapore use and recommend cannister filters. If anyone here can assist me with pictures of sump filter usage in planted tanks and other information it would be greately appreciated. 

I understand many people in the states use sump filters with planted tanks...any web sites to check out ??


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