drilling and sump Q's

where should i drill my holes in my actual aquarium. As for my sump how high should my refugium wall be, and how far down should the pipes go into the actual sump.

 

I would drill the hole(s) for the overflow in the back top right corner. Use a diamond coated drill bit to grind the glass. If the tank is not tempered it will probably be easiest to use a Glass Holes Overflow. What size, will depend on the size of your aquarium(display tank).

If the glass in tempered, you can use an overflow box which goes over the rim of the tank. The Eshopps are the most commonly used and best design.

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18358

Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff

I would recommend 1" drain line to the sump from your tank. the return line size will really depend on your return pump size. The recommended OF rate is 10X your tank volume. i.e. for a 100g aquarium you will want to have nearly 100gph for your drain. For larger tanks you made need multiple overflows. Some of the larger ones are "reef-ready", which already come with drilled overflows.

I would have the sump 1/2 to 3/4 full. It really just depends on how big your display tank is. Just be sure that if you turn off the return pump and your overflow empties, you have room for that much water in your sump(extra).

The drain line into the sump really only needs to be enough to go just under the water level. I have mine to that it goes down to the water level of the sump and then takes a 90* elbow, into the refugium. On my skimmer side I would just get a filter-sock and hang it on the side of your sump tank.

Here are two brands of filter socks.

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22577
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16746