IndianaSam

I’ve already tested my wife’s patience enough for now. I’m going to give it a year or two and then build a large acrylic tank ;-)

Yup, it’s a reasonably old tank. When I bought it, I hadn’t the slightest clue about the state of the art for sumps and plumbing. If I were to do this again, I’d probably buy an undrilled tank, drill it myself and put in newer/better rear overflow.

The left overflow has the siphon and open drains while the right overflow has the emergency drain. Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but isn’t that a Bean Animal?

First of all, thanks to everyone who replied. Your input helped a bunch. I decided to go with a BeAn Animal configuration in my tank. To circumvent the issue of stagnant water in the overflow containing the return and emergency drain, I’m filling it with sand for a deep sand bed to a few inches from the weir. Secondly, if interested, you can read about my build progress here: https://www.capitalcichlids.org/forums/threads/setting-up-my-135g-with-sump.36809/post-283574

Well, I just thought you guys would be the sump experts in the DC area ;-) After a lot of thought, I’m going to run a bean animal system. In the overflow that contains the return and emergency drain, I’ll put a small powerhead/pump in order to keep the water from becoming stagnant. I’ll post updates or more questions as they come. Once again, thanks for the help!

Thanks for the input, Origami. I didn't want to out myself like this, but it's going to be a freshwater tank. Is surface skimming as important in that case?

Whoops. Just measured them and the holes are 2” and 1.5”.

For background, I recently purchased a used 135g "reef ready" aquarium. It has been drilled in both back corners and has overflows already installed. The drilled holes appear to be 1" and 3/4", respectively, with one of each in both corners -- so 2 - 1" and 2 - 3/4" total. I plan on installing a 40g "long" tank, which is 4' long, underneath for the sump. Would a "Herbie" style drain in one corner be the most appropriate? With the 3/4" as my main drain and 1" as the emergency drain? It looks like I could pretty easily place the sump tank so that it's a straight shot for the drains to avoid anywhere that air could collect in the drain. I guess I would run the pump return into the other corner through one of the other holes and then should I just plug the fourth with a bulkhead? Most of my "Herbie" knowledge comes from here --> https://gmacreef.com/herbie-overflow-reef-tank-plumbing-method-basics/ This tank will be in my basement with the rest of my aquariums so noise isn't necessarily a big issue and I was thinking of going with an AC pump rather than DC. Any recommended brands and GPH? I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I wanted to start this reasonably short and sweet Thanks in advance, Sam