[Boondoggle]

I put my drains about 1 inch up, on the back wall. I use clear flexible hose which runs down to a plastic rain gutter just like on the edge of your roof. The rain gutter is mounted at a slight angle so that the water runs down to the end and falls into a bucket. The ends of the plastic hoses do not touch the gutter for fear of cross contamination. It is easy to roll up the hoses and tape them to the top of the vivs when I have to move them.

That is the exact setup I have.

If you didn't have Euro fronts, and you didn't care about aesthetics, then having them on the front would probably be better. I recently had a bulkhead leak and I didn't see it until I slid the rack out to chase out the spiders. Use opaque hoses when possible as it will help with the algae growth.

As far as misters go, you cant beat Mist King. Talk to Marty, I would expect him to cut you a deal since you will clearly be buying in bulk. Buy the standard nozzles. With a setup as big as yours, you will probably want to get a RO system and hook it up to a large tank with an auto shutoff. I refill my mister tank by hand, but even with just 10 spray heads I go through about 6 gallons a week.

 

[Boondoggle]

What size bulkheads are people using?

I go 1" with Italian Bottling Spigots.

Vintage Shop 5/16" And 3/8" Bottling Spigot-Homebrew4less.com LLC

From the barbed end I go 3/8 hose to drain gutter. The ones I bought only came with one gasket so made a second one to provide a gasket on each side. I've on had one leak (very small amount) and it was easily tightened from the outside (spun valve 360 degrees). I like the option of having a valve and it takes care of the 90 degree turn.

 

[Boondoggle]

I'm curious why people are having their bulkheads come out of the sides of the tank vs directly out of the bottom of the tank?

For all the reasons mentioned and also because all my tanks incorporate a small pond in a front corner. For this to work I need about 1.5" of standing water under the false bottom. By drilling my drain on the back wall a little over an inch above the bottom I'm able to accomplish this. Even though I pull eggs, I find tadpoles in these ponds often and have even had froglets morph out.

 

[Boondoggle]

I also thought of closeable spigots off the fronts....and just walking around the room once a week and draining each tank manually into a bucket? Think they will 'fill up' too quickly? I do manual misting now, and usually dont have to hand drain vivs for 3-6 mo between but the misting systems must put out a lot more water....

S

That was my initial idea, but the Mrs told me they would look way better hidden so I acquiesced. She was probably right, now I just have to dump one bucket once a week. Automate, says I. If you have auto-misters, you need no fuss draining. I can hardly fathom the fact that you hand-misted that whole room of yours.

I have one rack with 10 nozzles. I mist about 6 gallons a week, and drain off 3-4 gallons depending on the weather. As was mentioned before, though, that could drastically change with your misting schedule.