Sumpday blues

So I recently implemented what I like to call the redneck version of a reverse durso to quiet my sump and its help but I was sitting staring into my sump closet with a beer and got to thinking...
( oh no, right!)

I plumbed everything in 3/4" pipe. I want to make it bigger incase something crazy happens as well as make my sump a little neater ( you'll see what I mean when I post the pics )

Should I cut the pipe after my over flow and put some reducers on to say, 1 1/2" pipe? Also my sump is split where one drains into the skimmer side and the other to the return pump side. I want to plumb to return pump side so the drain pipe drops down into a 5 gal refugium that sits on top of the 20long sump and ill drill it and put a drain from that that goes into the return pump side of the sump?

Sound ok?

Also I noticed by the water level in my shady carpentry the front left side of the tank sits low, can I shim this up MAYBE, 1/8"?


Current sump :




Refuge idea :



Thought/input?

For the sake of preserving future 5 gallon tanks....it's best to put very little pressure on the drill.

I had only drilled thick glass before and I busted the tank the 5 gal. Luckily it was free.

I've ran back and forth with ideas of a bucket, etc and am going to leave it as is. I put some rock around the mag 7 to keep it from sucking up the chaeto. And it's working well. Replumbed in 1" and it solved the pressure and splashing issues so I believe I'm good to go.

I tried plumbing the mag 7 externally sitting inside a bucket through a bulkhead and it didn't really want to suck up any water so without emptying the sump and drilling it, I don't think it'll be able to pull water up high although it pushes water fine. So for the time being, it's a internal pump.