Help....I'm confused about the plumbing?

Ok...so as many of you would know, I bought these tanks and filters from a guy who is very good at DIY stuff... He's pissing me off these days so I didn't want to ask him to set it back up for me.

I can't seem to figure out how this filter works. Plz don't ridicule my set up, I know it's inferior but it worked for him for many, many years and I'm workin on a student budget lol.

Three tanks drain into one filter.
A spray bar is to be attached at the top to disperse the water evenly around the filter.
There is a 1" hole for the drain and a half inch for the return. I get how the return works but I don't understand how there could be a seperate hole for drainage plus the spray bar.
I can't figure out how to get the water to drain into the spray bar and the drain one inch hole at the same time.
It's not as simple as putting a PVC tee to join the two together because if I do that, there wouldn't be enough water pressure to cause the spray bar to spin...
I just can''t put my finger on it.
The pictures below should be self-explanatory. If my text is confusing, explain to me what you need to know and I'll try to be more clear.
One of the other tanks I bought from him, I simply boycotted the one inch hole and directed the overflow straight to the spray bar... But I don't think that will work here. This filter is smaller than the others.
The PVC pipe at the top is the one inch and the one below it is the half inch return. The one inch hole at the top of the glass is for the spray bar.

 

BTW... I think I have to use a PVC tee from the return to the spray bar and therefore, that would render enough pressure to make the spray bar spin but for some reason or the other, that doesn't make sense to me. I may be wrong and this may be the right answer... but I don't know...
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get these tanks up and running and I'm stuck:-/

 

In the filter, there are two holes, one for input and one for output...I know it's hard to tell from my photos... sorry about that

 

I am with mission ITO confusion RE the spraybar. Can you start out with a wide angle shot so I can see exactly what you have going ITO your DT/Sump/Fuge, where the holes are and what you believe the flow should look like....Thanks dude.

 

I think I get you... See, I thought that the line from the overflow was supposed to be connected to the spray bar but since u said that it's usually used from the return pump, I think I just have to put on a tee to connect the return pipe to the spray bar?

 

Well, because of the clutter in the room, I am unable to get a wide angled shot... There are aquariums all over. I can hardly move.

The filter is a two stage filter. The top level where the spray bar is going and the one inch hole for drainage from the three main tanks is supposed to have sponge and cell pore layed down but I haven't put that in as yet.
The top layer also has three holes drilled in it. I guess that these holes are for the water from the top layer to drain to the second.
The second layer has crushed coral and this is where the return pump will be situated.
I hope these pics could clear up a few things.
The first one is a pic of the top layer. N.B. the hole in the center is where the spray bar is supposed to be.
The second one is a pic of the second layer where the return pump is located.

 

so there are 4 tanks total including the sump? you need a better photo but anyway...spraybars are always hooked up to the out flow side of the return so they are "spraying" water...not sucking water. So yeah you will need to hook up 2 xT's to connect two spray bars...one in the lowest tank and one in the next tank up the line... then a 90 elbow to the spray bar in the highest tank. then each one will have its own seperate drain to go to the sump located below all three tanks.

 

Yep four tanks including the sump. There's only one spray bar on the set up.

So let me get this straight, I am gonna be using a tee to connect the return pump to both the spray bar and the return pipe to the 3 aquariums?

 

are the tanks going to be stacked on shelves one above the other and the sump all the way on the floor? which tank do you want to use the spray bar in?