Plumbing Advice

[circlek]

I have a 92 corner w/overflow and a 30 gallon sump. I have never plumbed a tank before, so I am looking for some advice.

It is an all-glass tank, so I believe the drain is 1" and the return is 3/4. I plan to split the drain so that most of the flow goes to the skimmer section of the sump, and some goes to the fuge. Is a gate valve the way to do this?

I am planning on buying an Eheim 1260 for my return pump. This is rated at 635 GPH, and I am thinking that after head and friction losses this should be about right for my setup. What do you think?

I am planning on using flexible PVC or spaflex to plumb the return line. Do I need to put a check valve after the pump to prevent backflow when the pump is off?

I want to do this right to minimize risks of flooding as this tank will be in my living room. If you have learned some lessons the hard way, please clue me in.

Thanks,

Karl

 

[george]

My 2 cents:

Splitting the overflow drain, in my opinion, is not such a great idea. If you simply split it (t connector or whatever) you'll get unreliable levels of flow to each location which can be tough to manage. Placing some sort of gate valve is adding an inhibitor to the flow that can clog/grow things/back up which isn't good either. You want free flow out as much as gravity and the hole size will allow.

The return pump is fine, but you don't want to rely on that for circulation. I assume you'll be buying powerheads or hydor/tunze/seio/maxi-jet pumps for circulation.

For the return line, you can use a check-valve, but that will further cut your pump's output. Better is to have the return at a level that will break siphon before the overflow stops overflowing water.

The important part is that your sump can handle the amount of water that will continue to drain out through your overflow until it stops.

 

[jetchris]

have all your drain water going into one place. Have a seperate fuge - buy a MJ400 with some small flex line. Put the mj 400 in your sump and have it feed your fuge. Put a bulkhead on the fuge when the water in the fuge reaches the bulkead it will drain out through pvc and be gravity fed back into your sump

eheim 1260 sounds good

Yes defintaly a ball vavle right after the pump outlet. that way you can close thevalv to remove the pump

As far as flooding turn your pump off when everything is set. Hopefully the water from your tank and fuge will not overflow your sump.

 

[circlek]

George and Chris,

Thanks for the advice. This is exacly the kind of thing I need to know.

I hadn't thought of using a separate small pump to feed the fuge, and I like that idea.

Karl

 

[cameron]

George;44177 wrote: Splitting the overflow drain, in my opinion, is not such a great idea. If you simply split it (t connector or whatever) you'll get unreliable levels of flow to each location which can be tough to manage. Placing some sort of gate valve is adding an inhibitor to the flow that can clog/grow things/back up which isn't good either. You want free flow out as much as gravity and the hole size will allow.

Creating a T from the drain with a gate valve after it is very safe and reliable. A lot of people prefer this method as it requires one less pump. Pumps generate heat, consume electricity, use up space, eventually fail and present an increased electrical shortage possibility in a tank. The main advantage of a pump is that it is easier than plumbing. I agree you shouldn't T the drain with no gate valve running to the fuge and you should avoid ball valves, but a lot of the more advanced designs use a T from the drain into the fuge without any issues.

George;44177 wrote: For the return line, you can use a check-valve, but that will further cut your pump's output. Better is to have the return at a level that will break siphon before the overflow stops overflowing water.

Check valves in saltwater are just a really bad idea even under the pressure of a return which tends to keep them clean. Calcium deposits easily around these kinds of devices and when the check valve closes it may not open back up properly which can quickly burn out a pump. Beyond calcium deposits, check valves are just prone to failure in general and relying on one to keep your floors dry is a recipe for disaster.

Considered a great solution to the overflow sump problem is to point a nozzle of the return above the water line or drill a small hole in the plumbing above the water line. I personally prefer the first option as small holes tend to clog. If you want to be really sure, you can add plumbing to the sump near the top that runs outside or into the drain. This way if water drains above this mark, it gets drained away rather than overflowing. This option works well but has some design issues in most installations.