Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I'm sorry. Won't be able until the weekend.
600 Gallon Upgrade Build
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I'm sorry. Won't be able until the weekend.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Reeflo Gold Dart/Snapper hybrid. I don't need them full blast now but when corals start to be placed and growing then yea. But I think I made a very bad design so I'm about to go back to old school.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I havent done a video yet but here is the problem I am speaking of.
Since the taking of this picture I placed caps on top of the tees and drilled holes on top of each one. Maybe if i drill bigger holes will that eliminate the pressure? But when I placed both pumps on full blast and opened the drains full blast, that's when I was getting the Las Vegas effect coming out the top of the tees.
Also I was under the assumption that a 2" drain was able to accommodate 3000-3500 GPH thus the reason I checked both pumps down.
Any ideas would be great. I really dont want to spend more money plumbing the tank but if I have to I will.
TYSDADI
New member
If you extend the pipes that are coming from the top of the tees to the height of the water line in the reef tank than the water will not come out the top any more. It would also give the air a chance to settle down and reduce the gurgling and slurping affect.
Also it's cheap and easy.
By the way. AWESOME!!!!!!
Plumbing a tank is like setting up a suspension on a car, its such a dark art and hard to figure out the optimum setup. Not sure about your drain issue, im using two pumps at 2150 each and two at 1350 each pushing about 26" upward through 3/4" flex hose. My two drains are 1.5" and its flowing enough to feed more than 5000gal/hr. Its a little noisy but doing it. You have two inch that should do much more than 3500 and hour I would think.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Yes I am. I was going to use them regardless. I just have to find magnets strong enough for 1.25" acrylic.
ReefKeeper64
Wanna be a reefkeeper
Try placing new caps on the tees with no holes in them. You have so little pipe after the tee that it won't matter. Its any easy test worth trying.
Crazy_Beaver
New member
Wayne can you explain what Las Vegas means?Can u put a pic of the overflow box?How many pipes do u have for overflow?
My guess is that you are introducing a lot of air onto the pipe and thus there is not enough space for water.It should be noisy too, right?
Sorry if you have pics of that before but the page number on your thread grows in a fast rate!:fun2:
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
In an earlier pic I show the opening of the tee to the sump. When power is applied to the tank water shoots up out the tees. I have a cap on them now with a hole drilled on top.
I'm going to try Chris's method and see what happens. If not then TY has a good idea because Chris has a similar way he did his plumbing.
SPotter
Active member
Wayne, this may sound a little extreme and will require some additional plumbing but why not lower the water level to a point where you can drill a hole on the back panel for a 2" bulkhead and then plumb one of the return pumps in as a closed loop system? 7000 gph thru the sump just seems like an awful lot.
Alex T.
Active member
Yup...waste of electricity. Your skimmer will have a heck of a time catching up with more than 10 x the tank's turnover running through the sump per hour. I actually throttled my return pump back a bit to get between 2 and 3 times the turnover through the sump and my skimmer is pulling much more skim mate per day. When you ARE skimming, it will take much longer to build a foam head again and the tank will be getting dirtier until there are enough organics to be skimmed. Been there/done that. In my last tank I had a 4 foot ETSS skimmer on a 150 gallon tank. It skimmed like crazy at the beginning and then just stopped for over a week until it could build up enough organics. When I called Gary at AETech he told me more than 5 times tank turnover through the sump and a skimmer won't work optimally at all. It just can't process enough water as it flies by the skimmer. You'll also run the risk of an overflow as you try and raise the water level in your skimmer so that it can produce for you. Once the organics catch up, you'll overflow it for sure, and blame the skimmer.
Your other option is to just cap the one bulkhead return and keep the pump as a backup. There's a video on Youtube from Jeff Macare of ReefDynamics where he says maximum turnover of the tank volume through the sump should be no greater than 3 times per hour. I totally agree with this. Your sump is a filter, and blowing the water past the skimmer, carbon and other filtration is defeating the purpose of dwell time to maximize the percentage of clean water that gets returned to the tank at an optimal rate. Plus, you save on electricity. Personally, I'd manifold one pump and run everything off of it (return, zeovit, carbon, gfo; anything.
dave.m
Active member
Lots of opinions on this stuff. I don't know if I'd go as slow as 3 tank volumes per hour, but a simple rule of thumb is to gear your sump turnover to be a bit less than whatever your skimmer is rated for. e.g. aim for 5 tank volumes per hour through the sump and get a skimmer(s) that can handle 5.25 to 5.5 tank volumes per hour.
I like SPotter's idea of using one of the returns as a closed loop, but I don't know that you'd have to come back into the tank via bulkhead. Over the top and down would be easier and give you more options as to where to direct the flow.
Dave.M
I like SPotter's idea of using one of the returns as a closed loop, but I don't know that you'd have to come back into the tank via bulkhead. Over the top and down would be easier and give you more options as to where to direct the flow.
Dave.M
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Alex T.
Active member
Dave, I don't know if it's necessarily opinion. I've experienced this first hand and a 2 renowned skimmer manufacturers confirm this as well. Throttle back your return pump and see for yourself, or I'll just agree to disagree.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Well the skimmer feed is around 1300 GPH. So the sump should be at least that much right.
dave.m
Active member
No, sorry for being incoherent. I'm in and out today with several things going on at once. That last note should have said a skimmer capacity of 1.25 to 1.5 times the sump flow-through. You don't want to reach your skimmer's max. Rather, you want to oversize your skimmer a bit so that it doesn't reach the point where it gets overwhelmed, as Alex T pointed out.
Dave.M
Dave.M
Ricardo18
New member
..just to add some more (confusion?),I don't think the sump turnover rate directly correlates to the skimmer rate (and the skimmer efficiency).
For example, a very popular skimmer, the RO 8000 is rated to handle up to a 1500 gallon aquarium, but the recommended pump to feed the skimmer is only 1500 GPH.
So the normal 5x tank turnover rate for a 1500 gallon tank is 7,500 gph that should be pushed trough the sump for this set-up....BUT, with a skimmer rate of only 1500 gph. ....so maybe you should just go with the old norms;
5x tank turnover rate through the sump and whatever the skimmer's specs call for.
For example, a very popular skimmer, the RO 8000 is rated to handle up to a 1500 gallon aquarium, but the recommended pump to feed the skimmer is only 1500 GPH.
So the normal 5x tank turnover rate for a 1500 gallon tank is 7,500 gph that should be pushed trough the sump for this set-up....BUT, with a skimmer rate of only 1500 gph. ....so maybe you should just go with the old norms;
5x tank turnover rate through the sump and whatever the skimmer's specs call for.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
The skimmer I'm using is rated for 800 gallons so I should in theory meet the flow through the pump to at least match the skimmer intake?
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Thanks for further confusing me. I think imma try and get a flow meter.
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