A couple plumbing?'s

[mr.maroonsalty]

First, how much distance to plan for the plumbing from the sump to the external pump?

Second, this tank has what I think are called megaflows??? they has adjustable height; I haven't looked into other options, (in the twenty minutes of typing this I've began measuring and brainstorming) but I'm more or less stuck using the 2 1" bulkheads for drains, though as I type this i see I could probably use even all four bulk heads for custom drains, and simply plumb over the back the water supplied from the sump. I'm not big into high flow sumps so don't think I'll have the need Oh well this part can be put on hold for a wee bit I really need to get my shop drawings finalized so I can get this tank off the floor???

I'm planning my undercabinet and have plans to take a 120 to a glasscutter and turn it into a mechanical sump and a top off container, to plan these dimensions I was hoping for an idea how much room to leave for drain back. Would a 36x12x12 be enough of a mechanical sump to handle say an sro3000 and all my back flow, I'm looking at around 16" for the skimmer side and 20" on the chemical/pump side with a total non skimmer volume ~11 gallons.

 

[Johnny C]

IMO 12'' is a little too short for a sump. I would think ~16'' is a much safer bet. If nothing else, it will keep salt spray off of your cabinet walls. A friend of mine uses a 40BR for his 120 sump and it works excellent.

PS- Did you decide on the SRO-3000?

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I had a pm going back to you, thanks for helping me decide against the trigger, but with the black friday, cyber monday, being over and the Volvo needing four rotors/brakes the urgency stalled. It'll likely be a sro3000, or a 2000spacesaver or an xp It'll depend on prices and funds, I'm doing some different things with the stand that will let me push the cabinet space back 16" but that still doesn't leave a lot of room considering I'm trying to find the space for a 29g refugium, 15T wc reservoir, ~20g top off reservoir, and an external pump. I'm looking at ways to narrow the topoff reservoir and heighten the mechanical sump, the 36x12x12 came out neatly from the 120.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I can't find a taller mechanical sump in the cutlist from the 48x24x24 that gives me a ~24" tall reservoir The 13 1/2" square 15T is handcuffing me because it makes the back cabinet too big for it to fit out the back side door. Part of the deal is for me to lose aquarium bucketland, and the fifteen tall is the best footprint I have for a make up container.

I really need an idea what's the shortest I can safely plan the external pumps plumbing before I could plan for a wider mechanical sump. I may not be able to go bigger than a standard 30.

 

[pascal32]

(1) you can manage the amount of "drain" from the tank by using flare nozzles from loc-line. take on of the returns and tip the flare nozzle about 45 degrees such that the top is about a 1/4" above the lower part of teh grates on the overflow. when the tank starts to back-siphon the top of the flare will draw air and break the siphon.

My 120 has a single corner overflow and one return which i split to two lockline using a Y, both have flare nozzles, the one in the back is the one that breaks the siphon:

(2) not sure of the tank size you have, for my 120 I push quite a bit of flow and have a single 1" drain. see picture above There is a couple small holes drilled and one larger with an airline that goes about 20" in which makes it very quiet.

(3) for the external pump make sure you put in a double union ball valve. when you do this, you will likely have to go +1/4" so that the ball valve has the same Inner Diameter as the regular line. also it is nice to put a union onto the top of the pump and a shutoff valve. this combo will let you pull the whole motor for service if needed without dumping water and without tools

old pictures:

(4) no idea if there is a length minimum from sump to external pump! just don't put in elbow before the pump

hope that helps!

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I was thinking true union and connections, but not valve; I'll need that! it looks like you are ~7 1/2" sump to pump, if not for the framing how much do you think it could be shortened?

 

[pascal32]

I got off my lazy but and took a picture its longer than I realized - about 14.5" It could be shortened a by 3-4" by using a slip coupling bulkhead straight into the double union valve, and taking a bit off the tubing connecting to the pump. Those fittings, and especially the double union bulkhead take up a lot of space.

I've always wished I had gone with a center return sump, though that would have required a 90degree right off the center rear of the tank. If I had gone that way i would have gone for a larger diameter bulkhead

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

space saving tip:

space saving tip:

I run my external pumps mere inches away from my sump by using flex hose between the two. No true unions. To service/remove my pump(s) I insert a PVC elbow into the bulkhead inside the sump. This prevents water from running out of the sump when/if you need to remove any pump.

 

[pascal32]

I run my external pumps mere inches away from my sump by using flex hose between the two. No true unions. To service/remove my pump(s) I insert a PVC elbow into the bulkhead inside the sump. This prevents water from running out of the sump when/if you need to remove any pump.

simple, cheap and brilliantly effective

 

[pascal32]

I run my external pumps mere inches away from my sump by using flex hose between the two. No true unions. To service/remove my pump(s) I insert a PVC elbow into the bulkhead inside the sump. This prevents water from running out of the sump when/if you need to remove any pump.

how do you remove the pump without a union?

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I was thinking I could simply vacuum out the water in that section? I'll need to search your thread, I was thinking about using vinyl and hose barbs.

On another note I was thinking to be all cute and clever by putting the top off and wc tanks on drawer slides; why has it taken me almost a week to wonder how long that would work for in a marine environment? Blum undermounts run on synthetic rollers, but the rest is zink coated metal and they only hold a static 100#

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

how do you remove the pump without a union?

male barb fittings are used to connect the flex.

simply unscrewing hose clamps allows you to remove the pump.

 

[pascal32]

male barb fittings are used to connect the flex.

simply unscrewing hose clamps allows you to remove the pump.

the simplicity of your arrangement makes me feel like I just built a tank!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

there are PVC fittings that save even more space than barb fitting

FWIW the true union option is still probably the "best" choice but sometimes space doesn't allow for it.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

You'll need to tell me how to do that, please. I assume uniseals aren't the best idea, or are they? Think its safe giving a 7x11 reeflo pump 8x16 space?

I'll forget the drawer slides and try to run a line from my basement hoping the rio 32 that came with the tank can push the water up to it fast enough to make it worth the work: it would be about 30 horizontal and 12 vertical feet I should have just enough 1/2" pex left over to get it done allowing for bends instead of elbows. Some things just make too much sense for me to think of right off.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

PVC plug for inside sump

I've never worked with Reeflo pumps.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I understood the standpipe, how about the spa flex connections

 

[pascal32]

I understood the standpipe, how about the spa flex connections

Hard to tell from the pictures, however I don't believe Gary is using Spa Flex.

The white tube that curves in my post is spa flex. connects using regulr PVC fittings. to connect the 1" piping I use to hard PVC I used a regular 1" coupler. I used clear cement and general purpose PVC Cement.

I like the spaflex - have a run that must be over 30 feet from the basement to the display, and one back for the drain. The smooth arcs give better flow than the hard pipe with couplers. only issue is that spa-flex is pretty pricey.