Basement Sump

[BCashion]

For anyone with basement sump experience:

I just finished running my first length of spaflex to my basement: took forever as I had numerous challenges working through recessed lighting and the furnace room, but I got it there.

Two quick questions:

1) I had to go under a support beam and then back up into the trusses at one point, creating a 30" dip in the spaflex (much like a trap on a sink drain); will this cause problems (i.e. with noise or siphoning) on the drain lines?

2) I'm planning on a 180 gallon tank. I hate the idea of having to run 3 lines (1 return and 2 drain) as this is a pain trying to get through my basement ceiling. However, is one drain line to the basement too risky? I don't plan on having crazy turnover through the sump (maybe 1000gph); most of my circulation will be through a closed loop. Can I get away with one drain line?

Thanks in advance.

Brad

 

[HOC]

I wouldn't do it. The other line can keep you from flooding the tank if one side gets plugged. Never know when a fish might jump into the overflow. (or who knows what else). Doesn't seem possible I know, but it happens all the time. 1" isn't really big enough to risk it IMO. (1 1/2" maybe)

I actually had both get plugged. One with a large crab and another with a flame angel. I noticed the flow had slowed on one side, but didn't think much of it. Until the flame got sucked up the other pipe and flooded the whole sump. This was on a three level system.

 

[BCashion]

I kinda knew it was something I should do - just needed to hear a horror story to motivate me to run that third line.

What about the section that loops lower than the rest (like the trap situation)? Do you think it will cause problems?

 

[HOC]

Shouldn't... As long as the aquarium is higher than the output it will flow through it. Every bend restricts flow, but you will be fine with the dual overflow.

 

[Doc's69]

You still may have a gurgling noise in your overflow boxes so plan for something to help w/ keeping it quiet or it will drive you crazy, I had a 75 w/ one drain and one return line, it was noisey at times w/ a suction type sound but not always.
What pump are you going to use to pump it upstairs? Remember each elbow decreases head pressure. I read a lot in the large tank fourm :reading: good luck Steve

 

[BCashion]

Steve,
I'm hoping that a standard Durso modification will take care of any noise problem. I haven't decided on the exact pump yet. I've got 3 x 1" lines run but I think I'm going to rerun one of them as a 3/4" line to reduce the volume in my sump if the power goes out (which it did Sunday night - was out for 40 hours before kicking back on. Gotta love a good generator!).

Brad

 

[Virginia Reef]

Changing the diameter of the drain lines won't change the volume of water in the sump. In the event of a power outage, ALL water above your tank drain level and all water "in transit" will drain back into the sump. However, a smaller return line from the sump to the tank will result in a smaller water volume draining back to the sump...but probably only a small difference.

 

[BCashion]

Actually, it's more significant than you might think. Your right, there is a defined proportion in the display tank above the overflow that will end up in the sump. However, the distance from the basement sump to the display tank is currently 35'. 35' in 1" spaflex is a significant amount of water. Reducing it to 3/4" spaflex (at least in the supply line) reduces that volume it by 44%, a significant reduction over 35' (volume = length x (radius x radius x pi)). My sump is likely going to be about 40 gallons in volume, so the savings should be significant.

Brad

 

[manderx]

spaflex is expensive. probably cheaper to upgrade the sump than swap out plumbing.

assuming 1" spaflex is 1" id, 35' only has just under 1.5 gallons in it i think (seems like it should be a bit more, maybe my math is off). if under a gallon of drain difference is significant enough to make or break you, you got bigger problems.

 

[BCashion]

Interesting. Looking at the spaflex I assumed it would have a significant volume over 35'. I had run the math on the area, but not the volume of the spaflex. I ran the math and going to 3/4" indeed would give me a 44% reduction in volume. However, if you calculate the volume (329 cubic inches) it turns out to only have a volume of about 1.4 gallons. Rerunning the spaflex to save about .6 gallons is not worth the time/money/hassle. Thanks for the heads up - saved me about $37 in spaflex.

Brad

 

[Virginia Reef]

While the volume calculation of the drainline is interesting, I suspect the the drainline is NEVER full of water. If it was, we would never hear the constant problems that so many people have with the gurgling noises.