Drain question for the plumbing savvy peeps

[dreaminmel]

The intent is to do a drain setup similar to Gary M's. Inside the tank is just an elbow that will have a fitting on top for larger surface area covered by nylon screen.

A pic (minus fitting & screen) so you get the jist...

At the outside of this drain setup is where my question comes into play. Gary's got his going to a T fitting that is capped off at the top. Sorta like so... (s'cuse the awkward hand, 125g is in the way so that was a rough pic to get haha)

The 1" bulkhead I just grabbed at CF came with a package of two other pieces. A drain screen (not gonna use if anyone wants) and an elbow with a hose fitting end. Is there any logical reason I can't just use this?

Initial thought was noise level of drain but with going the capped off T route I didn't see where there'd be any difference in air...

 

[wetbehindears]

Cause it will gurgle if u dont use the t and it will b loud. Use the t and drill a hole in the center of the cap to stop gurgling. U will be happy u did. If u use just the black elbow the drain wont keep up and the gurglin will begin.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

IME the t did nothing. I ended up capping each t. You've seen it, Mel.

Almost inaudible and I'm pushing a lot of water down my drains.

 

[dreaminmel]

So the caps on your T's... do those have holes drilled in the top of them or no? I didn't think so but with Brandon suggesting the hole, wasn't sure... And if no hole then the flow principle would seem the same going either route. I know rate of flow can make a world of difference with the noise level. Even with the current glass-holes 1500gph overflow setup on the 125g, higher flow keeps it muuuch quieter than when I was running reduced flow.

 

[dreaminmel]

Hmm. No plans this evening so I might as well play. Gonna take the whole shebang out into the driveway, jam different piece configurations together, fill 'er up with the hose and see which option is more appealing to my ears. :thumbsup:

 

[toddmh]

you can just use a elbow on the back,drill a hole in the top of it and put a short airline coming out the top..This system will be like the gl*******s.com drain

weird that gla$$holes.com was blocked lol

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

So the caps on your T's... do those have holes drilled in the top of them or no?

no holes.

My drains were much more quiet with the whole thing sealed off.

Screening on the reducer/overflow plays an important part in silencing my drains.

 

[dreaminmel]

Just got done playing out in the driveway with solid elbow, T w/ open top and T w/ completely sealed top variations. Not much variation beween the 3 noise-wise but the drain seemed to flow a lot better with the T initally open. When all closed up it would get almost to the top rim of the display before finally "getting it's suck going" and drain back down. Once it got through that I was able to cap off the top of the T and have the same quiet drain. I suspect all of that had much more to do with the tubing being submerged in the sump. Don't want to cut it down until final arrangement is determined. I'm sure with the drain tubing being above water level in the sump that all three options will drain ok.

So here's the problem that developed during the whole experiment... I believe the 40g breeder has a slow leak. There's a spot along one of the bottom seals that appears to have a chip of glass missing. Thing is, I can't tell for sure until the condensation on the outside of the tank stops and I'm able to completely dry the thing off and watch for water accumulating on the bottom rim. With as warm as it is outside, I'm hoping it'll come up to temp in a few hours and I can determine what exactly is going on with this tank.

Ugh.

 

[dreaminmel]

Ok, here's a pic of what's making me cautious. It feels a little "bubbly" to the fingertip. I'm not sure what would cause this as you can tell when silicone has been marred by a blade. I know that there's also silicone placed between where the panes of glass meet but I guess right now I'm worrying that a piece of the glass chipped and short of taking the bottom plastic trim off I can't tell if it's still leak proof or not. I went out and dried the tank off really well with paper towel and can say this much... if there is any leaking it's at a reaaallllyyy slow pace. I'm thinking water loss would happen faster from evaporation...

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

fill 'er up completely and set it in your garage

 

[dreaminmel]

It's currently still full sitting in front of the garage. Would putting it inside the garage reduce evap?

 

[wetbehindears]

IMO---T with vent. Thats how my beananimal over flows are i did all 3 cause one wasnt enough to quite it down . My tanks silent other than typical waterfall noise that i enjoy.

Do u know the tank is leaking for sure? Cause ive had a tank thay looked like that and it sidn leak. I would get that figured out and real seal if needed.

Good luck

 

[RyanEG]

My ten gal with the glass holes overflow was rediculously loud when I was attempting to not use the vented elbow. One toilet flush after another....all night long. Needless to say I was really happy when the replacement got here.

 

[magdelan]

My ten gal with the glass holes overflow was rediculously loud when I was attempting to not use the vented elbow. One toilet flush after another....all night long. Needless to say I was really happy when the replacement got here.

I'm not sure but just taking a stab here.... You were getting the flush fLusH FLUSH because there was not enough flow going through your tank...much like a toilet at 1g per flush. IMO, more presure will pull the water through never causing it to gasp for air.

ie: fill up a glass of water. Put in a straw. Gently suck (low presure) without creating a full suction. You should hear that gurgling/slurping noise. Now suck hard (hold the giggles please) and create a high presure suction on the straw... no gurgles, right? Same idea I suspose. Esentially the pvc is the straw and you are on the sump end of it. If the water running through isn't moving fast enough (presure) then you shouldn't hear the gurgle.

 

[RyanEG]

That was the theory I had too, until I moved up from a mag 2.5 to a mag 3 and it got worse. 300 gallons per hour is a fairly decent ammount through a ten gallon with a ten gallon sump.

 

[jfl14609]

Hows the leak looking. I have a few spots where the silicone one my new 210 had a few air bubbles that looked similar to that but not issues. I am not positive but I believe the silicone between the panes of glass is the actual water tight bond where the calk is actually more to hold it together

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

It's currently still full sitting in front of the garage. Would putting it inside the garage reduce evap?

look for leaks underneath/along the bottom of the aquarium. If the aquarium is sitting in the rain you'll need to bring it inside the garage.

Regarding the elbows- I heard all the theories. In reality my drains were far quieter with the t's capped and sealed off. The only reason I included them is because I kept reading how they are necessary! :lmao:

In any event if you decide to incorporate t's you can always cap them or drill them later on. Including t's in the design leaves you options in the future.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

The configuration that Gary and Mel are using is a bit different than the traditional overflow type of drain.

In an overflow, the elbows are (usually) facing downwards. The interplay between air and water can cause gurgling or flushing noises, depending on how things are configured. The other end of the drain line is another factor that can impact noise. If the drain line is submerged beneath the surface of the sump water, that can contribute to surges and "flushing" type of noises.

I had the most success (silence) using an overflow box when I had one of the drains set up as a siphon (maximum flow and NO air entering the drain line), with the other set a bit higher in the overflow box to act as a failsafe. This is similar to the "BeanAnimall Silent but Safe" overflow system.

IMO, Tees and vents aren't necessary nor will have any effect on these upward facing elbow drains, since they work differently than drains in an overflow box.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

food for thought

food for thought

many LFS's use the upward facing elbow drain and I've never seen a T on them............
Scott is correct-
the upward elbow is more similar to a standpipe (in operation) than beananimal overflow.

 

[Hdhuntr01]

I have that set up on a 150 Gallon tank and I don't like it. No matter what I do, I cannot get a good surface skim and it is loud regardless of what I have tried. I just ordered two overflow boxes from John at Advanced Acrylics and will be installing them. The boxes are 12" wide X 8" high and 5" deep. Inside the overflow box I will have the 90 turned upside down. I will still have the T fit to the back with a small hole in the cap. This way I can reduce the sound to near nothing and will get the proper surface skim.