Is this plumbing right ?

[cjrudy]

I am building a 90 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump. The tank has a corner overflow and came with a 1' overflow pvc pipe and 3/4 " return pvc pipe. So I plan on plumbing the sump using 1' for the overflow plumbing and 3/4 " for the return plumbing along with a Mag 9.5 pump. I am also splitting the overflow into both the skimmer section and fuge section of the sump.

Does that all sound about right ?

 

[James404]

Sounds correct to me. Many tanks including my own 75g are using 1" overflow and 3/4" returns.

 

[boilermaker1]

I concur it sounds fine. You may want to put a valve on the fuge side of the split, just to slow down the amout of water that goes through there.

 

[cjrudy]

Cool thanks, definitely going to add a few ball valves, one for the main overflow and one for the fuge.

 

[boilermaker1]

Dont put a valve on the main drain line, thats just asking for trouble (it'll clog up with junk over time). Let the path to the skimmer run unrestricted.

 

[cjrudy]

Dont put a valve on the main drain line, thats just asking for trouble (it'll clog up with junk over time). Let the path to the skimmer run unrestricted.

If I dont how do you stop the flow into the sump if needed. I have seen it quite a bit on peoples sumps whether its right or wrong.

 

[boilermaker1]

You stop the flow to the sump by shutting off the return pump.

 

[dsun]

If I dont how do you stop the flow into the sump if needed. I have seen it quite a bit on peoples sumps whether its right or wrong.

Flow stops by turning off main pump and letting the water drain from display into sump until the level drops below the overflow teeth or siphon breaks.

If neither of these happen before the sump fills and spills over, you need to make some adjustments. Anything else has a risk of failing during a power outage and causing big problems.

 

[cjrudy]

Flow stops by turning off main pump and letting the water drain from display into sump until the level drops below the overflow teeth or siphon breaks.

If neither of these happen before the sump fills and spills over, you need to make some adjustments. Anything else has a risk of failing during a power outage and causing big problems.

I will be building my sump soon, how do I know what height to make the baffles in order to have enough room for the overflow when the pumps are off?

 

[dsun]

Figuring out the baffle height is less for overflow capacity and more for what is in your sump. For example, if you have the skimmer in the sump, you want the baffles to provide the recommended water depth for that skimmer. In general, my baffles are 8" high but my sump is also about 40 gallons. Obviously don't make the baffles much higher than needed because it does reduce the overfill capacity of the sump.

Making sure you have enough overfill capacity in the sump is a different problem that is a bit trickier to solve. When your return pump is on, you will see that the water level rises above the bottom of the overflow teeth. You could measure how much it goes above, measure the dimensions of the tank and calculate that water volume.

You can use that as a starting point and make sure your sump can handle AT LEAST that much. The problem with the approach is that the height above the teeth will vary based on your return pump. Stronger returns will cause that height to increase and more overfill capacity is needed in the sump. Also, if you add a fuge, frag tank or anything else that shares the sump, you'll need to include that water as well.

Generally I'd say get the biggest sump you can manage as it can only help and not hurt.

I'd like to see what others say on this as I would love a better way to figure this out- especially for people that don't have a running tank yet and can't measure the height of water in the tank.

 

[evoi19]

I agree with the above. However you also have to calculate where the return outlet is. Meaning, in the event of a power outage, you're display tank is going to drain not only below you're overflow but all the way down to where your return line is positioned.

 

[dsun]

Yes! I knew I was forgetting something. The back siphoning from the returns is important too. Some people try to use check valves and siphon breaks to address this. Check valves can fail and siphon breaks, depending on where they are, can clog. Make sure neither can happen in your situation.

 

[willybub]

a return siphon can be prevented by drilling a hole just below the water surface in the pipe of the return if its possible that way if the you do have a power outage the water will only siphon to the hole and not to the bottom of the return line in the DT

i agree with dsun, instead of fuguring it out in my case i just gave it the old elementry try and shut the power off and waited to see what happened. But was ready to turn the power on again in case all the water didnt fit in the sump. It did fit but if it didnt i guess i would be reworking some things to make it fit haha.

 

[dsun]

a return siphon can be prevented by drilling a hole just below the water surface in the pipe of the return if its possible that way if the you do have a power outage the water will only siphon to the hole and not to the bottom of the return line in the DT

I've seen people do this before. My main concern with this approach (why I haven't solved the problem for my tank as elegantly I would have liked). is that the tops of my return pipes get pretty gunked up. I get various hair, bubble and coraline algae on them and I can easily see the hole getting clogged. I've been looking for a better suggestions for the siphon break to address this. I know, I could clean it more often but....

 

[willybub]

maybe "T" at the top close to the water level and reduce the size of the main outlet a bit hopefully your return pressure keeps it clean?

im experimenting right now. I have a 1" return witch is T'd but both outlets are also 1" so i am not sure how it will work when i stock my tank i just set this one up but it works with stopping the siphon so far

sorry gettin a little off topic cjrudy

 

[cjrudy]

Yes a little, the plumbing that came with the tank has siphon holes drilled, I am really trying to figure out the height of the baffles. Its knda hard to start building the sump with out knowing the size glass I need to get cut.

 

[ebojo]

I am in the process of building a sump out of a 20L for my 75 DT. Would it be a good idea to shut off the pump and make sure that everything functions correctly (back siphoning not overflowing sump), before adding any livestock to the aquarium?

 

[Virtuoso]

You will definitely want to put a ball valve on the return so you can adjust your flow. On my 90g AGA with the Megaflow overflow a mag9.5 was too much and caused it to make a lot of noise. Was able to dial it back with the ball valve and now it is much quieter.

 

[cjrudy]

You will definitely want to put a ball valve on the return so you can adjust your flow. On my 90g AGA with the Megaflow overflow a mag9.5 was too much and caused it to make a lot of noise. Was able to dial it back with the ball valve and now it is much quieter.

Ah yes, the return, good call, I will put one on my return as well. So thats one for the fuge and one for the return. I wanted one for the main drain into the skimmer section but everyone thinks thats a bad move.

 

[dsun]

I am in the process of building a sump out of a 20L for my 75 DT. Would it be a good idea to shut off the pump and make sure that everything functions correctly (back siphoning not overflowing sump), before adding any livestock to the aquarium?

I would do that before even adding salt to the water! It should be part of the initial leak test on all the plumbing.

For my 300G system, I just took the RO/DI waste water line and put it in the aquarium/system. After making 1/5th of the water I needed for the tank, I had all the water needed for the leak test. Just make sure to drain it out fully when done. But don't get crazy about it, traces of the waste water left in the system won't kill anything but do get as much out within reason.