JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system
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jeffbrig
Premium Member
Laurence, I can't believe I just now got around to reading through your thread. You've really outdone yourself, this looks like a fantastic project about to come to fruition.
Have fun with the plumbing job! I eagerly look forward to your first "OMG, I almost flooded my new house" post. It's a mandatory requirement for anyone building a large system.
Jeff
You're using 1.5" right? In my tank, I've easily pushed 2000+gph through a single 1.5" drain, so you won't have any issues with what you're looking to do. Even knowing that in advance, you'll be completely terrified the first time you turn on the return pipe, watching the water level rise, waiting for the overflow to fill and start draining to the sump.NexDog said:
That's the best, most-concise explanation I've seen yet for the drain setup on my tank. For those that aren't familiar with this setup, it's fantastic for high flow sumps, because the submerged pipe carries the majority of the water and it's 100% bubble free. The durso still sets the water level, so there's no cascading water sound, and it creates very few bubbles because of it's lower flow rate.NexDog said:
Have fun with the plumbing job! I eagerly look forward to your first "OMG, I almost flooded my new house" post. It's a mandatory requirement for anyone building a large system.
Jeff
Last edited:
jeffbrig said:
I got this from the drain calc here on RC :
Calculators->Drain Size Calculator
Using the following input parameters
Gallons per Hour = 2000
Drain and Overflow sizes are calculated as
Recommended minimum drain pipe diameter = 1.85 inches
Recommended minimum linear overflow size = 30 inches
I have been using it as a guideline to calculate my own drain line requirements. I had previously thought that they were a bit on the large side with the pipe/drain size requirements. Does anyone else think that the drain calc suggestions are too much ?
Purple Haze
New member
It's very easy to dail back flow. However, it is a logistical nightmare to try and add flow . . . through the drains and overflow area you don't have.
Its' always nice to slightly overbuild a system so error on the large size.
Good luck.
Its' always nice to slightly overbuild a system so error on the large size.
Good luck.
Nick - I have a total of 4 drains (2 in each overflow). I think I'll start off by using the second drain in each overflow as the backup and see I can get the current durso's running quiet.
Jeff, I think you must have the same setup as Hop then (or maybe I was getting confused and it's your setup I was referring to). Sounds like a great system but I just don't have the height on the second durso to make that happen. If I don't use the lid on the overflow I could raise up the durso nice and high. As it stands now, the water will have to cascade down about 6 or 7 inches into the overflow but with lid on it shouldn't be too noisy plus noise isn't a huge issue as I have the tank room which is soundproofed.
No chance of flooding the house as the whole room is encase in 2ft high concretes studs. Water can't escape the room and there's a drain in the floor too.
Didn't get far on the tank today as I'm still waiting for someone to help redrill the holes in the stand for the bottom bulkheads. Everyone is busy trying to get the house done by the Saturday deadline so disn't want to disturb them. So I spent all day laying bricks in the front garden.
But I'm going to get it done tomorrow morning for sure and then I'll do the plumbing. I worked it all out in my head and checked everything for placement and reckon I can have it all plumbed within a day. I'm short on a few parts so ordered some stuff from Savko which might take a few days to get here. I can get the drains, return, 2 closed loops and skimmer done. I can also do the small CL on the prop section with the super squirt. The only thing that will be left will be the CL on the tank ends.
I built the PVC racks and they came out really well. Each rack has 6 3/4" locline outlets. I've pointed 3 downwards and 3 upwards on each. The ones pointing down will keep the area under the racks clean. What I'm going to do once it's plumbed in is put sand in around the racks and adjust the loclines until it gets the best coverage for clearing the sand. Then I'll know that all the detritus is not settling under there.
Jeff, I think you must have the same setup as Hop then (or maybe I was getting confused and it's your setup I was referring to). Sounds like a great system but I just don't have the height on the second durso to make that happen. If I don't use the lid on the overflow I could raise up the durso nice and high. As it stands now, the water will have to cascade down about 6 or 7 inches into the overflow but with lid on it shouldn't be too noisy plus noise isn't a huge issue as I have the tank room which is soundproofed.
No chance of flooding the house as the whole room is encase in 2ft high concretes studs. Water can't escape the room and there's a drain in the floor too.
Didn't get far on the tank today as I'm still waiting for someone to help redrill the holes in the stand for the bottom bulkheads. Everyone is busy trying to get the house done by the Saturday deadline so disn't want to disturb them. So I spent all day laying bricks in the front garden.
But I'm going to get it done tomorrow morning for sure and then I'll do the plumbing. I worked it all out in my head and checked everything for placement and reckon I can have it all plumbed within a day. I'm short on a few parts so ordered some stuff from Savko which might take a few days to get here. I can get the drains, return, 2 closed loops and skimmer done. I can also do the small CL on the prop section with the super squirt. The only thing that will be left will be the CL on the tank ends.
I built the PVC racks and they came out really well. Each rack has 6 3/4" locline outlets. I've pointed 3 downwards and 3 upwards on each. The ones pointing down will keep the area under the racks clean. What I'm going to do once it's plumbed in is put sand in around the racks and adjust the loclines until it gets the best coverage for clearing the sand. Then I'll know that all the detritus is not settling under there.
dgasmd
New member
As far as the overflow goes, I think you guys are extrapolating this to god only knows what types of flow. I ahd a single 1.5" drain/durso in my previous 360g tank and I had about 3000+ gph going through it just fine with a little more room to go too. A single in each box should be more than plenty and then some to get it done unless you are trying to pass some ridiculous amount of flow through there unnecessarily. For a tank your size going above 3500-4000 gph through the sump will be totally unnecessary and actually give you a tons of microbubbles regardless of baffles, be inefficient, and give you a ton of salt creep everywhere. I would use a single pipe as a back up and use the other to route cables from lights and such to the under side of the tank. You may even use it as a secondary close loop intake by routing it back to the tank.
As far as settling areas and such with your flow arrangement, if you are having sand put in settling is a mute point. you don't want to have flow blasting the sand as it will blow everywhere, land on your corals, irritate fish, and will tear up the seals in your pumps. Concentrate the flow to areas around the tank reminding yourself of where corals will be. Given you did it in locline, it should be pretty easy to adjust as time goes by.
As far as settling areas and such with your flow arrangement, if you are having sand put in settling is a mute point. you don't want to have flow blasting the sand as it will blow everywhere, land on your corals, irritate fish, and will tear up the seals in your pumps. Concentrate the flow to areas around the tank reminding yourself of where corals will be. Given you did it in locline, it should be pretty easy to adjust as time goes by.
The sand is just to test the cleaning abilities of the PVC rack system. I'll sprinle sand under the racks then turn the pump on for a few minutes then turn it off. Then I'll inspect the racks to see iff all the sand got blown away. If it did then success! That means that loclines will do the job just fine. If some sand is left then I'll adjust the nozzles until I have them all set up in the best positions. The sand is just for testing - no sand is going under the racks. I'have sand around the front of the rocks though but none of the nozzles are poing in that direction and I built an aragocrete barrier and stack rock on that too. I'll post lots of pics tomorrow.
marineaddict
New member
One word....AWESOME!
Yep, looks like mine.
Well, I'm a total slacker. Still waiting for help on getting the holes in the stand redrilled. Until that is done I'm limited to what I can do as I can't tighten the bottom bulkheads enough. But I've been working on other bits of plumbing. The stand was an inch too wide (grrrrr) so the drains won't go straight down. Had to piece two 45 degree elbows together and stick that on each drain. Then I have the two drains in each overflow coming together in a Tee so I'll have two drains from 4 going into the intake chamber. I'm making a micron sock holder which fits in the intake chamber and will make it easy to change them out every day. It's high maintenance but worth it I think. I have all the union valves on everywhere - everything is taped up. I'm ready to go as soon as those bloody holes get done.
Be interesting to see how many leaks I get. This is my first ever attempt at plumbing and I actually quite enjoy it. Might not be ultra pretty but I'm happy with it so far.
Well, I'm a total slacker. Still waiting for help on getting the holes in the stand redrilled. Until that is done I'm limited to what I can do as I can't tighten the bottom bulkheads enough. But I've been working on other bits of plumbing. The stand was an inch too wide (grrrrr) so the drains won't go straight down. Had to piece two 45 degree elbows together and stick that on each drain. Then I have the two drains in each overflow coming together in a Tee so I'll have two drains from 4 going into the intake chamber. I'm making a micron sock holder which fits in the intake chamber and will make it easy to change them out every day. It's high maintenance but worth it I think. I have all the union valves on everywhere - everything is taped up. I'm ready to go as soon as those bloody holes get done.
Be interesting to see how many leaks I get. This is my first ever attempt at plumbing and I actually quite enjoy it. Might not be ultra pretty but I'm happy with it so far.
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4. 
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4.
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4.
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4.
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4.
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4.
The drains are all 1.5". One of them can handle the 1270gph I'm putting through the return let alone 4.
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