overflow / plumbing sizing for 120gal 4x2x2
- Thread starter LXXero
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monkeyruler90
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good use of the spaflex, it'll definitely stop vibrationIf you get too much water going through the secondary drain it will "spit" into the sump. And yes spaflex is used on pools. I've seen it in 1", 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" sizes and it usually is sold by the foot from pool supply stores. It uses normal PVC cement and fittings. Also if Noise is an issue placing a oxo silicone dish drying mat under return pumps and using a short section of silicone tubing from return pump to the rigid plumbing of the return makes things dead silent. You can see what I mean on the right side of the sump from this pic when I was dryfitting everything
wow, we did go pretty similar. we both reduced the through holes to 2x1.5" bulkheads. I think 2x 2" is probably overkill, and the bigger holes are just bigger weak points, so it really does make some sense to keep the size down if it's not needed. I think even 2x1.5 will be plenty overkill. I kept all the bulkheads 1.5" and if i want to reduce them, i'll just use adapters as needed. you went 24" and I kept it at 18", I talked about going to 24" to my LFS, he said bigger is better, but 18" is probably enough, I didn't want it taking up too much space so I decided to just go with 18 in the end.
man i didn't mention whether to use threaded bulkheads or what not - hopefully whatever he gives me works out, lol. I'm not too worried about the output bulkheads though since I can swap those out easy enough.
I'm hoping it comes by friday so I can get it over to the LFS on saturday when the owner is in...he said they usually take like 3-5 days to make.
the sump is just an aquon proflex 4, and I am wondering if the stock setup on that will be OK or if i will need to modify it. It's design is almost intended to quiet / prevent bubbles from a normal durso or what not, but I doubt it was designed explicitly for a full siphon rig like I'm going to be doing. It drains the 2x1" tubes out into two small cylindrical chambers, that in turn flow over into some filter socks. The output tubes definitely sit under water more then a few inches, so I might have to cut the pipes down to get the full siphon working better, though I guess we'll see, they sit in pretty small chambers so i'm wondering if the reduced volume might mean the height doesn't matter as much. this is the one here, you can see what i mean with the 2x1" inputs. It wouldn't be that hard to upgrade them I'm sure:
if i was doing it again, i might consider that trigger systems emerald, but it probably costs way more.
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hey all so....its been over a month, but things are finally coming along. I know people always like progress pics, so here we go:
while it may look like the plumbing is done, it will actually have 2 returns. We're going to be building a manifold and adding a 2nd return as well as some outlets for a reactor, a drain, and probably a spare "just in case" one as well.
the bean animal setup is kind of preliminary, I just put a strainer cap on the siphon, and then i sort of made the drip hang over it, so hopefully i don't get any air sucked in. I could cut down the bulkheads and try to do it the more traditional way, but this was pretty easy to setup and i'm sort of just hoping it works as-is. We'll see. It's getting reduced to 1" later on which is not optimal, but it would have been a royal pain to modify this sump to take 1.5", but we left as much as we could as 1.5" so if i did ever want to upgrade it wouldn't be super hard. That sump was a pain in the *** to get in there though....i dont think i'll be ever taking it out again without draining the entire tank.
the drip line is spaflex, the full siphon is solid pvc with a double 45 to cut down on the angle loss, and the emergency is half pvc half white spaflex with just a 45 joining em. and of course that monster schedule 80 gate valve, and various unions....also a y-check valve...which was a last minute addition i threw on there.
while it may look like the plumbing is done, it will actually have 2 returns. We're going to be building a manifold and adding a 2nd return as well as some outlets for a reactor, a drain, and probably a spare "just in case" one as well.
the bean animal setup is kind of preliminary, I just put a strainer cap on the siphon, and then i sort of made the drip hang over it, so hopefully i don't get any air sucked in. I could cut down the bulkheads and try to do it the more traditional way, but this was pretty easy to setup and i'm sort of just hoping it works as-is. We'll see. It's getting reduced to 1" later on which is not optimal, but it would have been a royal pain to modify this sump to take 1.5", but we left as much as we could as 1.5" so if i did ever want to upgrade it wouldn't be super hard. That sump was a pain in the *** to get in there though....i dont think i'll be ever taking it out again without draining the entire tank.
the drip line is spaflex, the full siphon is solid pvc with a double 45 to cut down on the angle loss, and the emergency is half pvc half white spaflex with just a 45 joining em. and of course that monster schedule 80 gate valve, and various unions....also a y-check valve...which was a last minute addition i threw on there.
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manifold is done! Man did it come close! It just BARELY fits, but it works! It's literally like, less than a half inch from the bottom of the tank, and we had to run the one spaflex return above the middle support bracket to get it to fit into the slip fitting, but....I think it came out perfectly.
and a overall shot with both returns now installed:
and a overall shot with both returns now installed:
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bought myself a 4ft and 2ft level today because I was a little paranoid it was out of level. had some legit reason though as we'd already shimmed the front but using a 15" level for a 4x2 tank was just not cutting it.
ended up draining it all and shimming the left side 1/8", we already shimmed the front 1/8" but i guess my house is on a hill and kind of slants with the hill, what can ya do. I'll keep an eye on it either way. it's perpendicular to the joists and all that, it's the whole damn house that's out of plumb, lol, gotta love those colorado expansive soils...I did my best anyway! I think it'll be OK.
ended up draining it all and shimming the left side 1/8", we already shimmed the front 1/8" but i guess my house is on a hill and kind of slants with the hill, what can ya do. I'll keep an eye on it either way. it's perpendicular to the joists and all that, it's the whole damn house that's out of plumb, lol, gotta love those colorado expansive soils...I did my best anyway! I think it'll be OK.
