overflow question

[nbelohlav]

i am curious to know what is going to be easiest to incorporate into my existing overflow plumbing... here is what i am working with:

and

the bulkhead flange is about 1/4 in away from the bottom of the box.
here is the pipe out of the back:

the one in the middle is the return line and all pipes are one inch. all three will have gate valves to control flow. my question is, without having to undo the current plumbing as it is what is the best and easiest over flow that i can add to the inside of the over flow box to make it as silent as possible. i am heavily considering adding a one inch bulk head to each box as a emergency drain as well. i was thinking of adding a 90 degree fitting to the bulkheads that are already in now and facing it down ward but there isnt a whole lot of room between the current fitting and the bottom as it is. any ideas would be great.

keep in mind that the person that had this tank before me had basically what you see as his set up minus the return hole that i added, it seemed to work just fine for him as far as i know.

 

[nbelohlav]

Bump

 

[BuffaloReef]

You might get more feedback in the DIY forum.

It looks like your drains are just 90s. I would swap out the 90s and set up Durso drains. Google them but essentially you'll have a T fitting instead of the 90. One end will point down to drain water and HD other up for air. Add a pipe to keep the top opening above your water line for safety. Then add a PVC cap to the pipe and drill a small hole in it. That will let air in and keep it from gurgling. The hole needs to be big enough for air and high enough so it doesn't get clogged with salt creep. These have been around forever so when you look them up you'll see lots of versions.

Depending on how much flow you're plumbing you might want to put a 90 on one drain, inside pointing up, and a small pipe attachment. Then close off some of the other drain so the one you added the pipe to is mostly the backup. Again, if you post in the DIY form you'll get lots of suggestions.

And fix that one missing tooth! You might need Weldon and matching acrylic to do it right, bit you can fix something.

 

[nbelohlav]

i understand what you saying but what i dont want to do is redo the plumbing that is already there cause i will have to take all of it out including the bulk heads that i just installed... could i not just drill a hole in the 90 degree elbows that i installed and run some air line tubing into it to simulate the same as a durso? or not?

 

[BuffaloReef]

I wouldn't trust that. You'd be asking for leakage.

I don't notice until now that you glued the PVC. That makes it more difficult. I would cut an inch or two from the 90 and rotate it horizontal. Then add the T and make the durso off of that. You might also be able to leave them pointing down, add a 90 to one side and then another one up and then add the T with the air hole pointing up and then another 90 to allow the water to drain. That would get the drop point above the water line in the overflow which would cut down on some noise.

Whatever you do I wouldn't suggest having any openings below the highest possible water line. That can lead to leaks.

 

[nbelohlav]

your gonna have to draw that out cause you kinda lost me...

 

[BuffaloReef]

I'm not sure how to add a drawing.

Essentially both options involve cutting the PVC pipe a little past the current 90. With one you'll turn the drain 90 degrees so that it points to one side. Then you'll add a T so that the 90 goes into the middle opening with the other openings pointing up and down. The air intake pipe will attach to the upward opening and the drain pipe will come off the bottom one.

The other option just used more elbows and pipes to get to the same place. The advantage would be that the opening in your overflow box would be underwater. That's where most of your noise comes from. An easier way to do that would be to turn your existing 90 off the drain 180 degrees so it points up inatead of down and then add a single 90 pointing to the side and do the same thing with the T that i described above. It's not that complicated and would be much easier to show in a picture.