FortuneFavours
New member
Hi all
I need some advice on how to set up the drains and return for my 300G tank.
The tank has two bulkheads (on the bottom pane of glass) that take 32mm pipes (I think that's 1.25"). I want to find a way of having good flow that is as quiet and safe as possible.
CALCULATED WATER VOLUME?
One of the first questions I have is about safety in terms of flooding the sump: do you calculate a fixed amount of water that needs to be in the system? For example, one of my first thoughts was to just have two pipes set at a specified depth below the water level.
My tank is 5ft x 30" x 39" (300 gallons)
My sump is 4ft x 20" x 18" (75 gallons)
So if I set my drain pipes at 3" below the water height that I want, the maximum that could drain down to the sump is 23 gallons. This is equivalent to roughly 5.5" of water in the sump.
So if set the water level in my display tank to 3" above the drain pipes and filled my sump with 10" of water (about 40 gallons), would that be safe? My logic(?) being that only another 23 gallons could possibly fill the sump, raising the water level in the sump from 10" to about 15.5" (leaving a couple of inches to spare as the sump is 18" high).
NOISE REDUCTION?
I've read all about the annoying gurgling noises that normal standpipes can make.
I've read a little about the Durso / Herbie methods and it seems like people prefer the Herbie method because it's quieter. The problem I have with the Herbie method is, if I've understood correctly, the main drain pipe that has the full syphon is supposed to be about 6" below the emergency standpipe. But doesn't this increase the risk of flooding the sump, i.e. wouldn't the water from the DT drain down to the level of the lowest pipe if the the emergency pipe became blocked for any reason?
Has anyone ever used one of these bottle-traps and would they achieve a quieter drain?
RETURN IDEAS
I was just going to have a standard return pipe (over the back of the tank) set just below the water line, so there would be minimal back syphon in the event of a power failure. I'll build in a syphon break too - although, being a newbie and not quite understanding how it all works, I'm not sure how much faith I should put into a syphon break?
Which brings me on to my idea: I will be building a support framework using PVC pipes for my rockwork (I'll be dry-scaping using base rock) and I had the idea to have the return feed into the PVC support frames (I would use end caps and drill small holes in the PVC pipes). This would mean the water coming up from the sump would flow through the PVC framework that is supporting the rocks and thus helping to remove dead spots, at least in some ares (depending on the amount of flow I can achieve).
I have a couple of questions:
1. Would the flow from through this pipework bother critters/corals, etc?
2. I know this significantly increases the amount of water that might back-syphon into the sump if the return pump fails for whatever reason; would a syphon-break + non-return valve(s) be sufficient to stop this happening?
I hope my questions make sense!
Looking forward to your responses.
I need some advice on how to set up the drains and return for my 300G tank.
The tank has two bulkheads (on the bottom pane of glass) that take 32mm pipes (I think that's 1.25"). I want to find a way of having good flow that is as quiet and safe as possible.
CALCULATED WATER VOLUME?
One of the first questions I have is about safety in terms of flooding the sump: do you calculate a fixed amount of water that needs to be in the system? For example, one of my first thoughts was to just have two pipes set at a specified depth below the water level.
My tank is 5ft x 30" x 39" (300 gallons)
My sump is 4ft x 20" x 18" (75 gallons)
So if I set my drain pipes at 3" below the water height that I want, the maximum that could drain down to the sump is 23 gallons. This is equivalent to roughly 5.5" of water in the sump.
So if set the water level in my display tank to 3" above the drain pipes and filled my sump with 10" of water (about 40 gallons), would that be safe? My logic(?) being that only another 23 gallons could possibly fill the sump, raising the water level in the sump from 10" to about 15.5" (leaving a couple of inches to spare as the sump is 18" high).
NOISE REDUCTION?
I've read all about the annoying gurgling noises that normal standpipes can make.
I've read a little about the Durso / Herbie methods and it seems like people prefer the Herbie method because it's quieter. The problem I have with the Herbie method is, if I've understood correctly, the main drain pipe that has the full syphon is supposed to be about 6" below the emergency standpipe. But doesn't this increase the risk of flooding the sump, i.e. wouldn't the water from the DT drain down to the level of the lowest pipe if the the emergency pipe became blocked for any reason?
Has anyone ever used one of these bottle-traps and would they achieve a quieter drain?
RETURN IDEAS
I was just going to have a standard return pipe (over the back of the tank) set just below the water line, so there would be minimal back syphon in the event of a power failure. I'll build in a syphon break too - although, being a newbie and not quite understanding how it all works, I'm not sure how much faith I should put into a syphon break?
Which brings me on to my idea: I will be building a support framework using PVC pipes for my rockwork (I'll be dry-scaping using base rock) and I had the idea to have the return feed into the PVC support frames (I would use end caps and drill small holes in the PVC pipes). This would mean the water coming up from the sump would flow through the PVC framework that is supporting the rocks and thus helping to remove dead spots, at least in some ares (depending on the amount of flow I can achieve).
I have a couple of questions:
1. Would the flow from through this pipework bother critters/corals, etc?
2. I know this significantly increases the amount of water that might back-syphon into the sump if the return pump fails for whatever reason; would a syphon-break + non-return valve(s) be sufficient to stop this happening?
I hope my questions make sense!
Looking forward to your responses.