Plumbing for new 90G Reef

AFK

New member
It's been a long time since I've been on this site and it's nice to see that it's still a great wealth of information. I am getting back in to the hobby after about 15 years so I am relearning a lot! I will make this as short as possible but my situation is a bit unique and I could use some guidance.

I am building a cabinet for our living room and have decided that a reef tank is something that would great on top of it. Our house is a split level so it can be tricky to run plumbing and electric, but I am willing to take on the work. The tank will be viewable from 4 sides, even though one side will be about 8 inches from a wall. The front, back, and 1 side will be in full view. The cabinet I am building will only have about 18" internal height so I will need to plumb to the basement.

The tank will be 90 gallon and it measures 48wx18Dx25H. It is drilled in 1 corner with an internal overflow. 2 holes, 1 for return and 1 for drain. Being that the tank will be over the garage due to the set up of my home, it will be a little tricky to get the plumbing to where I need it in the basement, thus requiring a pump that can handle some decent head pressure. I will try to explain the layout as best I can.

As stated my sump will be in the basement and an external pump will be necessary. The route the plumbing will travel is as follows:

-from pump up the wall 6'
-90 degree turn and run 8 feet horizontally above laundry room
-45 degree turn and run 2 feet horizontally (actually at a 45 degree angle)
-45 degree turn and run 7 feet vertically to the top of the tank

My plan is as follows and I am looking for suggestions on how to alter my plan if needed.
-40 gallon breeder as sump connected to Iwaki MD70RLT external pump.
-Running 1" PVC return to tank, with appropriate gate valves and unions etc to facilitate cleaning and maintenance. I plan to use flexible at the 90 and 45 degree turns.
-Running 1" PVC drain from tank to sump using same method as return, probably splitting drain near sump to run through 2 filter socks or something similar.

I calculate this to have approx 25' head height in total. Looking at the pump rating it seems to me that I will get approx 680ish GPH through the sump which is about 6 times turnover per hour. Depending on performance I may install a gate valve to slow it down a little or install a manifold of some sort to run other equipment.

The tank is used from a friend and currently has no stand pipes in it, just the standard 1" drain and 3/4" return bulkheads I believe.


My questions are as follows:
1) will the pipe diameter I am using be adequate or should I increase it to 1 1/4"?
2) will the pump I choose be sufficient?
3) what style drain should I install in the tank? Durso? My wife won't be happy if the drain is loud. I don't want to drill any new holes and I am unsure if tank is tempered.

I am sure I'll have more questions, and any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to be as accurate as I could so people can get a good idea about what I am trying to accomplish and where.
 
1" drain and you can run 1" from your return pump until you get to the bottom of the overflow and reduce it to 3/4". Also put a ball valve on the outlet(return side) of your pump to control the water flow so you don't have too much noise like a flushing toilet.
 
680GPH is typically too much flow for a 1" durso to be quiet. Valving down the pump will certainly be required.
Sounds like you have put some thought into it though.. Good job and enjoy..
 
Thank you for the responses. Being that I am going to drill a 40 gallon breeder for a sumo I was going to plump it as follows:

-1" bulkhead from breeder to barbed fitting
- 1" braided vinyl tubing to pump inlet. Hopefully this will help absorb some vibration instead of it being applied directly to the glass
-1" rigid PVC coming out of the pump to a union so I can remove the pump for maintenance
- Gate valve after union to control flow
- check valve after gate valve to eliminate back flow when pump is shut off
- I may possibly run a tee between the union and the gate valve so I can add some sort of manifold later for a remote fuge or something
 
check valve should be installed between the pump and the gate valve so that you can close the valve and be able to service/replace both the pump and the check valve as needed..
 
1" drain and you can run 1" from your return pump until you get to the bottom of the overflow and reduce it to 3/4". Also put a ball valve on the outlet(return side) of your pump to control the water flow so you don't have too much noise like a flushing toilet.

FYI, do NOT use a ball valve, use a gate valve. After a couple years that ball valve will seize up and be useless.
 
680GPH is typically too much flow for a 1" durso to be quiet. Valving down the pump will certainly be required.
Sounds like you have put some thought into it though.. Good job and enjoy..

100% not true. With a full siphon you can achieve way higher numbers. Its a myth thats been around a long time.
I run 800gph (measured from my APEX flow meter) through my 3/4 inch drain and i STILL have to close the gate valve a little.

1.5inch full siphon drain does around 5,200 GPH for reference
 
100% not true. With a full siphon you can achieve way higher numbers. Its a myth thats been around a long time.
I run 800gph (measured from my APEX flow meter) through my 3/4 inch drain and i STILL have to close the gate valve a little.

1.5inch full siphon drain does around 5,200 GPH for reference

A Durso drain is NOT a full siphon drain.
The OP stated Durso and was very clear that per his wifes request that it not be loud/noisy..
A durso running in the 600+ range will typically be quite audible. (flushing noise,etc...)
The water must cascade down the walls of the pipe and not collapse in on itself or else it starts sucking air down/flushing noise,etc..
And there are hundreds of posts on this forum of users complaining about the noise when running similar flow rates.

And you are not going to achieve 5200GPH on a gravity fed siphon either.. To achieve those flow rates through PVC you need to be in excess of 20PSI
https://www.hy-techroofdrains.com/water-flow-through-a-pipe/
 
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