plumbing won't drain correctly

one of the big problems is that it is supposed so beplumbed to the sump and display so i have to have them flowing the best i can to keep the water turnover up. the pump pumping water is only 340 gph and the tanks cant handle that so if i would have cut the drain from the display to sump i would have been screwed unless i dumb down the return line. is there anyway i can keep the flow rate up.
 
theres nothing in none of the tanks all eight empty except i do have my proteinskimmer sitting in one the tanks just storing it there lol
 
Funny question, where it the drain whole on the display tank. Bottom or top?

And if it is at the bottom do you have a pipe running to the top of the water?
 
just need them to flow faster so i can drain the display into the 8 tanks and then the tanks to the sump back to display. actually have not seen them flow at all cause the only pump i have the smallest anyway is 340gph. and tank 1 top shelf closet to display keeps building pressure up and over flowing as the others keep filling. remember im just pumping water from the last 10 gal tank 8 bottom shelf closet to the display to take 1 top shelf closest to the display
 
So basically you are putting more water into the tank then it can drain.

I don't see a solution other than lowering your flow rate.
 
yes u understand correct and i drlled the display long time ago top corner same height as i built the stand so the top first row of 4 tanks are 1 inch below the display top
 
yes but that wont work i feel my tank will get dirty i have a huge mag pump on the tank now with an enductor. less flow doesnt seem to me would be good for the display less than 340 gph but how much less u know probally have to dumb it down to 100 gph. NO good would rather scrape the tanks than ruin my display
 
but would really like to plumb this just wish there was another way other than throwing away all bulkheads and plumbing just bought em shouldnt have gluded em but i did. and no way to cut and seperate them so was hoping to do some air water ratio tuning and get this **** rolling.
 
and i know a 1inch can drain more my display drain is 1 inch. I know it has gravity pull and stuff but idk..just wish there was a way to relieve the back pressure so the 1 inch drains can flow. would it help to drill the tops of the pvc and add the straws for air flow. If so should i do it to all of them. only the first two have big straws the other ones have little rigid airline tubing really small holes and really small pieces. I added the larger ones on the first two to see if it helped but couldn't tell. just worries me to do them all like that cause bigger the hole i drill in it the harder it is to seal back up.

Should it drain faster with air added?
with the back pressure will it mater if air is added because it seems to have back pressure?
It seems to me like since its the same height as the others its only going to drain so fast since there's no gravitational pull on none of the water?
Is there a way to accomplish a full siphon so it consistently pulls water threw all the tanks
 
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it should drain slower with air introduced, air will take place of water making the waterflow slower.

can you try starting the pump very slowly and as the system starts circulating speeding the pump up slowly? this way the pipes all have a chance to purge the air. it seems like air might be getting trapped in the 90 degree elbows & may be creating your backpressure
 
without slowing the flow i don't think this will work very well. the drain for tank one should be just a little higher then tank 2, and tank 2 higher then tank three. pretty much the water levels should look like stairs between the tanks in order to have higher flows. if your worried about keeping the tanks clean add powerheads. when you plumb everything evenly it takes a lot longer for gravity to do its job, had you gone horizontally with the plumbing instead of at a 45 degree angle the backpressure wouldn't have been so great and it would work 'faster'
 
Was this a custom design or is there someone who has one like it? As I understand you are draining the main tank into these small tanks and then into the sump, correct? I've had setup many breeder tanks and have a 1 1/2" main line with tee's at every tank for each tanks bulkhead drain. I don't see what you are trying to accomplish this way other than saving space? Gravity would take care of the water tank to tank but water seeks its own level so if the drain can't handle the flow from tank to tank, maybe your pipes are undersized. Sorry I probably don't know what I'm talking about... :)
 
You don't have drains, you have balance pipes. Balance pipes are only worthwhile at extremely low flow rates, because there is no gravity advantage. As someone else mentioned, the tanks need to be seperate, and stair stepped so there is a gravity advantage "tank" to "tank". With the current setup that is not possible. Hence this setup will never work right. Additionally, multiple gravity feeds such as you would need to use, will never balance out right, as no two drains will ever operate exactly the same. Therefore it is a flood waiting to happen.

The only hope of getting it to work, are seperate discrete drain lines, one from each "tank" or "section" all the way to the sump, and seperate feed to each tank from the return pump. That way water in will always equal out. Hence no flood risk, save for a clogged drain, which of course would make for a nice flood.
 
on last idea. but likely not worth the effort, and it may not work.

You can try to add another bulk head connect for each tank, that will double the flow rate. Try, to put both holes at the bottom, then there is at least some down pressure if one tank get higher than another.
 
So I was wondering does a drain have to go straight down to carry the most water or does it just need to be slightly angled down. figured I ask before I go down here and trash the setup and try again
 
I dont know if I'm looking at this wrong but that will never work. the pressure from the previous tank will never let water drain. You would need a teared system where each tank drains into the next above the water line.
 
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