Will it gravity drain?

[mike_cmu04]

Hi I am designing my new tank and prop room where i will keep the sump and other equiptment. My question is my display tank will drain down 3.5 feet and then horizontally 18 feet then back up 1.5 feet will it drain using only gravity?

 

[zero26]

Not really sure about the going up part. There might not be enough pressure, all I have that is gravity drained is my fuge. It is above my sump so its pretty easy to gravity drain.


The only pain was balancing the inflow to the outflow.

 

[mike_cmu04]

Thats what im not sure of i know since the display sits roughly 3 feet higher than the sump it should work but i dont know what im going to do if it dosent work.

 

[sedor]

If the return pump is strong enough then yes it will work. Is it optimal, no. Think of it this way, the water is always going to try and find a way out. When it drains down the tube if the return pump weren't on it wouldn't be able to climb up and back into the sump, but with the pump on its going to keep pushing more and more water until it can build enough pressure to push over that little bump. That being said, you could potentially have build up and clog problems so if you absolutely had to go that route I would put a union around the "hill" so you can remove and clean that section on a regular basis. To answer your question, will it drain using only gravity, it might but I wouldn't count on it...then again why would you need it to drain using only gravity?

 

[mike_cmu04]

I guess when i say drain by gravity i mean with the return pump on using a durso overflow with 1" line will it drain into the sump on its own? And i do plan on having a oversized return pump. Thanks

 

[Kshack]

I had the same question last year and got some very interesting answers. I decided to try it and it works fine. My overflow is at the top of the tank=5 feet and goes under the floor joists, so about 6 foot drop. Then over 18 feet and up to the sump on the floor. Very quiet. I use two 11/2 inch spaflex drains going to rigid pipe under the floor. While I was under the floor I also put a drain in the floor (in case of flood) and a drain connection for the sump. When I make a water change I just open the valve to drain and when done fill up the sump with new water. No running hoses and lifting buckets.

 

[mike_cmu04]

Your setup sounds very similiar to mine so hopefully it should work. What kind of overflow do you have durso? Also is the water flow in the overflow consistent or does it fluctuate up and down?

 

[Kshack]

Yes, 2 durso. This is much more stable than the basement sump I had prior. Very little level change in the overflow.
How big is the tank, and when you say a 3.5 foot drop is that from the top of the tank?

 

[mike_cmu04]

The 3.5 foot drop is my estimate between the top of the overflow to the peak of where it goes into the sump in the garage. it is probably a little more and it is a 92 corner tank. It drops like yours through the floor under the floor joists and then into the sump in the garage which sits probably a foot lower than the floor in the house.

 

[Kshack]

You will have no problems. I would go with at least two drains and possibly one emergency just for redundancy. I only have two because the tank was drilled and is glass. I have not used it, but the system that has one durso that does 80%, one open drain that does 20%, and one emergency looks good.

 

[mike_cmu04]

thanks for your help