Plumbing

[dplaskett]

So I have finally filled up the new tank and added the salt. I fired up the pump and had to back off the flow on the return alot! What is the ideal flow on a return? my drain has an internal overflow which goes into a 2" pipe.

Thanks,
Dave

[TJSlayer]

You basically want to try to balance the two out... No real magic number as it depends on how you plumbed everything. Over time you may have to tweak from time to time as stuff builds in in the tank, pipes, etc.

If you haven't done so already hook a gate valve up to the drains and the returns, make adjusting the flows a snap and really easy to get them dialed in.....

[dplaskett]

The problem I have is getting the tank to drain quicker I don't see how I can get this to happen everything was drilled. The drainis also pretty noisy and ideas on how to quiet down the water going over the overflow?

On the plus side I ran a power outage scenario and the sump did not flood out.

[Cliff]

I got lucky with my set-up as I bought it all used and the last owner took a lot of time figuring out how to make the drain quit. Below is what he came up with. The one thing you may not be able to see is a ¼ to ½” hole on the top of the blue cap to allow air to pass through. I’ve tried many different set-ups and configurations; but this is still the quietest drain that I could get.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Cliff_Erhardt/Cliff%20fish%20tank%20pics/Overflow_2.jpg?t=1286633309


http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Cliff_Erhardt/Cliff%20fish%20tank%20pics/Overflow_1.jpg?t=1286633309

As for the flow rate of your drainage line, it depends on the size of your drain and the fittings you use on it. The more elbows you use, the slower the flow will be. You can also be limited by the size of the hole in your tank when it comes to flow rate. I would get the larges bulk head flange the you can fit, and then use the larges sized fittings and lines that you can get a put a valve on the drain as TJ has suggested. That way, hopefully, you will have greater flow from your drain line than you need and you can cut back on it with the valve. This will also help to make it a little more quit for you as well.


Below is the typical flow rate you can get on a drain line before you factor in any fittings. I got it from work (I work for a plumbing wholesaler). It’s a good way to help you match the drain line size to the GHP of your return pump.

Drain GPH / Drain Diameter size
200 / 0.58”
400 / 0.83”
600 / 1.01”
800 / 1.17”
1000 / 1.31”
1200 / 1.43”
1400 / 1.55”
1600 / 1.65”
1800 / 1.75”
2000 / 1.85”
2200 / 1.94”
2400 / 2.02”
2600 / 2.09”
2800 / 2.19”
3000 / 2.26”
3200 / 2.34”
3400 / 2.14”

I hope I’ve helped

[TJSlayer]

Great Info there Cliff!

One other style drain that works well for noise is the herbie stype drain, but you need two drain holes pretty much side by side, not sure your setup has this or not.

You can do a search on the internet on it to find out more...

Is your tank drilled at the back or bottom?

TJ

[dplaskett]

It is drilled at the bottom of the corner overflow. From there I ran a pipe off of the bulkhead straight down into the sump with a 90 going into the water of the sump.

[TJSlayer]

Try a tube like cliff suggests it should be fully submerged except for the capt part on top that stays out of the water I believe.....

[dplaskett]

I'm going to try that tube. I think its loud because there is no way for the air to escape.

[Chris]

Search under "durso standpipe". This is how I made my system quiet. Takes a little fine tuning but is almost maintenance free once you have it dialed in

Chris

[Cliff]

Try a tube like cliff suggests it should be fully submerged except for the capt part on top that stays out of the water I believe.....

Yup, that's how mine works. The water level just covers the elbow part.

[Myka]

The return pump should be 5-10x the system's volume. The "ideal" number is 6.1x turnover figured out by some long and in depth calculation. If the turnover is too high then all you're doing is wasting electricity as the skimmer will only process a certain amount of water, and increasing the flow through the sump won't increase the skimmer's ability. High flow will also cause a lot more microbubbles in the display which is unsightly, and may irritate some corals.

In a fish only tank, the sump is often used as a significant means of mechanical filtration using filter medias, bio balls, etc so many people will use a higher turnover like 10-15x.

What kind of pump are you using? Many will not tolerate much back throttling. You may need to get a smaller pump.

[dplaskett]

Made a rough fit durso standpipe and it cut down the noise by alot!
Thanks now to just make it into one piece.

[Cliff]

I found this on the internet today and I thought you might find it useful. It’s a modification to make an adjustable air hole on a durso standpipe. You basically drill a ¼” hole on the side though both the cap and wall of the standpipe. You then turn it to adjust the size of the hole to get the best flow and the least amount of noise. I’m going to find a cap today and give it a try

I just though you might be interested

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad226/Cliff_Erhardt/Cliff%20fish%20tank%20pics/standpipe.jpg?t=1286743881

[dplaskett]

Thanks, good idea