Plumbing 180g FW to 65g sump

[Jimothy]

OK, I have begun to fill...



Have the water as high as I am comfortable without overflow and sump ready,
Waterpump and strainers come tomorrow, will get as far as I can go tonight.



For now, overflows will have bulkheads with strainers, not sure if I want to do a durso or stockman or that other one jsoong mentioned (1 siphon and 1 emergency?)
Any advice on a 2 intake overflow box?


Also, my sump plan is to have the pipes submerged to prevent noise and splash, with:

• 1 layer of foam and 1 of floss kept in place by eggcrate,
• I'd like to have the Fluval, full of carbon, intake under the floss/foam and outflow into the fuge area of the sump,
• in the space between the baffles I will have bags of bio media
• eventually, have a heavily planted fuge

Good plan for the sump?

[Jimothy]

OK, progressing on undertank plumbing, though I might have a problem with my bulkhead.



The other 1.5 (return line) got stuck too, but I was able to finish screwing it with padded vice grips.

This one is done, wont go farther, wont come back out.
Seeing the pink teflon tape makes me nervous about the seal, though I think most of it is in the thread...

Should I go ahead and hope for no leak or wait for another bulkhead?

[Ziggy953]

Tough call. I've had bulkheads that leaked and were tightened down all the way and I have one right now that looks like yours and is doing just fine. If you put enough tape on the threads you should be ok.

[Jimothy]

ok, so far bulkhead and thread seal seem watertight



have built portion of outflow pipes underneath, with ball valves to close for whatever maintenance in future



expecting package with waterpump and strainers any minute now...
constructing rest of undertank setup...

[jsoong]

The bulkheads look good. My philosophy is always to test all contingencies before finalizing any setup. I would leave it a few days & make sure there is not a HINT of leakage. <Also, extend the bulkheads with short pipes (temporary) so you can fill up the overflow more. Sometime a connection that won't leak with an inch of water pressure (like yours now) will leak with a few inches of depth .... >

As for the siphon in my drawing, you create the siphon by inserting a small tube up to the highest point of the U-tube & suck out all the air. Since both ends of the U tube is under water under all circumstances, no air can get back into the tube, so a permanent siphon is established. As long as there is good flow in the siphon, small bubbles that gets into the siphon get flushed out & not a problem. At 700 gph in my 1" siphon, I've never have a siphon break from air accumulation .... although most people with siphon setups will check at least weekly & remove any accumulating air by sucking out the air with the small tube, or usually, a small bubble that is stuck to the side by friction can be dislodged & flushed out with a bit of shaking. <If you have improperly sized siphon & inadequate flow, air can accumulate. People have resorted to using a small venturi pump to suck out the air constantly - eg in some of the "wier" type overflow. I am always leary on relying on some mechanical device that can break when you can set up a simple "never fail" system based on physics.>

Thoughts on 1 Durso vs. 2 pipe setup - A single Durso is supposed to handle around 1000 ghp. Since you have 2400 ghp going, it might be difficult to get a true Durso going. <You can try by increasing the driving pressure - but if your water level ends up goes over the top of the Tee, you end up with a full siphon system rather than a Durso ... in which case an emergency is prudent.>

[Jimothy]

Thx for the warnings, but I have spent the day installing the plumbing...

• My sump is an acrylic 65g, and was too tall for my planned plumbing, luckily I found a fabricated piece of PVC at home depot that brings the horizontal pipe back up easily
• The intakes combine into a 2" pipe that will deliver under the sump waterline
• I took your advice and T'ed the return line with a ball valve in case I want to decrease the flow back into tank

The bulkheads are fine, though when working on the plumbing, if I was pushing up too hard some water started to leak, it stops when I stop.

On the return line, however, the PVC is rigid vertically from pump to bulkhead, and I think there might be a small leak down that pipe, this isn't so bad because it is trickling into the sump, though water under the glass of the display concerns me...
I can't tell if the wet spot is growning:



...but now I have a photo to check against

Hoping to fill the sump through the overflow in 30 min or so, start the pump and see what happens...

[Jimothy]

The MagDrive24 is loud, maybe dealbreaking loud...

My return pipe doesnt break the siphon until the water has fallen 2 inches, I need to drill more holes higher or construct a new one, the flow doesnt seem to be that strong out of each 'jet' either, also leading to new design...

Any ideas?

[Ziggy953]

Since your return line is so low in the tank I would drill a hole above the water line. I do this on my return lines so the siphon is broken as soon as the pump is shut off.

The Mag24 really needs 1.5 -2" plumbing on it for maximum flow. I see that you have several connections which constrict and then open back up that may have something to do with your output. I have found that a union attached to the pump and then as much straight pipe as you can get away with and avoiding the connections is the best way to plumb. Everytime you use a connector the ID (inside diameter) is reduced and that causes the pump to loose it's pressure. I have a MAG36 that will pump water straight up 18' if I use 2" pipe.

[Jimothy]

Is it worthwhile to use 2" pipe when the bulkhead is 1.5"?

[Jimothy]

Also, I used a 1" strainer for the intake of the pump, in addition to the one that came with it, I think this is hampering flow...

What about the noise? As it is this is too much, is there any way to muffle it?