Carey's Final Reef Upgrade- 180g

[Grizz]

Carey How thick is the glass? I have a wp40 on 15mm. (9/16in.) thick glass with no problems

 

[carey]

I think the glass is at least 1/2 inch thick, it kinda has a green hue to the glass, no starfire here lol.

 

[carey]

I have the tank full and the plumbing is all up and running. BUT I have almost no flow coming out back into the tank. :-( I;ve attached pictures of my plumbing. The return pump is split at a tee and one tube goes to each side respectively. Is the pump not strong enough or do I have another issue? ALso, here is a picture of the overflow, should the water be higher than that hole you see?

Thanks!

 

[Dav3]

I'm no expert but I would think you should T off straight from the pump or go with a larger ID tube before the T. That 1.5'-2' initial part before the T is your limiting factor.

That hole you mentioned is your siphon break? If so you want it above the surface of the water while the return pump is turned off and at or below the water line when it is running.

 

[huma-huma]

please please ditch that t-split. next trip to the hardware store, see if you can find a "sweep" instead of a t. if you can eliminate all 90 degree bends, youll get a decent amount more flow from the same pump. heck I replaced the 90 bend going into my bulkhead with 2 45's and I noticed a bump in flow. as for the durso drain hole.. id say it shouldn't really matter. there should be a syphon hole on top of the pipe anyways.
just a thought, but being as to how theres dual overflows, why not run one side full syphon and submerge the outflowing pipe underwater in the sump? that would effectively eliminate all sound from one overflow and should make the overall tank quieter.

 

[carey]

What do you mean by sweep instead of the t? lol

Its running really really quiet already. No issue there, at least yet lol

 

[huma-huma]

https://www.google.com/search?q=schedule+40+sweeping+90&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=

 

[erichm20]

One other thing is you should put a ball valve after the t on the line going back to the sump then you can regulate how much is diverted from going back to the tank. The way you have it now half of the water is going back to the sump. You really should be able to send all of the output up to the DT. Once you increase the flow back to the DT the water level will rise.

 

[TheTodd]

I was thinking the same...why have half of the water going back to the sump? If it were all going back, I would imagine you'd see much more pressure.

 

[RJT]

I have a similar setup with a mag 18. Only difference I have is that the tubing connects directly to the pump. The flow is strong, causing deep ripples to reach the front of the tank.

 

[erichm20]

I just looked at the pics again and it appears tht the other line is going back up to feed a second return which I would expect with a large tank. If that's the case you have 900 gph going to each return with almost 4.5 feet of head loss (3ft stand plus 20" high tank i think) so that puts 450 coming back into the DT at each return. This would also explain why the prev owner had 2 mag 9.5s, one feeding each return. You will be supplementing flow in the tank with powerheads so you could leave it, or an alternative is to come over the back with one overflow and use locline and a Y to spread it out. This would give you closer to 1300 coming back in.

 

[mrbee2828]

Is the check valve a Lowe's spring loaded deal or is it a swing valve? Sorry if I missed it in a prior post but it's a long thread already. If it's spring loaded, it take a ton of pressure to get it open. Ditch it if so.

 

[carey]

Yep, it is a spring loaded check valve. Its worked in all my other tanks so I figured why not? lol

I'm looking at all you guys posts and I'm starting to get confused. :-(

Would this fitting help my issue?

Insert Y Fitting - Insert x Insert x Insert

 

[mrbee2828]

That check valve is probably cutting your low by 1/3. The flow has to literally push the spring open to get by. Something like this will eliminate all restriction on the return: Swing Check Valve True Union - Bulk Reef Supply On top of that, the spring will corrode eventually. Just looking out for easy ways to improve the system.

 

[huma-huma]

That y-fitting would help. Running sweeps or shallow angles helps to preserve the flowrate ofa pump. I still need to eliminate one more t split on my setup

 

[TheTodd]

I got something like that, but all clear, on eBay. I have it on my vertical pipe coming off the return pump. I figure that way, when power stops, the pressure of the water coming down will close it. No spring needed that way. Clear is good because you can see if its getting nasty over time plus, the end caps unscrew so it can be cleaned.

 

[carey]

I appreciate the input Mrbee

The only is issue I would have in taking it out is that the ball valve is totally almost flush with it so Iwouldnt be able to hook the ball valve back up to the tubing. I guess i could just buy another ball valve though....

Did some water tests and its looking good! Maybe a trace of ammonia , no nitrites at all and trace nitrates.

 

[carey]

Would this work as well?

True Union Swing Check Valve - Slip x Slip

 

[Gregcoyote]

I got something like that, but all clear, on eBay. I have it on my vertical pipe coming off the return pump. I figure that way, when power stops, the pressure of the water coming down will close it. No spring needed that way. Clear is good because you can see if its getting nasty over time plus, the end caps unscrew so it can be cleaned.

That's the one I've used for over 20 years.

 

[mrbee2828]

Would this work as well?

True Union Swing Check Valve - Slip x Slip

Yup, same thing. As for the T, you can find specialty Ys to reduce strain if you look hard enough online. Product Listing PVC-Wyes