Have Pity on a Newbie To Plumbing....

space_geek

space_geek

Active Member
Originally Posted by Mimzy
Crimzy, yes, Mimzy, on occasion, DOES like to swimzy. But not in the ocean, for it is full of rusty metal fishooks that like to impale her through her foot.
Care to tell us the story? :jumping: :cheer:
***)
 
dea_mt

dea_mt

Member
no but you would want a valve incase you had to lets say take your sump out so that the water wouldn't backsiphon from the main display tank all over your pretty little floor. what you really need on each is a PVC union w/ a ball valve on each side of the union so can cut it off from either way. you can buy all of these at your local hardwardware store
 
mimzy

mimzy

Active Member
Originally Posted by Space_Geek
Care to tell us the story? :jumping: :cheer:
***)


...actually, I can show you, instead .....
 
mimzy

mimzy

Active Member
Originally Posted by DEA_MT
no but you would want a valve incase you had to lets say take your sump out so that the water wouldn't backsiphon from the main display tank all over your pretty little floor. what you really need on each is a PVC union w/ a ball valve on each side of the union so can cut it off from either way. you can buy all of these at your local hardwardware store
ok... here's where I start to have nightmares... backsiphoning.

so I want ball valves on ALL the connections? And I'm confused... why would I need to remove my sump?
 
dea_mt

dea_mt

Member
i'm not necessarily saying that you will absolutely have to remove your sump every but i would do it just in case.
 
J

jcrim

Guest
Originally Posted by Mimzy
ok... here's where I start to have nightmares... backsiphoning.

so I want ball valves on ALL the connections? And I'm confused... why would I need to remove my sump?
I stand corrected. A good point... you will probably never remove your sump, but in case you have to, a ball valve on all connections will allow you to stop the water from flowing. But do not try to limit the flow from the overflow or you will flood.
Backsiphoning is where if the return pump stops, the water will actually switch directions and travel down from your display through the return tube. Pretty easy to prevent. Just need a small hole in the output piece so if it ever starts to backsiphon, it will suck air and stop.
 
mimzy

mimzy

Active Member
Originally Posted by jcrim
I stand corrected. A good point... you will probably never remove your sump, but in case you have to, a ball valve on all connections will allow you to stop the water from flowing. But do not try to limit the flow from the overflow or you will flood.
Backsiphoning is where if the return pump stops, the water will actually switch directions and travel down from your display through the return tube. Pretty easy to prevent. Just need a small hole in the output piece so if it ever starts to backsiphon, it will suck air and stop.
ok.... so if I need to remove my sump/fuge...what valve should I close? I'm guessing it's the valve connecting the return pump to the return hose? but if i do that....then what's to stop the supply from taking water OUT of my tank?
and...um... where exactly would I put this small hole? ..."output piece"?
 
dea_mt

dea_mt

Member
i've just learned the whole valve thing on everything from a past wrestling match w/ a leaky inline carbon filter
 
mimzy

mimzy

Active Member
thanx Dea! Yah, I've been doing just that, but up until eveyone jumped in to help explain things, I had no idea what I was looking at.
 
J

jcrim

Guest
Originally Posted by Mimzy
ok.... so if I need to remove my sump/fuge...what valve should I close? I'm guessing it's the valve connecting the return pump to the return hose? but if i do that....then what's to stop the supply from taking water OUT of my tank?
and...um... where exactly would I put this small hole? ..."output piece"?
This is a pic of such a piece. This is in my sump but it would be submersed in your display shooting water from your return pump. Put the hole near the top so if water started to syphon back, it would stop when air started coming through... see arrow.
 
mimzy

mimzy

Active Member
wow. ok. i totaly get it now.... so just a small hole is enough to stop water from siphoning back down the return hose?
and what happens if something clogs the supply, or the u-tube?
oh man. am I really gonna be able to do all this? And if I flood my floor, can I come to your houses and cry at you?
 
space_geek

space_geek

Active Member
Originally Posted by Mimzy
wow. ok. i totaly get it now.... so just a small hole is enough to stop water from siphoning back down the return hose?
and what happens if something clogs the supply, or the u-tube?
oh man. am I really gonna be able to do all this? And if I flood my floor, can I come to your houses and cry at you?

Exactly. If something clogs the supply, turn the valve so all water stops being sucked, dismantle it and clean it with a brush. You can do it!! But if on the off chance you do floor your floor, you can come here and cry. LOL!
 
J

jcrim

Guest
Yes, only a small hole will do to stop a back siphon.
Nothing should clog the u-tube.. it's pretty large, nothing that large will get into your overflow.
You can cry at my house... but all guests have to change at least one poopy-shmoopy diaper.
 
mimzy

mimzy

Active Member
hhm... looked at prices for overflows....mad expensive.... plus a pump, plus the valves, plus whatever i use as a baffle... plus heaters and skimmer.....
it gets up there. But then again... HOB skimmers are mad expensive, and so are HOB fuges.. if I were already gonna do a DIY HOB fuge, I may as well just plumb the durned thing anyhow.
ok.... so.... on to figure out how to build my own overflow! ...but for that, I'll just do some lurking here on the forum. I'm SURE there r threads about this...don't wanna make pple repeat themselves too much

Thanks to each and every one of you for all your help and patience - I cannot believe how much I learned in so short a time!! This place is awesome... you people are AWESOME!!!
YAY!! FILLED WITH AWESOMENESS!!!
.....I'll let u all know how it goes with picking up the tank :joy: :joy:
...oh, and I'll be sure to post an entire thread with pix when I start putting everything together - so I can share what I learned!!!
thank u thank u thank u :jumping:
 
space_geek

space_geek

Active Member
LOL...you are welcome, although Jcrim and Squidd deserve most of the credit this time. I love this board as well, it is full of awesomeness as you said, but as you know, I suck up most of the awesomeness!
BE SURE TO KEEP US UPDATED!
 
J

jcrim

Guest
Mimz... you can probably buy a used overflow cheap. Actually if you bought this tank a week ago, I'd have an old one to give you... unfortunately I gave it to someone else. Good luck with everything.
 
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