plumbing problem

calbert0

calbert0

Member
Ok.... so i am going to try to describe this as well as possible...
i recently added two more sump tanks to my system...
as it stands i have a 20 galllon fuge to the right of my display tank, a 10 gallon frag tank underneath my display tank, and a 30 gallon refugium to the left of my tank.... ( i can post pictures if necessary)
it took me the better part of a day to match all of the flows correctly...
tonight i did a power outage test and unplugged all of my return pumps to make sure i wouldnt have a flood if i ever lost power...
or siphon holes so there isnt enough water to flood my DT once the pumps go back on?
i just read about siphn holes... that might help because then there wont be enough water to be pumped back up and flood my DT? i
everything was fine, none of the sump tanks overflowed...
however when i plugged the pumps back in, my drain pipe was unable to instantly match the flow of my pumps which resulted in my display tank flooding over the top...
what should i do? would adding an airline to my drain pipe (at the drill hole and down to one of the sump tanks, durso style) help the flow match up more quickly?
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
No over flow boxes. It's a single drill hole in the top middle of the back of my tank. It comes out breaks 90 degree towards the ground, then its split 3 ways with a T underneath the DT water level.
1 inch pvc drain line, with ball valves at each sump tank
3/4 inch pvc returns
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
If there isn't any air allowed inside of the drains it will create a siphon. If that is how you have it, then the drain isn't able to purge out the air to get the flow started again before your DT floods.
I am not too sure what you were trying to say about drilling a hole in your first post. But yes a durso style allows air into the drain. If you aren't allowing air into your drain then I would drill a hole. However, this is more then likley going to make it noisy. With no air in the drain it will go full siphon which is silent. The issue with tuning your setup that way is you are just waitng to have a flood when you aren't there or asleep. You can drill another hole and do a herbie style drain. Then you can have the full siphon with an openchannel pipe taking about 10% of what you close the siphon off to not be able to handle.
If I am thinking of you current setup right, a hole say 1/4" just above the water line in the sumps will allow it to purge the air out and it should start to drain again. How far are your pipes submerged in the sumps? Should only be about an inch.
So in short.......A hole in the top of the drain will most likely make your setup noisy.
A hole in the bottom will allow the air to purge and it should drain for you again upon startup. But this is not a very good way to drain your tank without an emergency.
Disclamer**I don't fully understand how your drain is setup at the tank. So drill at own risk. A pic of your drain would be nice.
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
hmmm drilling a hole above the water line in the sumps seems like it would probably work to get the air out of the drain pipe more quickly....
good thinking!
i shall try that and report back.
thanks for the advice.
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
i know its a little late but i figured i'd post pics just to let you know what the new plumbing setup is looking like...
P.S how do i change the title of my thread to signify updates?




 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
That is just about what I had pictured in my mind. One drain and three return pumps. As I mentioned before, you are skating on thin ice. Should anything go wrong with the drain you tank is going to flood. You don't have any backup. A snail, a chunk of algae, ect....will plug the drain all the way or even partially, those return pumps aren't going to stop. The DT will then flood.
On changing the thread title, A mod has to do that. If you want to have kind a log or diarie about your tank, just start a new thread titled what you want and just do all the updating in there. A thread about your tank can go from setup, to additions, any changes.........Those interested in your tank will follow it.
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
i never even considered the drain clogging up....
i dont have an overflow area of the tank, just the straight drill hole, and at this point im definately not going to break down my tank just to drill another hole in the glass for the herbie style...
i have never had a drain clog problem before, but i will try to engineer something that would work as a herbie style back-up with the single drill hole and get back to you with what i come up with
edit: but on second thought, at this point i have adjusted the water levels so that none of my return pumps are submerged any deeper than 1 inch under the water level (prob closer to .25'' -.5'') of the sump tanks... so if the drain got somehow clogged, the pumps wouldnt be able to push up much water before they started sucking air... so the DT tank would barely flood, if at all.
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
You know....I don't think there is a way you can incorperate a herbie. It uses two drains all the time. That three way throws a wrench in the mix.
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
oh and in case you thought it was just an open pvc pipe inside my tank its not... i do have a screen/gate type deal.... so there is no way a snail could get sucked into the drain to clog it.... heres a pic, sorry it's not the best looking i just havent scraped the algae off the glass in a few days
 
calbert0

calbert0

Member
pvc cement...
but on that top pipe that comes out of the drill hole, i used aquarium sealant because i wanted to be able to remove it if ever needed, and if i would have used pvc cement there than i would have to actually cut the pvc to remove it... this way i can just cut back the aquarium sealant with a razor and work the pipe out of the bulk head...
all other connections have pvc cement though.
 
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