Yet another annoying sump post

prohopper

prohopper

Member
Ok i know there are tons of posts about sumps but i was just wondering if my plumbing idea is gonna work good for me. Ok the main tank is a 40 breeder and the sump tank is a 29 gallon. The 40 is drilled in 3 places, 2 return holes on the back wall and 1 on the bottom for the drain. In the picture i drew some "walls" in the 29 gallon sump and this is where i need the most help. Are these walls placed good and if so is there an easy way that i can put some bio balls in there?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I have to agree your pic is kinda hard to read!!!! My first observation is why do you want or have a ball valve installed on your drain line from your tank? IMO not needed...
I noticed that you have a check valve installed in line on your return lines back to the tank... I will tell you that they are not fool proof and at some point will fail. I would recommend using syphon break holes in your return plumbing, but due your running your returns through your back panel of the tank and they sit down a good bit into your tank it won't help either...If you use a check valve I would opt to spend the extra money and get the clear(see through) valves that you can visually inspect and see that it is operating correctly at maintenance time... HTH
 
prohopper

prohopper

Member
as far as the check valve goes i bought the tank used and there were the 2 return holes drilled into the back of the tank. the lowest one is about half way so that is the only reason why i wanted a check valve in there. I was thinking of the idea of running my return lines up above the water level in the main tank so i could make an anti siphon hole there but then of course my pump will be pumping up higher than needed.
 
prohopper

prohopper

Member
here is the pic of the return lines above the water level. I think that this would work but it would result in some flow loss. Not to mention look pretty ugly as well
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
A mag 9.5 is a strong pump and plenty for a 40g.
The syphin hole will not work even the way your second draw is because the plumming is on the out side and water sprays out of syphin holes. Still a problem. You would have to bring pluming up above the water and U turn back down INSIDE the tank and put syphin holes right at high water level or seal holes in the back and u turn over the wall of tank.
 
christssol

christssol

New Member
Looks good with just one thing. You need an air intake on that overflow tube. Basically where the first elbow is use a "tee" instead and either leave it open ended or put a cap on it with a hole in it. The benifit of the cap with the hole as opposed to just an open pipe is to reduce noise. If you want it to be variable you can even put a slip cap on the open end of the tube and drill the hole perpendicular to the open end through both the pipe and the cap. Then you can rotate the cap to close the hole partially as needed to have even more control over flow and noise.
EDIT:
BTW, having the return lines above water level wont break the syphon unless you have a hole in the line somewhere. You may want to consider the same principle as above with your return lines to create an air intake that would break the syphon when the pump turns off/fails.
 
jdm_ae86

jdm_ae86

Member
christssol, that air intake on the return line will just spurt out water..he needs to put the siphon break holes on each of the two outputs, right at the surface water level..
 
prohopper

prohopper

Member
ok what if i use the 2 existing return holes and make it just like christssol said but turn that part that he said to drill a hole in to a 3rd output and have the anti siphon hole there? Will the anti siphon hole still work or do you guys think that water will just flow down the 2 drilled holes instead of sucking air all the way down from the very top output. I cant explain stuff very well so i will draw a picture when i get home from work tonight.
 
christssol

christssol

New Member

Originally posted by Prohopper
ok what if i use the 2 existing return holes and make it just like christssol said but turn that part that he said to drill a hole in to a 3rd output and have the anti siphon hole there?
That should work.
 
prohopper

prohopper

Member
the 2 lines i added would just be regular air line tubing with a small I.D. Do you guys think that this would break the siphon? (And I am aware that water will come out of these lines)
 
jdm_ae86

jdm_ae86

Member
the pic atached is all you need to do.
and for your overflow standpipe, drill the hole into the cap like you mentioned on the top..
 
dogstar

dogstar

Active Member
Jdm, The pluming for returns is all on the outside. The siphon will spray water when the pump is on, So the siphon brake has to be inside.
Prohopper, Your air line idea is on the right track but the main lines has to be higher because the water will drain all the way to the holes.
This pic shows the only way it will work.
 
christssol

christssol

New Member
Using airline tubing, while a good theory, would scare me. If it falls or moves... A single small hard line would be a safer.
 
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