Help me finalize my plumbing plans

[dc_909]

How does this design look?
Should I have unions on both sides of my T?
Should the T be right on top of the sump or should it be higher?
Should my unions be that close to the bulk head or more in the middle?
Should the ball valve be closer to the T or the exit?
How close should my union be to the return pump?
Should my drains go into the water or just above the water?
Should I leave them as 90s or add 45s after the 90s?

Anything I might be missing?


Thanks


http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f304/dc_909/Tank%20Build/100_4671.jpg

[2farNorth]

I guess I can give some input... From my experience only of course...

First, I take it the chamber on the right, where the Ball valve is going is a fuge or something?

Depending on what that chamber is for, you may be better off feeding it with the return pump... such as how Melev shows in this photo--
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10726227#post10726227
Otherwise the water coming from the drain is going to be full of microbubbles and stuff.. usually the drain/overflow pipes cause alot of splashing, sloshing, or whatever you call it.... and also, you really don't want alot of detrius, and stuff going directly into your fuge.... I like to have the drains go into the same chamber as the skimmer, then over to the return chamber... or refugium chamber,,,

The drains, I like to put them just under the surface of the water.. if you go too deep, you'll get air pockets.. and gurgles... if you end them above the water, you'll get alot of salt creep... and with the drain pipes, you want to try and make it as smooth as possible... too many elbows, T's, and such are going to also cause you problems... aka-bubbles, etc.

As for the Unions,, You'll have to decide where you want the pipe to come apart for cleaning/maintenence... (you can never have enough unions!!) And the one on the pump.. I put mine pretty close on all my pumps... just a couple inches or so..... What ever is going to be convenient..

Also, I noticed, are you planning on adding more baffles then just the one on each side? May want to look into that,, it will cut back on alot of bubbles... usually 3 works good, over-under-over, gives time for the bubbles to work out...

Hope that helps!!

[dc_909]

I do have baffles, just didn't feel the need to draw them.

I like the idea of diverting some of the return into the fuge instead.


Thanks for your input.

[Trigeek]

2farnorth gave you a lot of the same suggestions I was thinking when I first looked at your proposed design.
-I also agree that you should consider running the return to the 'fuge.
-Keep the pipes high enough to allow for easy maintanance (water changes, sump cleanings etc.).
-I would add as many unions as possible for easy disassembly and they could be placed anywhere, but think about how the plumbing disassembly would make sense in regard to giving yourself enough room to do stuff.
-Put the drains into the water and angle them under the water. This will reduce the noise. I used spa flex here and just let it "bend" along the bottom of the sump.