Sump Plumbing Critque , Plumbing this weekend

[fltekdiver]

Building my sump 40G Breeder, DT is a 120G All Glass dual over flows

Let me know what you think, I'll be plumbing it all in this weekend

Open to suggestions from the pro's on here :)

This is my first SW aquarium, can't wait to start the plumbing this weekend!

First pic is the drain line diag, 2nd pic is the return diag

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fltekdiver/drain.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/fltekdiver/media/drain.jpg.html)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fltekdiver/IMG_0002.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/fltekdiver/media/IMG_0002.jpg.html)

[Sn8kbyt]

Few things...in my observation

-Where is the valve on your return line to the refugium? The point of least resistance for the pump is to push everything into the fuge instead of up higher into the tank.
-I would keep your return lines 1" All the way back to the DT You want as much flow as possible and ideally would always have the return valves open 100% and adjust the flow you want going into the fuge only.
-I would run that 1" return line straight up from the pump so that is was exactly in the middle of the 2 bulkheads you were going to connect to and then tee it off. (will help keep the return pressure equal on both sides).
-hard to tell from your sketch but is the drain and return going next to each other on the bottom of the overflow?
-Drain lines have a union underneath the bulkhead of the DT but appear to be glued into the sump bulkheads with no unions down there? Again maybe just not enough detail in your sketch but the upper unions will be useless if it cannot be detatched at the bottom.
-You have unions and valves depicted...are any of those valves the type with union type ends? You could save yourself some cash but utilizing those.
- running your reactor off of the same return pump but without anyway to meter flow (can be done but not a fan) and it doesn't show where the output of the water from the reactor is going.
-May be redundant but just to be safe I would put a bubble trap coming out of the fuge to the return section you never know how flow is going to be with pipe levels and evaporation and IMO better safe than sorry. Worst case it will help keep it a bit quieter.

You want to eliminate as many tees, 90's, curves, twists ect as it just wastes the output of your pump.

Not a pro but there is my .02 cents

Good luck on your project!!

[fltekdiver]

Few things...in my observation

-Where is the valve on your return line to the refugium? The point of least resistance for the pump is to push everything into the fuge instead of up higher into the tank.
-I would keep your return lines 1" All the way back to the DT You want as much flow as possible and ideally would always have the return valves open 100% and adjust the flow you want going into the fuge only.
-I would run that 1" return line straight up from the pump so that is was exactly in the middle of the 2 bulkheads you were going to connect to and then tee it off. (will help keep the return pressure equal on both sides).
-hard to tell from your sketch but is the drain and return going next to each other on the bottom of the overflow?
-Drain lines have a union underneath the bulkhead of the DT but appear to be glued into the sump bulkheads with no unions down there? Again maybe just not enough detail in your sketch but the upper unions will be useless if it cannot be detatched at the bottom.
-You have unions and valves depicted...are any of those valves the type with union type ends? You could save yourself some cash but utilizing those.
- running your reactor off of the same return pump but without anyway to meter flow (can be done but not a fan) and it doesn't show where the output of the water from the reactor is going.
-May be redundant but just to be safe I would put a bubble trap coming out of the fuge to the return section you never know how flow is going to be with pipe levels and evaporation and IMO better safe than sorry. Worst case it will help keep it a bit quieter.

You want to eliminate as many tees, 90's, curves, twists ect as it just wastes the output of your pump.

Not a pro but there is my .02 cents

Good luck on your project!!

Thanks for your help !!

I added a ball valve to the Refuigum, to control the flow their. The whole point of Teeing off to the Refruigum was to control the flow

Yes, at the bottom of the overflows, their are two holes in each overflow.
So they would run next to each other when they connect to the bulkheads at the overflows

Your right, I added two more unions at the bottom of the drain lines, before the bulk heads at the sump


Yup, your right, I added a valve to control flow at the reactor also

Ok good advice, I wasn't sure about adding two bubbles traps on the fudge side, I'll run back to the glass shop today and one more cut

Thanks for your help, wow, after 20+ hours of reading on this, I still essed this up, lol. I missed quit a few things their. I have a busy weekend, have to build the sump, and plumb everything

Not going to fill it with water, till next week, let the silicone dry in the sump for a while

[Benar]

As above already mentioned, is there any way to smooth out the transitions (tee's and 90 elbows) on the return line, to maybe use wye's and 45's? It will still work well with valves added @ refuge and reactor, just me being funny ;-)

[fltekdiver]

Yes, I plan on using wye's and 45's instead of the 90's, I guess the manifold will still be T'ee's as that's the only way to do a manifold?

[mcgyvr]

IMO return pump will barely be moving any water volume through the DT and is way undersized to work with this plumbing setup.. (assuming thats even a eheim 1262)
I would swap the refug and return chambers in the sump and let the drain water flow right into the fuge thus requiring no return pump flow, then I would get a second pump for the reactor.
people really under estimate how much flow will be lost with a setup like you have. If 10x DT volume is the target this will be maybe 2x if you keep it that way.

of course I would also never recommend "reef ready" tank overflow setups either..

[fltekdiver]

The Ehiem 1262 is 960 GPH, with the wyes and tees, I should be at 7x , how are you coming up at 2x

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[jimmy_beaner]

I have a similar sized sump and a 90 gallon display with the Eheim 1260. It also runs my carbon and biopellet reactors. It's more than sufficient (had to turn it down before running reactors and even now sometimes I turn it down a bit).

[Pastey]

1. Get true union ball valves for your drains. You'll pay more up front but if you get a quality valve, you'll be much happier. I'm wishing I had plumbed them in my setup now that it's all finished.

2. You did the right thing teeing off the return pump for the refugium. You can not plum a return line directly into a fuge. The flow is entirely too much to make it worthwhile to even keep a fuge.

3. What is the point of the gate valves on the return lines close the DT? If anything, I would move one of those gate valves to be your pump throttle and put some regular ball valves in case you ever need to remove plumbing for maintenance down the road.

4. I would add some unions in your pipework. Being able to easily remove/modify your plumbing down the road without tearing your entire setup down will be a huge bonus.

[fishgate]

Great design! Pretty much looks exactly like mine!

[fltekdiver]

Yup, fishgate really helped me get allot of the idea down , big thanks !

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[fltekdiver]

Pastey, thanks, ill print all these post out so I don't leave anything out, thanks for everyone's help

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[jimmy_beaner]

1. Get true union ball valves for your drains. You'll pay more up front but if you get a quality valve, you'll be much happier. I'm wishing I had plumbed them in my setup now that it's all finished.

2. You did the right thing teeing off the return pump for the refugium. You can not plum a return line directly into a fuge. The flow is entirely too much to make it worthwhile to even keep a fuge.

3. What is the point of the gate valves on the return lines close the DT? If anything, I would move one of those gate valves to be your pump throttle and put some regular ball valves in case you ever need to remove plumbing for maintenance down the road.

4. I would add some unions in your pipework. Being able to easily remove/modify your plumbing down the road without tearing your entire setup down will be a huge bonus.

You can put a valve for the pipe going to the refugium. It's what I did on my set up (though I wish I had done it from the return...) and it works fine. You avoid the issue of "plugging up" because your main drain is still not impeded.

[fltekdiver]

Revised drawing's, tell me what you think, going to Lowes now to buy bags full of plumbing parts :)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fltekdiver/RevisedReturn.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/fltekdiver/media/RevisedReturn.jpg.html)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fltekdiver/RevisedDrain.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/fltekdiver/media/RevisedDrain.jpg.html)

[fltekdiver]

Ttt

[fltekdiver]

Just spent $220.00 in Lowes tonight on the plumbing, OMG, I think I went overboard !

I bought 1" scheduled 40 pvc for everything

Used 1-1/4" Double True Union Ball Valves, with 1" bushings

Also used 1-1/4" Union's with 1" bushings

Their should be no restrictions now in flow, on the return or drain

Only part I kept 1" besides the line, was the Tee's

Instead of making a manifold, I'm going to use 1- 1" Tee at the top run off the return pump, and Tee off to the dual returns

The Phosban Reactor will run on it's own line, and own pump

The Refugium is Tee'd off dropping from 1" line to 3/4" line, with a 3/4" Gate Valve to control the flow of the Refugium

Just finished making my sump today as well, Sunday is plumbing everything up!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fltekdiver/2013-06-22215338.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/fltekdiver/media/2013-06-22215338.jpg.html)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fltekdiver/2013-06-22215351.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/fltekdiver/media/2013-06-22215351.jpg.html)

[tallball158]

cool, can't wait to see the pics of it plumbed up!

[fltekdiver]

You Tube video of the progress, very excited may get to water test this weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCF1gaQDgNs&feature=youtu.be

[Mark...]

Did not see any back flow preventer....

[fltekdiver]

I can't get one on, not enough height, unless I redo everything, and instead of having
45' s , I would have 90's

I have the sump set up to handle it, what do you think?

[fltekdiver]

Here's a video I made of the work in progress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCF1gaQDgNs

[fltekdiver]

Newer You Tube video made with changes, final plumbing !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpBRVlqZQWM

[eznet2u]

I don't think Fudge will be beneficial to the system. Maybe Cookies... ;)

I like the use of unions. Makes changing things a lot easier.
I would incorporate some Vinyl tubing to isolate the pump vibrations from the rest of the plumbing, otherwise you are going to hear that pump.

[Mark...]

Like the shower pan...

[fltekdiver]

Filled the system with fresh water, had one small leak, luck it was behind a union. A trip to HD,, added a coupling, and fixed.

Ran the system again for about 20 min, marking the low/high water levels, and found 2 more small leaks, from fittings never glued
Marked which one's, and emptied the DT and sump

Not sure what to do with the sump, I'm getting allot of micro bubbles falling down from the Refugium side, being theirs only one baffle their

I may have to add one more baffle in front of it, so it will go under then over into the return area. I have one more 1/4" Acrylic left, maybe I'll give that a try