I'm in trouble !!

[CoMMaNdeR]

Guys,

I am having some trouble with the both durso drains of my tank and my return pump. So, under my 160g tank I have a 40g sump. As drains I have 2 that are on the back in the corner. Each drain thickness is of 28mm PVC. My Return pump is 3500L/H and I connected it with 20mm PCV.

My problem is that the drains are not keeping up with the flow of the return pump so I have to close the valve about 3/4 of it, so I have less flow.


Is there anything I can do guys because It is a pitty not performing the maximum flow of the pump. ?

Thanks.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Here is a scetch

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/112839Plumbing_Scetch.JPG

[mbbuna]

try having 2 drains to the sump instead of them going into the T to one drain line

[aubee91]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7143858#post7143858 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mbbuna
try having 2 drains to the sump instead of them going into the T to one drain line

Yep. Judging by the drawing, that's cutting your flow roughly in half. If you can't or don't want to separate them, then at the very least, that last run coming out of the tee needs to be at least 1.5" in diameter.

[skippysmind]

I agree the T output should be twice the size as your 2 drains.
If they are 1" drains your T should be a 2" to the sump.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Ok guys I will do an elbow for each drain so I can seperate them and hope the flow will increase.

Thanks

[Alaskan Reefer]

Yep, just seperate the drains and you should be fine.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Guys today I have seperated the 2 drains from the T . I am still having the same problem. Why do you think is this happening ?

[Travis L. Stevens]

This might be a little far fetched but have you checked to see if anything is clogging it? Any snails stuck at in a ball valve? etc

[CoMMaNdeR]

I run the drains both without the valves and still the same problem. Today I also noticed that the right drain is getting water to drain before the other one for about 5-8 seconds, I don't know if this can be the reason !!!

Otherwise, everything looks good..

[cameronsloan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7150696#post7150696 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoMMaNdeR
I run the drains both without the valves and still the same problem. Today I also noticed that the right drain is getting water to drain before the other one for about 5-8 seconds, I don't know if this can be the reason !!!


My tank is just sligtly off level and I have the same problem. The drain on the lower side drains much more water than the higer one. If I had a lager pump and this were an issue, I think leveling the tank would improve the flow of the drains, but I use a small return pump and get most of my flow from a closed loop.

HTH.

[rustybucket145]

Drill another Drain in the back of the tank. I have done this before with the tank still half full and all inhabitants present. Kinda scary but it worked. Even the fact that it is this close is bad. What if a snail were to temporarily block a drain?

[CoMMaNdeR]

I cannot drill another hole at the back for sure, it is scary and I am afraid to drill a 10mm glass thick..

[RichConley]

The drains are 1" right? How big is the durso? Up the standpipe itself to 1 1/2", or bigger. At the 1" size, they seem to have a lot of flow issues.

if you want to test if its the stand pipe, or the actual drain lines that are the problem, just pull the elbow and up off the pipe and let it run like that. It'll be loud, but it'll tell you if your drains can handle the flow.

If they can, then you need to modify the standpipes to handle it.

[CoMMaNdeR]

Ok. I will try it.

[Konadog]

It is possible that your pump is overpowering your drains and they "can't" keep up.

[Surferlopez]

how about instead of using 90 degree elbows, use a couple 45 degree elbows, it will not restrict your flow as much.
Danny