Some basic plumbing questions

[Caryliss]

My 125g is the first tank I will be plumbing to a sump, and the more I research the more confused I get.
A few basic questions I have right now:

1) I have two internal overflows. The plumbing diagrams I have seen (eg Melev's site) all show a single overflow. With two overflows should the drain lines enter the sump separately? If I connect them together first won't that restrict flow unless I significantly increase pipe size (two 1" lines join and enter the sump in a 2" line)?

If I use two separate drain lines one would enter the sump vertically and the second one would travel horizontally nearly the full length of the tank, with two 90's

2) Is it ok to use lots of unions so that I can easily change out plumbing later to fix my mistakes?


TIA

[cjdee]

For the setup I am doing right now, I have 2 overflow and 2 return lines. My sump is in the basement. I am using flex tubing and reducing the amount of fittings. With fittings there is always a reduction in flow. In the pass I use to just use pvc pipe and even used 90 elbows and a lot of valves.

[marduc]

With an overflow set up you won't be pushing the pipes to their full capacity.. its much better to drain water through them at a fraction of their full capacity so they won't make so much noise, and also it drastically reduces the chance of flooding due to a minor obstruction. Since you won't be using the full capacity.. 2 1" drains could be T'd to a 1.5" single return, you would lose some of the area, but if you are not pushing water through at near its full capacity.. then its not a big problem.

Just compare the square of the diameter for the larger pipe to 2 x the diameter squared of the smaller to see how they compare.

How much flow are you planning on running through this return??

ohh also.. unions are good :)

[mission man]

I also would like to hear more opinions on this subject. I am plumbing two 1 1/2" bulkheads to a sump.

[Caryliss]

marduc--it will be a low flow tank for seahorses, in the range of 3-5x turnover.

[ambaratur]

I would not recommend joining the drains. That creates a single point of failure if it should somehow become clogged. (not likely but you never know)

You can plumb both drains to independently enter the sump in the same compartment.

Mine is done so one drain goes right to the simmer section and the other drain has a TEE that takes part of the flow to the refugium and the rest back to the skimmer.

Also I have heard of people having back pressure problems when they try to connect their drains together. My opinion is better safe than sorry and plumb the drains independently.

Good luck.

[devildij]

i actually plumbed my friends 200g nondisplay tank and he had three compartments, thus 3 overflows and i plumbed them seperately and then divided his sump in case he wanted to medicate one of the section or stuff

of course the result wasnt exactly very eye pleasing but since its a nondisplay tank who gives