Advice plumbing a 2nd tank

[Zatai41]

Hi

I am trying to plumb my old 45g tank to my main system.
The tank with the stand is about 46.5 inches , ill probably drill around 44.5inch.

From the 45G to my main sump is about 8 feet. the sump has a height of 19 inches.

so the water will go down from ~44inches then about 8 feet horizontal on the floor then 19 upward : will this work ? or is it too risky ?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Tennyson]

It will work but going upward with piping I would not recommend. When your pumps are off, water will stagnate inside the pipe below the 19 inches of upward tubing. Not to mention piping upward will reduce the gph leaving your 45g tank significantly, which may lead to flooding or clogging.

 

[Billdogg]

As hinted at above - you will get much better flow and reliability if you run the drain lines from the 45 at an angle to the sump. Water does not flow uphill on it's own. For the return, you can plumb it however you want - it will have the pressure from the return pump to move it along, but even then avoiding 90's in the plumbing will maximize flow.

 

[AlexG]

That setup will work as it will function just like a giant U-trap. While water falling straight down to the sump is ideal but it just does not work for every setup. I use a U-trap on the 3" drain line for my large tanks and it functions just fine. I added this U-trap to the design so I could accommodate a walking platform without needing to step over a drain line every time I wanted to get behind the tanks. Gravity will do all the work for you. There are a few things to remember with a U-trap. The U-trap will cause some impedance so make sure the appropriate size drain line is used to make up for the water slowing down in the drain line. Make sure you can drain the low part of the drain line by installing a drain plug.