Did I plumb the tank wrong?

[passthereefer]

Okay so I'm plumbing my soon to be new 120g tank and after finishing I'm wondering if I'll be able to run it the way I planned.

I am running the tank with a fluval sp6 on a manifold setup pumping water to three other outlets (fuge, chiller, reactor) besides my 2x 3/4" return lines. The tanks return is plumbed using 3/4" pvc all throughout and the drains are 2x 1.5" . The fluval sp6 pumps 3400gph st the bottom. Do you think this is too much flow for my 3/4" return lines? I added a picture of my plumbing. Yellow is the returns and blue is the two drains. One is edited one is original for better viewing.

Thanks everyone in advance for your help!

 

[Crabs McJones]

3/4 inch pvc can generally handle a flow of 1400 gallons per hour. Is the return pump able to be tuned down?

 

[Potatohead]

It will work fine it will just be fighting more head pressure which will reduce the gph accordingly.

 

[passthereefer]

3/4 inch pvc can generally handle a flow of 1400 gallons per hour. Is the return pump able to be tuned down?

No it can't be adjusted, but the return line does have a ball valve to adjust flow which I've heard is okay with these pumps.

 

[passthereefer]

It will work fine it will just be fighting more head pressure which will reduce the gph accordingly.

Thank you sir! Much appreciated

 

[Crabs McJones]

It will work fine it will just be fighting more head pressure which will reduce the gph accordingly.

No it can't be adjusted, but the return line does have a ball valve to adjust flow which I've heard is okay with these pumps.

this matched with the ball valve you should be fine :)

 

[passthereefer]

this matched with the ball valve you should be fine :)

Awesome!

 

[melev]

You definitely need to simulate a power outage to see if the sump can handle that much water draining. The return bulkheads look pretty low to me in these pictures.

 

[passthereefer]

You definitely need to simulate a power outage to see if the sump can handle that much water draining. The return bulkheads look pretty low to me in these pictures.

I have a check valve:) it's the green one at the bottom of the returns sir! Do you think that will be good?

 

[melev]

I have a check valve:) it's the green one at the bottom of the returns sir! Do you think that will be good?

I didn't see that. But check valves fail. It's just a matter of when, not if. You could get a couple of them, that way you can swap one out with a new clean one and soak the used one so it is ready for the next swap session.

 

[passthereefer]

I didn't see that. But check valves fail. It's just a matter of when, not if. You could get a couple of them, that way you can swap one out with a new clean one and soak the used one so it is ready for the next swap session.

I have loc line returns with about 6 knuckles on each side, I think for the time being I'll aim them up a bit so we can avoid water draining and have the check valve 5as a backup for that

 

[melev]

I have loc line returns with about 6 knuckles on each side, I think for the time being I'll aim them up a bit so we can avoid water draining and have the check valve 5as a backup for that

You can do that, and drill a couple of holes on the underside of the locline. That will help prevent water from draining down to the bulkhead.

What I did in my 280g years ago that had lowered bulkheads was install two elbows inside the tank. Think of it like a periscope, if you can. Then I installed locline at the proper height and solved the issue.

 

[recess62]

You can also drill holes in the lockine to serve as a syphon break. You can place the holes wheretyku like to control the amount of backflow. I did this and removed my backflow valve. I drilled 4 small holes so that if one gets clogged there will be backups

 

[drtrash]

Should be fine, probably only pushing 1500 gph anyway

 

[passthereefer]

Should be fine, probably only pushing 1500 gph anyway

I believe so, at the height it's at the max should be 2100, but I have to remember it's also split between the manifold

 

[jcl123]

The pipe coming out of the Fluval is 1.25", this is not a pressure/high head pump in the first place, so that pipe size is going to cut you wayyyy down. The size of your drains are perfect though.

If this were my tank, I would just have a 1.25" pipe coming from the pump, and have that be the size of the main pipe in your manifold that the smaller pipes branch off of. I would even consider splitting the pipes to the tank so that each pipe came off the manifold on it's own rather than one pipe. This way you would be able to utilize 100% of your pumps output.

What you have will work, but I don't think it would be that difficult to make this change to your manifold.

This is more or less what I am doing with my Sicce Syncra DC 9.0 pump(s), they also have a 1.25" pipe output, although it is rated at 2500GPH. I honestly doubt that the Fluval could hit 3500, unless maybe if you are measuring with no pipe just shooting water into the air.

And I agree with the others, IF you are going to rely on a check valve, at least have one that is serviceable without taking everything apart, like maybe this one:
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/georg-fischer-wye-check-valve.html
Then you can just clean it every few months or so to reduce the likelihood of a problem.
And actually, I really like Melev's "reverse check valve" idea:
I am actually thinking of going this way myself.

Just thought I would share, as I am currently plumbing my 135G, and I am doing Triton so want to actually hit at least 1400GPH of actual flow.

-JCL

 

[Forsaken77]

I have loc line returns with about 6 knuckles on each side, I think for the time being I'll aim them up a bit so we can avoid water draining and have the check valve 5as a backup for that

Honestly, check valves for pvc pipes are crap and more trouble than they're worth. They also provide a false sense of security.

A single grain of sand can make them null & void. They can also cake up with deposits and make your flow worse. How far below the surface does your loc-line terminate?

Make sure your loc-line gets to the top of the water level, even if you just add another extension piece of loc-line, and then face it sideways or just have the tips dipping in the water facing down. If they are underwater, facing up, they will spray water everywhere and/or suck a ton of water down.

Most of the time, those check valves end up just slowing the backflow of water, not stopping it. The "Wye" one someone linked to would be the best version, because you can clean them, but you'll be cleaning them pretty frequently to the point that it's just better to have the returns at the top and not have to deal with the check valves.

My 2 cents :)

 

[Jerry Ebner]

I was always told make your drain lines bigger than your return lines. But on my new build i went one inch for drain and return lol. Colored pvc for looks you should be ok

 

[ReefHog]

And actually, I really like Melev's "reverse check valve" idea:
I am actually thinking of going this way myself.

Just thought I would share, as I am currently plumbing my 135G, and I am doing Triton so want to actually hit at least 1400GPH of actual flow.

-JCL

This is what I set up last September on my 220 and I've been testing it once a month. Works perfect. Check screws off easily for maintenance (even though i have not need to so far) And if it were to fail, (because of a grain of sand or anything) it's just some water circulating back into the DT. Really can't fail on the draining side. No brainier IMO.