I'm setting up my first tank and will be plumbing it for a Bean Animal sump set up. The tank measures 36"w x 24"h x 12"d (45 gallons). I plan on putting the drain lines on one of the 12" sides with the return line on the opposite side.
I've been thinking about water changes and how to get the water out of the tank and back in. From reading the posts here and other places it looks like I'm going to have to remove about 10-15 gallons of water each change, weekly seems to be the recommendation. My thought was to put a Tee in the main drain line before the flow control valve and have another valve attached to the side of that tee. I could shut the flow valve and pump, open the valve on the inline tee to drain the tank. I'd put a nipple on the valve with a hose thread so I could attach a garden hose. I'm thinking what I would need would be an extension on the main drain elbow that is inside the tank in order to get it low enough to drain the water. As I'm seeing it the Bean Animal main drain has an elbow, pointing down, that sits just at where you want the water level. If the water is allowed to drain from that line it would stop as soon as it hits the bottom of the elbow. If I slipped a section of pipe onto that elbow that went down to where the 15 gallon level was it should drain down to that level. I've attached a drawing that looks like a 5 year old did it but it's the best I can do. I could never get Sketch Up to work. Any thought on this idea?
My next question has to do with getting the water back into the tank or sump. I'll have the water mixed and in 5 gallon buckets. Should this water be put into the sump or directly into the tank? If it should go through the sump I guess I'll have to rig something up to get the water from the bucket to the sump. My sump sits in the cabinet below the tank but there isn't a whole lot of clearance so I'd have to either put a pump in the bucket with a line to the sump or just put a drain line into the bottom of the bucket and set the bucket on something and allow it to drain into the sump.
Since I'm building all this myself I'll probably have a ton more questions but I'm going to try and get the tank plumbed this weekend so I thought I'd start here.
Thanks for any help,
Joe
I've been thinking about water changes and how to get the water out of the tank and back in. From reading the posts here and other places it looks like I'm going to have to remove about 10-15 gallons of water each change, weekly seems to be the recommendation. My thought was to put a Tee in the main drain line before the flow control valve and have another valve attached to the side of that tee. I could shut the flow valve and pump, open the valve on the inline tee to drain the tank. I'd put a nipple on the valve with a hose thread so I could attach a garden hose. I'm thinking what I would need would be an extension on the main drain elbow that is inside the tank in order to get it low enough to drain the water. As I'm seeing it the Bean Animal main drain has an elbow, pointing down, that sits just at where you want the water level. If the water is allowed to drain from that line it would stop as soon as it hits the bottom of the elbow. If I slipped a section of pipe onto that elbow that went down to where the 15 gallon level was it should drain down to that level. I've attached a drawing that looks like a 5 year old did it but it's the best I can do. I could never get Sketch Up to work. Any thought on this idea?
My next question has to do with getting the water back into the tank or sump. I'll have the water mixed and in 5 gallon buckets. Should this water be put into the sump or directly into the tank? If it should go through the sump I guess I'll have to rig something up to get the water from the bucket to the sump. My sump sits in the cabinet below the tank but there isn't a whole lot of clearance so I'd have to either put a pump in the bucket with a line to the sump or just put a drain line into the bottom of the bucket and set the bucket on something and allow it to drain into the sump.
Since I'm building all this myself I'll probably have a ton more questions but I'm going to try and get the tank plumbed this weekend so I thought I'd start here.
Thanks for any help,
Joe
