Food for Thought: Sump Without Return Bulkhead Bracket

[Projects with Sam]

Was going to ask the same question


I mean I’m kind of old a not as familiar with a lot of the new sump trends but what would be the benefit if plumbing a return line a few inches up to a bulkhead rather than up and out?

may be easier to swap out the pump for cleaning.

 

[KENNYSREEF]

Was going to ask the same question


I mean I’m kind of old a not as familiar with a lot of the new sump trends but what would be the benefit if plumbing a return line a few inches up to a bulkhead rather than up and out?

Hi Adam,

First off, big fan.

Typically, without the bulkhead in the return there is a lot of instability in the piping and you might have run up the plumbing to the stand any maybe get a mount of some sort for the PVC, while if you plumb up to a bulk head you have stability for the rest of your plumbing. Hope that makes sense.

 

[KENNYSREEF]

may be easier to swap out the pump for cleaning.

That too!

 

[KENNYSREEF]

hehe; I won a Reefmat here on R2R and I exchanged if for the ReefWave45 instead because my sump is so small.

Reef waves are definitely nice. Only if RedSea's tank was as nice as some of their equipment LOL.

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

That too!

Unions come in real handy for this as well. :)

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

Hi Adam,

First off, big fan.

Typically, without the bulkhead in the return there is a lot of instability in the piping and you might have run up the plumbing to the stand any maybe get a mount of some sort for the PVC, while if you plumb up to a bulk head you have stability for the rest of your plumbing. Hope that makes sense.

Hey thanks for chiming in! I get the stability thing for sure. But it still seems like a bit more work than ultimately necessary. Maybe even a tad quirky when it comes to pulling the pump unless you have a union. But again I’m old, man lol. Too set in my ways for sure lol so don’t take what I say all to seriously

However I could see this helping a lot if you wanted to cover the sump completely. To help with evap and such.

 

[Projects with Sam]

heh. good point about the evap

 

[exnisstech]

Sorry, why would you want or need a bulkhead for the return? Just connect to the pump directly and add a gate valve

Same. I have three sumps but only one with a bulkhead on the return but that's because it's an external pump.