Herbie with basement sump

[tdyrkacz]

For those of you who are running Herbie and have a basement sump... do you place the gate valve under the stand or in the basement? I hear a lot of noise of water going through the pipe... my thinking is that if it's in the basement the entire pipe will be filled with water and sounds of splashing will be eliminated, but if i put it under the stand it will still splash past the gate valve and i may still hear noise.

Also how high should the emergency drain be in relation to the weir. I've seen some conflicting stories on this.

 

[blaxsun]

Well, if you put it in the basement it will always be a 2-person job with phones to coordinate raising or lowering the level in the overflow (that or a lot of stairs).

 

[tdyrkacz]

That's true. I am just not sure how well a herbie upstairs actually work in terms of silencing the noise in the pipes. I've never ran a herbie so i also don't know how often one has to tinker with it.

 

[JGT]

I have mine in the basement near the sump. Results in it being dead quiet upstairs. Once it’s dialed in, I never have to touch it. I also put marks with a Sharpie on the valve to know where my sweet spot is in case I ever need to shut it off. I never have.
Have the emergency height equal to the bottom of the weir. The gate valve is sensitive so make minor adjustments until you get it the way you want it.

 

[JoshH]

I managed to tune my overflow on my own with no issues or multiple trips up the stairs. I just removed the downpipe that goes below the waterline in the sump on the secondary/ Emergency line. Started with the main siphon valve wide opened and then slowly adjusted it until a trickle of water came down the secondary line. Let it sit for a little bit to adjust itself and adjusted it back a touch when I realized I had closed it to much. Plugged the downpipe back in and called it a day.

Always nicer to have the gate valve as close to the sump as possible regardless of where the sump is.

 

[tdyrkacz]

Thank you all. I'm afraid that if I put the valve under the tank it won't stop the sound coming from the water hitting the elbow below if that makes sense. Am i thinking about this right or perhaps i just don't fully understand how a herbie works.

 

[SantaMonica]

Could always use a phone cam to monitor the height when adjusting

 

[RusticsReef]

Thank you all. I'm afraid that if I put the valve under the tank it won't stop the sound coming from the water hitting the elbow below if that makes sense. Am i thinking about this right or perhaps i just don't fully understand how a herbie works.

what did you end up doing?

 

[tdyrkacz]

I did both since i have 2 tanks connected to the same sump. Both work so i wish i had installed both valves under the respective tanks... i can change it in the future if i really need to, but to be honest once i set it i don't have to tinker with it anymore. I'm glad i used gate valves instead of ball valves since the adjustments i made had to be very precise. The system is silent now.

 

[RusticsReef]

ok. Thanks! Just starting to plumb mine now. Also wondering if there's a way to connect my lights and pumps to my Apex which will be in the basement. Obviously the cords aren't long enough.

 

[tdyrkacz]

There is. I used this 75' cable https://www.usbfirewire.com/parts/rr-apex-xx.html?RR-APEX-75

 

[tdyrkacz]

Here are some photos of my basement sump

 

[RusticsReef]

Here are some photos of my basement sump

thanks for the reply. I'll look into that cable. Noticed you're running two return pumps? is that for redundancy? I'll be running one Reeflo Super dart with a back up at the ready. I'll send some pics when I have it plumbed. Appreciate the help!

 

[tdyrkacz]

I wish it was for redundancy. I do it because i have 2 tanks connected to this sump a 93 gallon cube and a larger 72"x30x21. If i only had 1 tank i would probably run 2 pumps anyways just in case.... although these pumps use a lot of power $$$

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Here are some photos of my basement sump

Thays just absolutely sweet, I'd love to have that set up, it looks good too, you have everything you need right there, good job I like it!

 

[tdyrkacz]

Thays just absolutely sweet, I'd love to have that set up, it looks good too, you have everything you need right there, good job I like it!

Thanks. It's been nice having a basement sump. A lot of plumbing and definitely uses more electricity, but it's quiet where the tank is and maintenance is a breeze.

 

[SantaMonica]

Sump or display maintenance?