Plumbing question

Neil S. · Oct 3, 2019

I am putting a new sump in and I have a question regarding the drains from the DT into the sump. Some background data first:
1) The DT is 40 gallons, the overflow is an Eshoppes 1000. Their are two 1 inch drain lines going down about 3 feet to the sump bulkheads. 2) This is a Triton Method reef aquarium. The new sump is about 30 gallons of water when running. Flow through should be about 600 - 700 gph.
3) The sump bulkheads, for the drain lines, are position on the side of the sump about 4.5 inches from the bottom with about 8.5 inches of water height above the bulkheads (total of 13" of water height in the first chamber).

Question: Is there going to be too much back pressure on the drain lines from the water in the first chamber that will prevent the flow from the DT from working correctly?

Roy Arena · Oct 3, 2019

I don't really understand line item 3 but the drain lines are connected to the bulkheads at the top of the sump usually. You can connect a piece of pipe on the bottom side of the bulkhead just long enough to be an inch or so below your water line of sump. Your overflow box has two j tube so both drains will be in use. Have you considered using the eshopps eclipse overflow instead to eliminate the use of j tubes?

Neil S. · Oct 4, 2019

@Roy Arena . Thank you for your suggestion re: Eshopps eclipse. Unfortunately I am not able to drill my DT, so that is not currently an option. (The next tank upgrade will have internal drains, but for now I'll have to stay with the overflow from Eshopps.)

As to item 3: I've attached some pictures to help explain how the drains are configured. The first picture is of the new glass sump, showing the drain holes on the right side down low (approx 4.5" from the bottom). The second picture is from the right side, again showing the drain holes. The last picture is of the DT showing the overflow box and the drain lines running down into the cabinet. Those drain lines will be connecting to the side holes in the new sump using flex hose (after the valves) and a 90 degree elbow into to the bulkheads in the sump.

malacoda · Oct 4, 2019

I don't know much about the specifics/goals of a Triton sump setup. Generally speaking though, the flow from the DT should work just fine.

The DT is above the sump, so water will flow down into the sump. And the return pump will be pushing water back up to the DT. So, water will always be moving down, through sump, then back up to the DT.

Technically speaking, there won't be any significant back pressure in the drain lines. There's nothing pushing the water back in that direction (other than the head height in the sump ... which can't compete the head pressure of the DT). The water level inside the bottom of the drain lines will be pretty even with the water level in the sump.