Plumbing questions

[ruppertb]

So currently i have a 75gal with a 29g sump. sitting to the left are 2 more 20 gal. I have a overflow box on the back of my 75 that feeds the sump and a return to feed the 75. i also have a overflow to feed the 1st 20 gal which is a nem clown tank, this then drains into my fuge and the the fuge drains to the sump. it is a whole mess of plumbing and there are pipes everywhere.

neither of the overflows on the 75 like this setup as they build up bubbles due to slower flow than normal.

i want to plumb my 75 to the basement and move the refuge and sump down there.

what would be the best way to plumb the nem tank into this system without using another return pump from basement. would it make sense to put a t off the overflow and go to the clown tank and then t back into it a foor lower for the drain off the 20. i just cant think of a good way to have them all be plumbed together, and still be able to control the flow to the nem tank, while only having one overflow and both going to the basement sump.

TIA Brice

 

[mcarroll]

FWIW, I run a split sump (50 gal and 38 gal) with overflow boxes as well.

For the return, you'll be getting a much larger pump anyway if you're adding about another eleven feet of head pressure to the return pump. Use the larger pump to tee off from the return line to the small tank. (You may be shocked by how big compared to what you have if you haven't looked into this yet...something like a BlueLine 55 at minimum....70 would be much better. Expect to spend $250 or more and use 250 watts or more.)

For the drains (assuming the 20 is staying upstairs with the 75 and there's no practical way to drain the 20 into the 75 or vis versa) you'll need a tee in the drain line you run to the basement as well.

Would it be possible to keep your sump upstairs as a "pre-sump" and just drain that to the basement? At least then you only have to worry about returns for both tanks and not drains too.

Also, the larger pump should take care of your finicky overflows as well. IME, you probably want no less than around 300gph going through each one....around 400gph might be better. Too much more flow than that and you usually start getting a lot more noise at the drain and churn in the sump.(..which you'll probably have anyway with the sump in the basement.) I was around 200gph on mine at first and they would also build up bubbles pretty quickly (never suffered a siphon-loss though....too bad Hurricane Filters went out of business). I eventually upgraded my return pump (Quiet One 2200 to 4000) and haven't had the problem since. Running around 300gph (measured with a calibrated quart mixing bowl and timer) through each drain now.

-Matt