Need advice on drain

[NemesisElite]

Hello everyone, I'm happy to announce that I'm working towards putting up a new tank that has been on the back burner for the summer.

 

Unfortunately I'm here today because I've hit a snag. My current tank has an in display overflow (reef ready tank) whereas my new tank just has a 2" hole drilled in the back of it. I've already come to terms that I'm going to have the return draped over the top, however I'm stuck on the drain portion. I currently run a durso in my 90g tank and love it. The previous owner of my new tank just had a 2" elbow angled up to the top of the water and then a straight pipe to his sump; he also had a 1200gph pump. My goal with this new tank is silence!

 

So I'm here today to get suggestions on what I should do. Obviously I would prefer it to look not so ghetto, but I'm willing to sacrifice looks for sound. I should also probably mention that I only plan on using an eheim 1260 (635gph) so the 2" drain will not be even close to capacity in terms of flow, I've actually contemplated gating it down with (I don't know what they're called) downsized connections in the pvc.

 

Here's a picture of the tank setup by the previous owner and you can see where he had the elbow in top left back portion of the tank.

 

Thanks!

 

[davelin315]

You can make a durso on that tank still. Half will be inside, the other half outside.

[Brian Ward]

The elbow that's angled toward the top of the water - turn that over and you have a durso! The one thing you'll need to do is actually change it from an elbow to a tee, extend the top just above the water line, install a cap and drill a hole in it - this will break the siphon when the power goes out. The bottom of the tee will suffice as your standard drain.

[NemesisElite]

Thanks for the replies. I've considered both of those and both problems that arise (which I forgot to talk about in the original post) is it will presumably make the water level as low as the hole is. I had hoped to have the water level as high as I could to the point where you don't see the waterline from the viewable sides.

[Brian Ward]

I would see if there's a combination of plumbing that will get you where you want to be. I'm guessing you can build some sort of manifold structure that will give you the noise suppression of a durso but also provide the water height you're looking for.

[FearTheTerps]

I would keep the elbow in the tank turned facing up and place a short piece of pipe into the elbow. With that you can get the desired water level that you want. Once you get some coralline growing it wont look so bad, or you could even paint it with krylon spray paint. To quiet the drain do what Dave suggests, build the durso on the outside of the tank. All you need to do is connect a T to the bulkhead on the outside, place a cap on the top of the T and drill your hole as normal. And on the bottom of the T just run your drain line like normal

[NemesisElite]

So if I have the elbow pointed at the top of the water level and make a durso on the back side, will I still have the desired effect of quietness? I thought by having the elbow at the top it would make the flushing noise or sucking noise... or will the durso on the back correct that?

 

Thanks!