Water Storage

[iangibby]

OK I need a little advice. I relocated my water storage containers one is 150Gallon and the other is 75Gallon obviously I use the 75 for the salt mixing. I moved them up to the garage to give me more room plus my new container doesn't fit in the door . So both are one story above my fish room and the other end of the house about 50' away. I ran two 1/2" pex lines from the tanks to the fish room and ill be connecting them to the bottom of the containers with a ball valve. Im sure water will flow but should I install a T in the pex line next to the containers and have the line vented above the container? Or will it flow just fine without a vent. I plan on using just gravity so no pumps and Id like the best flow rate. Let me know your thoughts or ideas

[Buucca]

I would try to dry fit without the vent. If you have enough slope you should be ok, if not try the vent.

[Origami]

If I understand you correctly, it'll flow fine without the added vent. The whole top of the storage container, if open (vented to atmospheric pressure) acts as the vent.

 

Keep in mind that your salt mix will dissolve more slowly if the water is cold. Also, if the salt water is not heated, large water changes will quickly lower your tank temperature.

[FearTheTerps]

Like Tom said the open top of the container is the "vent", but if you want to be able to clear the line you will have to add another vent. If you dont add this second vent when you close the valve at the bottom water will be trapped in the pex tubing. Even if you installed another valve at the top on the storage container water will not flow without the second vent on pex tubing because of the suction created. Think of when you place your finger over a straw in a glass of water, the water stays in the straw when you remove it from the glass, the water doesnt flow until you remove your finger.

 

Of course none of what I said really matters if you dont care about clearing the tubing. I'm guessing if you have a 75 gallon container you are making pretty large water changes. The tubing will only be holding about a half gallon water and shouldnt have alot effect on your water changes.

[iangibby]

Thanks for all the input Ill add the vent incase I ever need to clear the lines.

[Origami]

Sorry, I missed that the ball valves were at the containers, rather than at your delivery end. A vent will definitely make sure that the lines clear.

 

However, depending upon the cross section of the PEX tubing, it's likely that it will clear if the water is driven by gravity. To prove this to yourself, try trapping a column of water in a downward sloping 1/2" pipe that is open at the bottom. There is not sufficient surface tension on the water to block an air bubble from rising up in the pipe and displacing water, resulting in flow. Because of the reduced cross section, a soda straw can trap water this way. A more exaggerated example of the effect of surface tension trapping water is in a capillary tube, where the cross section is so small that, not only is the water trapped in the tube, but it is actively drawn up into the tube WITH THE TOP END OPEN. When the tubing is largely horizontal, the tension imbalance will cause the water to flow even more readily.

 

For a practical example of this, think of your shower head draining in the morning. It sits there for a moment with the water stopped, but then it lets a bubble in and the water begins to flow in a small stream until it empties.

 

A vent will not hurt, though, and may even help dry out the lines between use and keep stuff from growing along the sides of the tubing.