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TrueTricia

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Hello WAMAS'ers!

 

I have a plumbing question.

 

My 120g tank has dual overflows.  One of the pipes will be used for the return, and I plan to do a bean animal overflow scheme for the remaining three holes.  Two of the remaining holes are 3/4" and the other is 1".  

 

Which brings me to my question: does each hole have to have an individual line to the sump, or can they return lines be plumbed together in a pseudo-manifold?  If they can be plumbed into the manifold, at what points should I have union ball valves plumbed in?  Or is there another combination, such as the 3/4" plumbed together and the 1" separate?  

 

Thanks in advance!

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I can't edit the original post, so here's a bit of clarification.

 

Do each of the Bean Animal drains need their own lines down to the sump, or can they be joined together using T-joiners and then go down to the sump in one line?  If so, how often and where should ball valves be used to regulate the flow?  Does the single pipe going to the drain need to be larger than the others to accommodate all the flow?  Or if this doesn't work, can I connect the two 3/4" pipes and use them as the durso and emergency drains, and use the 1" pipe by itself as the main drain with a ball valve for adjustment?  

 

I've got minimal space in my fish room, so I want to keep the plumbing minimized but I also don't want to sacrifice safety or quietness for the plumbing.  I've seen pictures online of both ways, but no accompanying explanations that state whether the combined singular pipe approach has ramifications for which I want to be aware.  Obviously there are plenty of explanations on the traditional Bean Animal design.  

 

TIA! 

 

 

 

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Each one needs its own solid line to the sump.  Otherwise, the point of having multiple lines is lost. 

 

The Full Siphon definitely needs to go as straight as possible right down to the sump with a gate valve down by the sump because it needs to not have any air in it.   Another non-siphon line connected to it would prevent it from forming a siphon by introducing a place to suck in air (and it would be noisy).  The pipe should end under the water level in the sump by less than an inch or so. A ball valve can work down by the sump, but I predict you'll become frustrated with trying to get it set just right.  Maybe not, though. 

 

The Open Channel and the Dry Emergency could, in theory, be teed in together for routine operations, but the point of having two separate ones is that the Dry emergency can stay dry and uncrudded up by snails, sponges, etc, so that if the other ones fail you have a guaranteed wide open path down into the sump instead of overflowing on to your floors.

 

If you are using one of the 1" pipes for the return, I'd use the 3/4" in that same chamber for the "open channel", the 1" in the other chamber for the emergency, and the 3/4" in the other chamber for the full siphon.  A 3/4" pipe running full siphon can deliver a surprising amount of water.  I recommended placing it on the opposite end from the return because that's how sumps are usually configured with a sock at one end and the return at the other...   The reason I recommend the 1" for the emergency rather than full siphon is that it's your ultimate "Oh crap how did everything get clogged" drain.  It's nice if it's the biggest one so you can feel comfortable that once the water level gets high enough to start filling this pipe it will definitely carry the load.

 

If you want larger interior dimensions for the 3/4 or 1" pipes you can get the thin walled stuff at Lowes or Home Depot.  I think it's schedule 20 instead of schedule 40.  They won't be carrying any pressure to speak of, so the thin stuff is more than enough.  Anyone getting schedule 80 for aquariums must just like the color or something.

 

 

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Alan

 

Perfect.  Thank you for the explanation.  This is definitely helpful.  I'm about to dry fit my plumbing together now, and it requires me putting holes into my fish room, so I was trying to avoid making four holes, but looks like that's what I need to do.  I hate trips to HD but I think I'll need a few more supplies now that I'm doing four lines and not two!  

 

Thank goodness for WAMAS resources!

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4 hours ago, AlanM said:

Each one needs its own solid line to the sump.  Otherwise, the point of having multiple lines is lost. 

 

The Full Siphon definitely needs to go as straight as possible right down to the sump with a gate valve down by the sump because it needs to not have any air in it.   Another non-siphon line connected to it would prevent it from forming a siphon by introducing a place to suck in air (and it would be noisy).  The pipe should end under the water level in the sump by less than an inch or so. A ball valve can work down by the sump, but I predict you'll become frustrated with trying to get it set just right.  Maybe not, though. 

 

The Open Channel and the Dry Emergency could, in theory, be teed in together for routine operations, but the point of having two separate ones is that the Dry emergency can stay dry and uncrudded up by snails, sponges, etc, so that if the other ones fail you have a guaranteed wide open path down into the sump instead of overflowing on to your floors.

 

If you are using one of the 1" pipes for the return, I'd use the 3/4" in that same chamber for the "open channel", the 1" in the other chamber for the emergency, and the 3/4" in the other chamber for the full siphon.  A 3/4" pipe running full siphon can deliver a surprising amount of water.  I recommended placing it on the opposite end from the return because that's how sumps are usually configured with a sock at one end and the return at the other...   The reason I recommend the 1" for the emergency rather than full siphon is that it's your ultimate "Oh crap how did everything get clogged" drain.  It's nice if it's the biggest one so you can feel comfortable that once the water level gets high enough to start filling this pipe it will definitely carry the load.

 

If you want larger interior dimensions for the 3/4 or 1" pipes you can get the thin walled stuff at Lowes or Home Depot.  I think it's schedule 20 instead of schedule 40.  They won't be carrying any pressure to speak of, so the thin stuff is more than enough.  Anyone getting schedule 80 for aquariums must just like the color or something.

 

 

 

One other question.... My sump is going to go in here.  I'm assuming that I should cover up the insulation first....

IMG_20190716_140519.jpg

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