A different Flow Question

Recycling water through the skimmer is a good thing :thumb_up:.

 

The bulkhead fittings are the only thing that leaked. But they are threaded on both sides, typical norm. I just fired it all up, and I have to throttle it down with a mag 12 return, but I guess I would rather have to much than to little.

Only problems I have are the amount of air that is dumped into skimmer section from the durso.
The overflow is loud becuase of the way it works. With the intake of the durso so low the DT water falls into the overflow.
And the bulkhead has a super slow leak. Not quite sure how im going to fix that without tearing apart the return piping.
And in a Complete power loss situation It wants to overflow out of the sump. I guess I need to drill a small hole just below my final water line to break the siphon.

Other wise I think this sump is going to work out quite well for me. Its pretty slick I think. I havent fired up the PM1 yet, due to no pump for it quite yet.

 

Dude, this is like deja vue all over again. I loved the increased flow from my mag 9.5 from redoing the piping, but the bubbles were crazy.

First, my return nozzles were drilled, but were also pretty high up. I figured what I changed to was good. Wrong. Siphoned about 6 inches out. I even had room, but that was no good. Drill them like they should be under the water line.

Read my overflow thread. I'm not saying you need the overflow, just a lot of this stuff is in there.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-herbie-overflow-write-up-pics-beware-60239.html

You will see why I asked about the bulk heads. You're good to go.

So you had a 9.5 for return and the Mag 12 for the skimmer. Did you just try out the 12 on the return for the heck of it. Are you going to keep it that way?

And yes, your sump/fuge looks very nice. That is the type of setup I went with too so I am biased.

 

well I was going to use a 9.5 for the return, but all the elbows and what not I went with another mag 12. Its ganna work, I just gotta quiet down the overflow and such.


Ill have to drill a super small hole in the intake pipe, but I have to figure everything else out first. I dont really understand the herbie style. Help me out maybe? lol

 

Why the intake.

The 12 will work just fine, but honestly, I think it is overkill. I have 1" flex PVC dumping into a tee, splits to 3/4" each side has 3 90 elbows, and I have more flow than I'm comfortable with on my overflow. I throttle my 9.5 back.

Overflows are rated at so much flow per linear inch, your overflow grate dumping into a 1" drain will only flow so much. That is your limiting factor. The 12 is fine, but why pay for so much unused capacity?

There are a million ways to skin a cat, I'm not trying to make mine out to be the best, just saying. You could use flex into one elbow. Or use 1" and only have one 3/4 restriction at the bulkhead fitting. It seems as if your pump is hard piped into place. You will still need to remove it for maintenance. You need a union. I think if you just tweak your return plumbing, a 9.5 will be plenty.

And yes, I had to redo mine too, go to the store several times, and finally cut it up and did it over. ;D


As far as the Herbie, I'm not saying you need to do that. There were some other plumbing stuff in there I was referencing. However, I'm thrilled with mine. Totally silent, zero bubbles in the sump. Basically, you continue to use your drain for the main drain. You put a valve in it to restrict flow to raise the water level in the overflow compartment above the shortened drain tube. No more air in the line, and you will achieve a balance between head pressure and valve opening and still flow the same amount of water.

The return hole in the drilled tank is converted to a secondary emergency drain in case the primary get clogged or something. It is just a stand pipe above the other drain, and is free flowing straight to the sump. You simply plumb your return flow over the back of the tank from there. Totally fail safe, silent, and bubble free. Has been very easy to tweak. Not much at all.

 

I actually have the mag 12 running the return right now, and its running wide open and not draining the sump. Creating some awsome flow inside the tank thats for sure. And its not hard plumbed, the last two connections arent cemented in so I can pull it out whenever I please.

Im going to make the standpipe on the durso longer to raise the water level in the over flow, and that should silence it up for me. And down in the sump Im going to have the water go straight to the bottom instead to eliminate the foaming and bubbles.

The tweaking never ends!

 

Sweet. Sounds like you have a plan.

 

well laid plans never works as planned. haha

The over flow is silent now.

But the bubbles in the sump are driving me nuts, its like a thousand cans of soda are being opened every second. I guess Im ganna research the herbie style, or maybe even another method I can dream up. But I gotta silence this thing.

 

Read the link I provided in that thread. The first post explains it nicely. The other 650 just hammer it. After 4 years, it is accepted as delivering what it promises. Many people run it and I too am very happy.

More importantly is that it hasn't been very finicky. Pretty easy to set, and does not need any attention.

There are plenty that get their overflows quiet. Bubbles in the sump are another matter. Not a bad thing, if you can get it a bit quiet. Some use tees at the end to let air escape. One running down the other up. Use a pipe to go below water line, and the top open.

 

Hey wilber. What i ended up having to do was throttle down the overflow vavles. I also have some noise in my sump, but not a terrible amount. With them wide open it was making way too much noise. Also on your power outage overflow issue. That is wierd. Mine raises the water level in the sump about 1 inch. You have the hole drilled in the top of the durso correct?? The air hole? Also, I drilled a hole in the very bottom side of the 90 degree elbow so that it wont siphon out of the tank. Hope this all makes sense. And if you figure out a way to silence the sump, please do let me know!!