my first plumbing attempt (Herbie)

so here are some pics of my first attempt. nothing is cemented yet so, of you see something wrong let me know.

i decided to tee off the return for the fuge rather then the drain just to keep the drain as simple as possible to keep any air out.

the main drain stand pipe was kinda a collage of spare parts, might get changed later

used the factory durso as the back up. might increase the length a tad.

 

oh yeah, do have SS clamps for all the barb fittings.

 

Which is the return line? The center or the skimmer area?

 

the center. the flex line in the skimmer section is the back up drain

 

changed it up a litte. decided the flex was not needed on the return section. also added a couple unions

 

Barb fittings really neck down inside and restrict flow. I would straight pipe everything. Especially the emergency... you want it to flow as much as the main.

The main stand pipe needs to be just a pipe. No elbow, that will create a siphon.

 

I agree. And the less 90 degree angles, the better. I used 45's wherever I could. it helps the flow better.

And the return with it tee'd off to the fuge, will create a siphon. I would tee off the intake to the skimmer area to the fuge with a ball valve to control the flow since the flow in the fuge should be slower.

Having the return in the center is a good idea though.

 

ok, so most of the hard pipe is added

i gonna see if i can get the emergency drain hard piped this morning. just don't want it to get to crowded in that corner

jbl-i kinda thought about the siphon between the fuge and the return section when i was putting it together last night. would the siphon affect anything (like pump output). or is it just something that would just even out the water levels if the pump shut off. i was thinking about maybe drilling a bunch of small holes at the water line in the fuge to eliminate the siphon
i think i would have the same problem if i teed off the drain cause theoretically it should not have any air in it.

powerman- the main drain is the short one in the middle with the strainer on top. the one with the bends is the factory durso which i am using as the emergency drain, i just increased the length of the base by about half an inch.

 

Got it, I can see the strainer now.

Still, don't worry about the elbow. Here is the reasoning of the original design if you did not read it. The main was submerged on both ends and silent. Herbie plumbed the emergency stand pipe with it's outlet above the water level in the sump. That way if the emergency kicked in, water would make noise at the sump and act as an alarm that he needed to check out. You decide if that is what you want.

With a elbow on top it will siphon and surge. Here's a good thing for you. You have an emergency the same size as your main. A lot of folks run the water level up to the emergency and let it trickle over the edge. The water stays coating the sides of the pipe and does not make noise. Only when it gets too much and splashing around in the pipe does it make noise. The bad part about that is it takes capacity away from the emergency drain... but you have a bigger one than most.

So just an open stand pipe. Run the water up to it, allow a slight trickle, it will still be quiet, submerge your emergency... ( i do, I don't need it to make noise) your level will be rock steady, silent and bubbleless.

 

so, the new tank has been running for a couple hours now......

it is so quiet. the only thing i can here is my aquac remora that i have hung on the sump till i get my swc dialed in. plus figured extra skimming wont hurt in the begining.

i do have to redo the the return stand pipe. the hole that is drilled for the siphon break is to high (factory return pipe). so it was making a ton of noise splashing and what not. i raised the water level in the overflow with the gate valves which was very easy to do. and now the noise is gone.

cause i had to raise the level in the overflow. i am running some water down the factory durso -made backup drain. (more then just a trickel) but its still dead silent.

once i get the the new retun pipe made ill remove the u from the durso. i definitly heard the surging noise till i opened the main drain enough.


thanks for the help.