# [Wet Thumb Forum]-240gal Plumbing Dilemma (long)



## liquidgardens (Apr 8, 2003)

Now that I have my water column vitals together and things are on their way to growing well, it is time to address my plumbing problems. Which incidently were part of the plant growing problems and still cause CO2 loss, air bubbles...and noise

To preface, I have a pump that is too strong for the aquarium. This combined with the overflow and sump, I am getting too much water agitation and tiny air bubbles in the water column.

The set up is a 240 gallon acrylic tank with an overflow at the end. Water falls into the overflow and then down to a sump below. The water is then pulled out of the sump and sent back up through the overflow to 2 return jets.

OVERFLOW DRAIN
The drain bulkhead at the bottom of the overflow is 1.5". To stop the waterfall into the overflow, I created a standpipe to keep the overflow water level even with the water level in the aquarium. There are a couple of 1/4" holes drilled into the lower part of the stand pipe and any fluctuation in aquarium water level is drained at the top of the stand pipe. Below the overflow drain bulhead, 1.5" PVC is plumbed down to the 60 gallon sump through a 1.5" bulkhead.










All of this is fine except that I had to reduce the pvc down to 1/2" inside the sump to keep gravity from pulling all of the water down to the sump and creating major aggitation. Additionally, air is sucked down through the standpipe and mixed with the water on the way to the sump.

SUMP
60 gallon acrylic kept half full in case of power failure and 240 gal draining until level with overflow. 1/2" pipe as mentioned earlier is run within 10 inches of the far end of the sump. Water is drawn through several layers of filter fabric to the other end of the sump where the water is pulled through a 1" bulkhead to the inline pump.

PUMP
Inline 1000gph (or higher...just don't know) with 1" fittings. 1" line pulled from the sump is sent up through 1" PVC, through a check valve to a "T". These "T"'d lines run up through 1" bulkheads in the bottom of the main tank overflow and then up to 2 return jets plumbed into the face of the overflow.



















As you can see in the pictures, I tried to "T" off right after the pump and send excess water back to the sump to eliminate such a high flow rate into the main tank. This is not working well, and is creating too much noise and air bubbles.

So the questions come down to:
What kind of inline pump with 1" fitttings should I be using?
What kind of gph should I be looking for in a heavily planted aquarium?
How can I eliminate or come close to having no water aggitation into the sump?

How have others worked this out for a large tank with an overflow and sump?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Keith


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## liquidgardens (Apr 8, 2003)

Obviously no one has a clue how to fix this situation. No worries, I figured it out for myself. 

I am eliminating the sump completely and I just purchased 2 Eheim 2028's. This is going to free up a lot of space in the cabinet and make life much easier.

Since I have the overflow area, I am going to use the existing bulk heads to plumb the Eheims to the existing return jets. As for the intakes, I will place them at the back corners where they will be hidden by the plants. 

I believe this will take me to the next level of plant growth and a great looking water column.

Keith


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## matthewburk (Sep 27, 2005)

I know this is an old thread and you fixed your problem, but I wanted to tell you about a solution that I used that creates zero water agitation and is completely silent, only the nosie of the pump and my light fans can be heard.

1st put a ball valve on the drain underneath the tank, and adjust the height of the drain pipe in your overflow so that it is about half the height of the overflow.

2nd turn one of your return lines into a second drain, this is for an emergency backup when the first drain gets clogged for any reason, and is very important, for peace of mind









Here's the part that makes it silent, adjust your ball valve on the main drain until the amount of water coming out of it is equal to the amount of water your pump is pumping back into the tank. When you do this the water should raise 4+ inches about the main drain that is halfway up your overflow. It is not really a delicate balance becuase as the water raises pressure builds up and it will naturally balance out.

Now there is no air at all going into the sump, just water, so make sure you dont splash into the sump, just put the drain a little below the water level in the sump.

This will completely eliminate sump and overflow noise.

Oh make sure the water is not so high in the overflow that it goes throught the emergency drain. The emergency drain should be at the normal height of a durso standpipe, close to the top. On this drain it is desirable for it to be as loud as possible when the water drains through it, becuase it will let you know that you have a clogged main drain when you hear it.

I did not come up with the idea myself, can't remember who to give credit to though.


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