Finally Made Up My Mind....

[Siamese Fighter05]

Cheers for your help

Okay so just to clarify, andywg is there anything connecting the bukhead to the 90 degree like an adapter or is the 90 degree just plugged straight in and sealed with sealent?

I'll go with the 1" drain as crazylece advised and that means i should need 30mm piping.

I've decided to use the sump return as the other means of surface agitation, I send the piping back up to a bulkhead in the tank and then on that bulkead put those to black nozzle seperators, does anyone know what these are called?

I'll use a closed loop to send flow into the middle of the tank and between the rockwork.

Hopefully soon we can get the plumbing out of the way as it's the most scary part for me!

 

[andywg]

I just plumb the elbow straight into the bulkhead, though it depends on if your bulkhead will just allow a pipe to be welded in. No sealant was needed, just solvent cement. The sealant is for the bulkhead as the rubber gaskets supplied ar a bit pants and can rot over time (especially in salt water).

I just used 25mm pipe all the way through, I have never experienced any of the problems Richard Durso seems to with keeping the pipe work the same size as the bulkhead.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

I wonder if i get everything custom made they would just have the bulkhead in place and the 90 degree in for me already if i asked?

When you say welded in, do you mean it literally or just clicking it in and then putting the solvent around the connection? (Maybe i shoulda stuck to goldfish )

I guess i'll just use the same size piping all the way through as well, people were just saying it works better if you use large piping?

Heres my simple paint design:

Basically on the right i have my overflow box with the standpipe on the outside, that goes down to the sump. I'll use 25mm bulkhead and piping here as you guys suggested.

Return i'll use whatever we work out later on, but that just simply runs up the middle and comes into the tank through a duo nozzle thingy pointed up for extra surface agitation.

The red circle will be the out for the closed loop pump with the 2 blue circles being the Ins. I'll put double nozzle things for both the closed loop inputs to give me double the movement.

All in all i should have equal to six smaller powerhead blowing current all over the tank but taking up as much room as one

Just a few more questions

How big is your weir box and could you have gone smaller?
Do you use a tooth comb to keep snails/fish out?
How far off the surface is the top glass to the overflow box and why did you decide this height?

Thanks alot, everyone feel free to chip in i'm learning alot here

Dan

 

[crazyelece]

If you use a street elbow it will slide right into the bulkhead. A standard elbow will need a small section of pipe. As far as the pipe size, you don't need to up it if you run it this way as the air is added outside the tank on the way down so the same pipe size should work fine.

 

[andywg]

When you say welded in, do you mean it literally or just clicking it in and then putting the solvent around the connection? (Maybe i shoulda stuck to goldfish )

I mean a piece of pipe with solvent cement on both ends is inserted first into the bulkhead, and then into the elbow.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Okay so i think we've got this sussed, before i write the plumbing plans down into my plan book lol can i just confirm these few facts to be 100% confident with it:

A 1" drain means the diameter of the tubing i will be using and not the diameter of the bulkhead, correct?

The reccomended rate through the sump is 5X per hour? If so this means...

Total volume of system: 38 x 5 = 190GPH needed, The pump will probably need to pump 4feet up to the tank, does anyone have an reccomendations? I heard MAg's are one of the best. I don't mind little extra flow if it's okay...

 

[crazyelece]

1" is the size of the pipe and the bulkhead. All of the plumbng parts should be for 1" pipe including the bulkhead.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

The bulkhead that takes 25mm (1") piping needs a 34mm hole

 

[crazyelece]

yup, the bulkheads always need a larger hole than the pipe size.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Cheers

Would a mag 7 be alright on the return? A ball valve to control the flow might be needed?

 

[daneeboy]

i wouldnt put a ball valve in line with your return, its likely to shorten the life of your pump. Put a T piece in your return pipe back into your sump and put the valve on that. It will still allow you to control the flow without puting any stress on your pump. I use a eheim 1260, they are pretty bullet proof.

 

[crazyelece]

A mag 7 worked perfect for both my HOB overflow and drilled tank overflow. Both had 1" drains. I didn't need to restrict them in any way.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Thanks

I used a calculator on RC and gave all my headloss figures (Estimates) and it reckons the mag 7 will give me 248GPH after all elbows and vertical/horiontal pipe.

I will see if the mag 5 gives me closer to what i need or i'll use the 7 with the T piece...

Thanks again
Dan

Edit: Have another question about sump and closed loop return.

Does anyone have any UK suppliers of loclines? I wanted the black V shape one that you canadjust to change the water directions... Heres a pic of one:

I don't want them that big though

 

[daneeboy]

i would personally still put a T peice in there anyway for fine tuning sake. even if the valve is shut, you still have the option to fiddle. Better than having to add it after everything is running.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Ok thanks