Before I glue, need the plumbing ok'ed by you guys. (Pic)

[Scuba Dan]

Just finished cutting and fitting the plumbing. I want to put this by you guys before I glue everything. Is there something you would change/do? The tank is a AGA 120gal. and a 50gal. refugium/sump. I have a mag 18 for the return pump.
Thanks....

[theplatypus]

Is the drain to your sump going straight down? If so you might want to change that.

[Scuba Dan]

Where the 2 drains come to the T, it comes forward about 4" then stright down. Should I install a "T" at the very bottom?

[hng]

A few thoughts: why do you have an elbow placed before the return enters the tee? If you could have the return pipe from the pump enter straight into the tee there would be more flow, less strain on the pump. Do you have any bubble traps? Consider using flexible PVC frpm the pump all the way into the tee on the return to decrease vibration noise. Place the entire sump on top off 1/2 inch styrofoam or high density insulation board to cut down on vibration noise and to level the sump.

[hng]

Few more: why do you have a quick disconnect on the drain pipe? A straight drop like that on the drain will produce a lot of noise and splashing. You may want to add a way for air to escape from the drain.

[Scuba Dan]

I did away with the elbow before the "T" on the return line. I have a quick disconnect on both the return and the pipe to the sump so I can remove the sump if need be. I did not know how else to do it if I hard pipe everything in.(Glue) The pump will be sitting on a bracket I modified with 4 suction cups on it. I do have a 5" piece of flexible hose that connects the pump to the return piping. Yes, I do have bubble traps. How can I add a way for air to escape from the drain?

[Loverotties]

Don't forget to prime it 1st before glueing.

[Scuba Dan]

Good morning.....Thanks for the reply. If you mean the purple stuff, I picked some up along with the clear glue.

[Scuba Dan]

Anything I should be aware of before I start? How much time do I have to work with when using this glue? I really hate to glue the parts into the bulkheads. How do you remove the BH once they are glued in?(The piping.) or don't you?

[Geoff]

to clear bubbles out of the drain i would do this. that elbow at the top of the straight down part of the drain, i would change that out to a tee. this is where the air will escape. you may need to add a small pipe extension upward to keep any splashing out from happening. also adding a cap with an 1/8" hole in it would keep the noise to a minimum. just before the expansion coupler i would expand the pipe diameter to at least 2", going bigger would be better. you should then extend this expanded pipe to about an inch from the bottom of the sump. this should catch a lot of the bubbles before they even get into the sump.

why is the return pump in the middle section? it should be in the far right section. that way the bubbles have the longest length to go to be evacuated by the baffles.

what size tank is this sump for? that water height in the sump seems a touch high. just worried that it might overflow when you turn the return pump off. that looks like a Mag 12. how large is that drain? you might need to increase the diameter of the drain pipe from the tee down to the sump to handle the doubling of the flow from the dual drains.

G~

[Scuba Dan]

Originally Posted by Geoff

to clear bubbles out of the drain i would do this. that elbow at the top of the straight down part of the drain, i would change that out to a tee. this is where the air will escape. you may need to add a small pipe extension upward to keep any splashing out from happening. also adding a cap with an 1/8" hole in it would keep the noise to a minimum. just before the expansion coupler i would expand the pipe diameter to at least 2", going bigger would be better. you should then extend this expanded pipe to about an inch from the bottom of the sump. this should catch a lot of the bubbles before they even get into the sump.

why is the return pump in the middle section? it should be in the far right section. that way the bubbles have the longest length to go to be evacuated by the baffles.

what size tank is this sump for? that water height in the sump seems a touch high. just worried that it might overflow when you turn the return pump off. that looks like a Mag 12. how large is that drain? you might need to increase the diameter of the drain pipe from the tee down to the sump to handle the doubling of the flow from the dual drains.

G~

The return pump is a mag 18, Thats what it states on the box. The drain pipe is 1" Its hard to tell from the picture, but the water travels into the sump from the left side, then goes to the far right of the tank, then travels back to the center of the tank in the middle where the pump is. Here is a pic, maybe you can see it better here. I will have to do a test to see if my walls are a little high after the pump is turned off. If I were to install a T in the area you stated to help let the air out, wont there be salt creep from the splashing in that area?

On the pipe going to the sump, after the elbow coming out of the tank, should I have went from the 1" to like 2" all the way to the sump? If so, I'll have to redo everything...Sad....

[Scuba Dan]

Ok, I hope this is better. Per your suggestion, I added a "T" that goes from the 1" piping to 2" piping. I added a cap to the "T" and will be drilling a 1/8" hole on top. Please see pic below. As soon as I hear back from somebody I will start gluing.

[Scuba Dan]

I went ahead and glued everything. That PVC cement does NOT give you much time to work with it. Started up the tank and found out I can not run the Mag 18 wide open. Over powers the drain system. I have the valve open about 75%. When the tank fully drains after the pump is turned off, the sump fills up to about 2" from the top. I guess thats ok. Im draining the tank now to put my dry base rock and sand in.

[Geoff]

there are very few drains that can keep up with a Mag 18!!. you might want to think about sticking a couple of eductors on the outlets instead of valveing it back. a more efficient use of the pump. an eductor will add about 7' of head pressure to the pump. two of them will add close to 12' of head pressure.

with eductors you will prolly get close to 3000gph of total flow or more in the tank!!! now we are talking some good flow.

G~

[Scuba Dan]

eductors I guess I better do a search on that. I have no clue what they are....BRB