diy plumbing and flow questions...

[Blorton]

Gang,

The home drilled 75 I'd mentioned before is now just about ready to be filled. However, I'm not sure how I want to plumb it to the sump and would appreciate any suggestions.

I've got a single 1.25" drain with a 1" choke point at the bulkhead and a .75" return. The drain is in one corner and the return is roughly along the middle back wall. I'm planning to run a simple t bar on the return with 4 hydor flows spread across it just under the surface level.

The sump will be the biggest brute trashcan I can find locally. It will be sitting directly behind the tank with it's top roughly equal in height to the bottom of the tank. (I'd run one of those horse troughs, but can't fit that through the opening in the space I'll be using.)

I've snagged a deal on an Ocean Runner 6500 to use as the return. While that might seem like way too much pump, I check RC's flow calculator, and between the two or three 90's and head losses, I should be down to around 600gph. I'll be using a gate valve on the pump's output just in case.

I haven't figured out whether I want to hard plumb or flex hose the exterior plumbing. Any suggestions as far as which is better for throughput? Would I hurt flow if I get lazy and just put two 90 degree barbs under the tank pointing straight back into the sump? Would I get better flow if I used straight barbs and let the hose gently do the angle transition into/from the sump?

I'll post up a diagram later if that would help.

Thanks!
Dan

[Geoff]

just curious, why is there a 1" choke on the 1.25" drain?

it sounds like you have a good idea on what is going on. you might want to think about a Dursa or Stockman drain pipe in there to keep the noise down.

flex tubing does restrict the flow less than straight pipe with elbows, but i do not think it is worth the hassle of working with the stuff. i find it annoying. some poeple have put it in the oven to soften it up a bit so that it can be shaped into a straight line instead of spool shaped.

G~

[Doug1]

If the actual o[ening in your drain is 1" thats what you have to use to calculate flow/drain rate
Using a valve on the pumps output is a good Idea, you may have to fine tune it to find a good balance

[Blorton]

Thanks for the response, Geoff.

The choke is there because the holes that were already in the tank were a quarter inch too small to use any of the available bulkheads. (1.5" and 1.25"). The choke point is a result of me using a 1.25" slip to 1" threaded pvc fitting to get to a satisfactory bulkhead arrangement. I'm hoping with the ~15" of 1.25" height straight down to the choke point will help with the throughput. We'll see.

Yea, I may end up with the durso. I'll be starting out with a slotted pipe from the back to the front (inverted L) just to see how that works out. I have the first 13" of vertical from the fittings cemented in for safety. The rest is threaded or slip fit, so it will be easy to change things later on as needed.

I was actually thinking that the coiling on the flex hose might be an asset, since I could then just drop the pump and all down in the trash can and not worry about drilling that up. Would also help if/when the sump needs to be moved. I just hate spending $3/ft. for the stuff. (And you're right, it's a real pain to work with.

Cheers!
Dan