240 Gallon Build thread

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Aimara
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It's would be under the water level. Any side is fine but must be under normal operating water level. If exposed to air it will never achieve full siphon with the gate valve (its purpose is to restrict the flow and purge the air from the line). The back siphons will drain to the top of the hole with no power to the pump. Hence why you need to carefully place your hole
Drilled the holes and the overflows wouldn't prime, ran the pump dry.... Very pissed off right now, end of the build and this stuff happens. Very frustrating haha
 

M@T!@$

Aimara
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How did it go? Whether you turn the 90* directly down or not, I suspect you'll still need to add the valve - preferably gate valve, but ball valve would work. Having said this, I am curious how you got it the siphon on the earlier time AND was it running quiet? What changed?
I just turned them upward for the water to go in, then quickly turn them downwards, of course since there was no siphon break hole if power would go out I'd have like 20 gallon of water on the floor
 

JK47

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I just turned them upward for the water to go in, then quickly turn them downwards, of course since there was no siphon break hole if power would go out I'd have like 20 gallon of water on the floor
Do you really need the elbows? Can you try pulling them off and running it flush against the wall? This would not let you use full siphon but would be an immediate fix to the issue at hand.

I'm concerned as to why drilling a small hole would not allow an overflow to prime. Can you describe in more detail what is happening? Pic of the hole?
 

M@T!@$

Aimara
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Do you really need the elbows? Can you try pulling them off and running it flush against the wall? This would not let you use full siphon but would be an immediate fix to the issue at hand.

I'm concerned as to why drilling a small hole would not allow an overflow to prime. Can you describe in more detail what is happening? Pic of the hole?
I may have drilled the holes wrong, I will get some new elbows tomorrow, if I run it without them it is way too loud, can hear the air sucking in/noise from upstairs. If I can't fix this then I'll have to get rid of it. Parents don't like the noise. Honestly I don't know what to do now haha
 

JK47

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I may have drilled the holes wrong, I will get some new elbows tomorrow, if I run it without them it is way too loud, can hear the air sucking in/noise from upstairs. If I can't fix this then I'll have to get rid of it. Parents don't like the noise. Honestly I don't know what to do now haha
Take the elbows off, cut a pair of 10" lengths of air line tubing, push the air line down each intake and leave the other end above the water and exposed to air. That should help quiet it down while you sort out the elbow situation. Play with the length of air line to fine tune it a bit until you find a good spot. It's a nice temp fix for now
 

M@T!@$

Aimara
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Take the elbows off, cut a pair of 10" lengths of air line tubing, push the air line down each intake and leave the other end above the water and exposed to air. That should help quiet it down while you sort out the elbow situation. Play with the length of air line to fine tune it a bit until you find a good spot. It's a nice temp fix for now
Alright I'll give that a try tomorrow morning.
 

twentyleagues

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so going back trough the whole thread again, I see its been patched before (the tank)? Did you patch it? If so you have access to acrylic and I saw a post about weld on from you so you must know a little about acrylic. Why don't you just build a proper overflow for this and patch what you have going now. Unless the holes are in a spot that you could put the overflow in front of them and use them. I had an acrylic tank 8'x30x20 I wished id kept it I never got to put anything but water in it I was going to put it in wall in the basement when I had salt. I got out of salt before that happened........anyway I did learn some things about acrylic how to resurface it (tank was free and there for trashed), how to patch it, and how to build a overflow and attach and drill it. I had same issues mine was drilled funky no overflow couldn't get it to work right unless I set it up on a canister filter(how the tank was set up from who I got it from) and I wanted to tie it in to the rest of the multiple hundreds of gallons I had going already. I found a local acrylic manufacturer and designed an overflow to run most of the length of the tank, patched the holes I couldn't use, drilled new ones, attached overflow, and water tested it worked great! It was done! right about the time I decided to get out of reef keeping...... lol.
 
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DN328

Goliath Tigerfish
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I know it's frustrating and disappointing at times, but keep at it ;-)

In my experience, it will be difficult to achieve a full siphon AND maintain relatively quiet without a VALVE on the siphon drain. It will reduce flow and ultimately turnover, but you will likely be much happier with the results. It will also help to create the siphon as well and you should explore turning your elbow up or down to see what works best. That is, considering what adjustment allows for the siphon to start, quietest intake and overflow can accommodate water when return pump is off. Just food for thought as you continue tweaking your set-up.

BTW, How many inches is the strainer under the water when the elbow is turned up and when it's down? I'm sure you hear more noise when turned up given it's drawing more air?
 

M@T!@$

Aimara
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I know it's frustrating and disappointing at times, but keep at it ;-)

In my experience, it will be difficult to achieve a full siphon AND maintain relatively quiet without a VALVE on the siphon drain. It will reduce flow and ultimately turnover, but you will likely be much happier with the results. It will also help to create the siphon as well and you should explore turning your elbow up or down to see what works best. That is, considering what adjustment allows for the siphon to start, quietest intake and overflow can accommodate water when return pump is off. Just food for thought as you continue tweaking your set-up.

BTW, How many inches is the strainer under the water when the elbow is turned up and when it's down? I'm sure you hear more noise when turned up given it's drawing more air?
Turned downwards it's like 4 inches underwater, upwards it's like 1" underwater
 

JK47

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I know it's frustrating and disappointing at times, but keep at it ;-)

In my experience, it will be difficult to achieve a full siphon AND maintain relatively quiet without a VALVE on the siphon drain. It will reduce flow and ultimately turnover, but you will likely be much happier with the results. It will also help to create the siphon as well and you should explore turning your elbow up or down to see what works best. That is, considering what adjustment allows for the siphon to start, quietest intake and overflow can accommodate water when return pump is off. Just food for thought as you continue tweaking your set-up.

BTW, How many inches is the strainer under the water when the elbow is turned up and when it's down? I'm sure you hear more noise when turned up given it's drawing more air?
Oh I didn't realize he didn't have one. Matias I agree with the above 100%. A gate valve is a must have on this tank. I would skip ball valves all together as most do not handle fine tune adjustments well.
 
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