My Bichir Gang

[jaws7777]

Oh man, I just put everything together. Can an emergency drain be run as an “over the back” overflow? The drains are not full siphon to my knowledge (again I am a sump n00b). I’ll post pics of the setup I did. The 1 drain on the left is a straight shot to the sump too... not sure if that matters.

J jaws7777 I am running 2 drains , am I safe in assuming less risk of clogging? Also do you know if putting media in overflow box is ok? Thanks bro

No e drain cant be run over the side effectively...to my knowledge.

Well in theory if one of your drains clogs the other wont be able to handle to flow. Its really up to you and how comfortable u are with it. A big reason im getting rid of my 150 is because i cant install e drains on it.

One way to test would be to cose the ball valve on one of the drains.

A couple of thoughts make sure the level in your sump is low enough to count for back flow whwn you tirn the system off or in the event of a power failure. Also drill siphon breaks in your return lines

 

[FishBeast]

No e drain cant be run over the side effectively...to my knowledge.

Well in theory if one of your drains clogs the other wont be able to handle to flow. Its really up to you and how comfortable u are with it. A big reason im getting rid of my 150 is because i cant install e drains on it.

One way to test would be to cose the ball valve on one of the drains.

A couple of thoughts make sure the level in your sump is low enough to count for back flow whwn you tirn the system off or in the event of a power failure. Also drill siphon breaks in your return lines

I know for sure that one overflow won't handle the both pumps flow rate... I won't be able to add an e-drain at this point, so I think to be sure I'll just dial down the pump output to so that one overflow can handle both in case one drain gets clogged... Now looking back I think I should have used smaller pumps instead?

If anything, I did make sure I have enough sump allowance for back flow... the return line has siphon break holes built in...

Thanks for the info, bro!

 

[FishBeast]

as long as it's not blocking the pipes it wouldn't cause an overflow what I'm talking about is clogging of the media which would mean it would be much less effective. Usually the way you set up filters is mechanical first then biological/chemical. What you could do is put it somewhere after the mechanical media. If you're just using it to keep extra cycled media on hand you could put a couple bags in the bottom of the k1 chamber

I see.. thanks for explaining! Well, I am hoping that it'll be easy to clean because it is pretty accessible there. I guess I could put the bags in the fluidized chamber but I don't want to interrupt the media "boiling".

 

[thefredpit]

I know for sure that one overflow won't handle the both pumps flow rate... I won't be able to add an e-drain at this point, so I think to be sure I'll just dial down the pump output to so that one overflow can handle both in case one drain gets clogged... Now looking back I think I should have used smaller pumps instead?

If anything, I did make sure I have enough sump allowance for back flow... the return line has siphon break holes built in...

Thanks for the info, bro!

you could get a float switch that would shut off pumps if the water gets to high

I see.. thanks for explaining! Well, I am hoping that it'll be easy to clean because it is pretty accessible there. I guess I could put the bags in the fluidized chamber but I don't want to interrupt the media "boiling".

as long as you have adequate mechanical filtration you shouldnt need to clean the media

 

[twentyleagues]

Yeah the bags in the overflow are going to trap detritus and become a nitrate factory. If you are going to dial down the pumps just run 1 full on and be done with the other. Your overflow ahold be able to handle that. I have one of those pumps it's pretty good and I'd say you get all of the 1000 gph at 6 ft but after 6ft it tanks hard. Seriously I got one to use on a huge canister filter I was trying to copy off a certain monarch of jerry riging things it rocked at pulling water through the "system" but the system didn't releave pressure so pop went the bucket....lol good thing I did a long series of tests. I don't trust that dude. But as I was trying out different things I had a 6' pipe on it straight up in the air and it emptied a 32g brute trash can in about 30 seconds. It didn't shoot out but poured out really fast. A 7' pipe took about 1min 30 sec, a 10' pipe and that water didn't even come out of the pipe.

 

[shookONES]

I've never been a fan of stacking overflows with media. It just because an area for waste to accumulate and nitrates to develop. Plus, those air stones back there are going to make the drains gargle like no one's business. You've got plenty of room in your sump to toss those bags.

Speaking of the sump...you're light on K1. You want the active chamber to be fill with 60-70% media for it to perform at its peak. Fluidized media relied on constant contact to wash away older, less effective bacteria. Fill that sucker up.

As far as an emergency drain, yeah they're worth it for piece of mind. But, I've never had a drain clog hiding behind a traditional overflow box. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you really are concerned, I've done a few setups that use all 4 factory holes as drains (herbie style) and plumbed my returns over the back of the tank. Just some food for thought.

 

[FishBeast]

Yeah the bags in the overflow are going to trap detritus and become a nitrate factory. If you are going to dial down the pumps just run 1 full on and be done with the other. Your overflow ahold be able to handle that. I have one of those pumps it's pretty good and I'd say you get all of the 1000 gph at 6 ft but after 6ft it tanks hard. Seriously I got one to use on a huge canister filter I was trying to copy off a certain monarch of jerry riging things it rocked at pulling water through the "system" but the system didn't releave pressure so pop went the bucket....lol good thing I did a long series of tests. I don't trust that dude. But as I was trying out different things I had a 6' pipe on it straight up in the air and it emptied a 32g brute trash can in about 30 seconds. It didn't shoot out but poured out really fast. A 7' pipe took about 1min 30 sec, a 10' pipe and that water didn't even come out of the pipe.

LOL I think I know who you're talking about dude... I actually was gonna build one of those using a bucket and the Uni-Seal but never got around to it. Glad you tested it out! Thanks for the tips and yeah, I was assuming these pumps would drop the flow to around 700 GPH at 6 ft but seems like they pump our full force at 6 feet. Glad I got the valves!

I've never been a fan of stacking overflows with media. It just because an area for waste to accumulate and nitrates to develop. Plus, those air stones back there are going to make the drains gargle like no one's business. You've got plenty of room in your sump to toss those bags.

Speaking of the sump...you're light on K1. You want the active chamber to be fill with 60-70% media for it to perform at its peak. Fluidized media relied on constant contact to wash away older, less effective bacteria. Fill that sucker up.

As far as an emergency drain, yeah they're worth it for piece of mind. But, I've never had a drain clog hiding behind a traditional overflow box. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you really are concerned, I've done a few setups that use all 4 factory holes as drains (herbie style) and plumbed my returns over the back of the tank. Just some food for thought.

Thanks for the tips, bro. I will for sure remove the media from the overflows (and the airstone)... Also I will get more K1! I don't know if I have it in me to redo the drains into Herbie though at this point LOL. I figure if it floods at least it's in the garage. Thank you

 

[jaws7777]

, I've done a few setups that use all 4 factory holes as drains (herbie style) and plumbed my returns over the back of the tank. Just some food for thought.

This right here.

Be caredul qith sialing the pumps down too much. You wanna make sure theres adequate flow to convert ammonia tp nitrate. Just test the qater periodically.

You can add gate valves to the main lines that will give you a dead silent system and the ability to control the flow a bit more. The larger drains can be tour dry e drains. You wanna match gph to what they can handle (e drains) if you want to read up a little check the thread in my sig. Lots of b.s but wil give you an inderstanding if what we are talking about. I tied both siphons into one gate. BUT using seperate gates will be easier to plumb

 

[FishBeast]

This right here.

Be caredul qith sialing the pumps down too much. You wanna make sure theres adequate flow to convert ammonia tp nitrate. Just test the qater periodically.

You can add gate valves to the main lines that will give you a dead silent system and the ability to control the flow a bit more. The larger drains can be tour dry e drains. You wanna match gph to what they can handle (e drains) if you want to read up a little check the thread in my sig. Lots of b.s but wil give you an inderstanding if what we are talking about. I tied both siphons into one gate. BUT using seperate gates will be easier to plumb

Thank you for the tips! I'll check out the thread in your sig...

 

[twentyleagues]

This right here.

Be caredul qith sialing the pumps down too much. You wanna make sure theres adequate flow to convert ammonia tp nitrate. Just test the qater periodically.

You can add gate valves to the main lines that will give you a dead silent system and the ability to control the flow a bit more. The larger drains can be tour dry e drains. You wanna match gph to what they can handle (e drains) if you want to read up a little check the thread in my sig. Lots of b.s but wil give you an inderstanding if what we are talking about. I tied both siphons into one gate. BUT using seperate gates will be easier to plumb

J jaws7777 Do you have dual overflows? I had a hard time getting mine to equalize, so I went with the standard set up.