1,000 GALLON MULTI TANK SUMP SYSTEM.

[Oughtsix]

wish we weren't busy tonight and out of town this weekend, really want to have some updates for you guys.

Pffft... you guys are accomplishing things a lot quicker than I do!

36" socks changed weekly? Sounds like my idea would be a complete waste of effort!

I did notice your rubber union on the wall and the wiggle room it will give you. I might worry raising the T for too long might cause a backup on the tank drains... but it looks like you have everything sealed and planned out very well.

I am very impressed with your plumbing... using the occasional rubber union will definitely make long term maintenance much easier. I know from experience those rubber unions aren't cheap but they are well worth the investment.

only the top 6 foot tanks are drilled with over flow boxes. The bottom 6 foot tanks and the 4 75 gals are going to use a PVC DIY over flow systems.

Every PVC DIY overflow I have done I wish I had just taken the time up front to drill the tank and not mess with the siphon hassles. Could you drill the tanks and make the system work if you wanted to?

Your system looks great! I don't really have any constructive criticism to give you... which is very rare for me when it comes to building stuff


What are your guys thoughts for media?

 

[Bowtiewarrior]

Pffft... you guys are accomplishing things a lot quicker than I do!

Thank you, but you should know we started brainstorming this idea over a year ago.

I am very impressed with your plumbing... using the occasional rubber union will definitely make long term maintenance much easier. I know from experience those rubber unions aren't cheap but they are well worth the investment.

The Rubber Union is fantastic, I don’t know if you can see it but we also went with Clean outs on all the ends vs caps, that will allow us cleaning if needed.

Every PVC DIY overflow I have done I wish I had just taken the time up front to drill the tank and not mess with the siphon hassles. Could you drill the tanks and make the system work if you wanted to?

I wish, we probably could drill the top 75 gals but the 4 bottom tanks all would be way to low to start drilling them. Could you elaborate on your problems you had with the diy overflows?

Your system looks great! I don't really have any constructive criticism to give you... which is very rare for me when it comes to building stuff

Hey, you have no Idea how much this means to us! It has taken a lot of planning and lots of time but we wanted to do it right from the start! Hopefully this accommodate way more fish than we plan on having so if needed we can branch out to other fish.

What are your guys thoughts for media?

This one Kamikazie will have to answer for you, he has put a lot of time into the selection.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

My issue with drilling is knowing if we have tempered glass or not, how do you know? Otherwise wouldn't be an issue and would work great, save lots of time.

As for filter media we are going to do half and half ceramic rings on the up flow in the sump and srubbies on the down flow in them baffles(there are 4 chambers) Under the ceramic rings we will put a 36" air wand! I want to eventually swap scrubbies for pond matrix. I had considered putting air wands on the down flow but thought they might make things goofy, I'll experiment bur right now two wands in the two upflow baffle chambers.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

All of our tanks are second hand and the bottom 100 gallons are Very old at least 15 if not 20 years old so I don't know how to find out.

Edit: Just talked to Ray777 he pointed out drill backs I'm now officially stupid.

 

[anarekist]

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

Thanks for the flattery! I know how you feel though.

 

[Oughtsix]

Have you worked with DIY siphon based overflow pipes before?

The vertical distance from the water level in the tank to the external crossover pipe is the fall distance of the siphon. The bigger the fall distance the greater the flow of the siphon / overflow pipe. So in my 110g tank the external crossover pipe is about 8" below the water level in the tank and this gives my very good flow.

When I initially made my DIY overflow this distance was only about 1". It would flow water but the flow was not enough to keep up with my smallest pump. It wasn't much more than a trickle with this short fall distance.

When my 110g sprung a leak I quickly transferred all my fish to a 35 hex tank. I wish I had just drilled this tank and installed a bulkhead for the overflow. Instead I did a quick and dirty mod to my old overflow pipe. I will occasionally get a plant stuck in this below parr overflow and end up with water on the floor.

Having occasionally restart the siphon when doing tank maintenance isn't too bad but always seems to involve drinking fish water. With 4 or 6 tanks using a siphon based overflow it seems like this little nuisance might add up pretty quick.

When properly implemented with at least two intakes the DIY overflows are pretty much fool proof.


Could you drill the lower tanks around there water level, use a bulkhead, put a 90 degree elbow on the inside of the tank and then put a spacer on the elbow to set the water level?

 

[Oughtsix]

yes, drill the backs... not the bottoms!

I think the standard test for tempered glass is a polarized light diffraction test (Made that up myself to sound smart). Put a laptop or other lcd type screen inside the tank. Rotate the screen while viewing it from outside the tank. If you do not see any funny effects on the screen the glass is not tempered. There are some good explanations on google.

I think you will be much happier with the tanks drilled.

Maybe a check valve between the overflow of the lower tanks and the PVC collector might be a good idea depending on your layout? If you do raise the T supplying the socks and backup the water for a little while the check valve will keep the water from backing up into the lower tanks?

 

[cantrell00]

Kamikaze-

Just a though but have you considered a overflow that goes through the back pane? Typically, the only pane on a aquarium that is tempered is the bottom. If you went with an overflow that was plumbed through the back glass, you could raise your drain to a few inches below the surface and avoid DIY PVC. This would also satisfy you drainage elevation issue on the lower tanks.

I have used glass-holes.com overflows for several tanks and they work great. You may want to check it out. Drilling glass is not nearly as dramatic as you would think. Just passing it along as a consideration.

 

[cantrell00]

yes, drill the backs... not the bottoms!

I think the standard test for tempered glass is a polarized light diffraction test (Made that up myself to sound smart). Put a laptop or other lcd type screen inside the tank. Rotate the screen while viewing it from outside the tank. If you do not see and funny effects on the screen the glass is not tempered. There are some good explanations on google.

I think you will be much happier with the tanks drilled.

+1

I would avoid siphon dependent overflows like a STD!