sump and plumbing help

[dunl]

Self-admitedly, I know very little about sumps. First one I ever had was on my first saltwater tank, and it came with it. However, I'm pretty sure the toilet flushing isn't quieter than the set up had, so I am starting sompletely from scratch.

Take, if you will, a 54g bowfront with a 3" vertical hole in the back-right-corner-side (if you are facing the tank), with the bottom of the hole located 8.5 inches below the glass. 15g sump underneath the stand.

What do I need to plumb this into a pump? What size pump (will a 900gph be sufficient)? How can I make it as quiet as possible?

Tempered glass on the bottom - drilling there is not an option.

Thanks.

[James (Western Canada)]

DUNL: You don't say weather this is for another SW tank, or a FW tank. I have no idea what kind of tunrover rate is required on SW, for FW, typically you would want 3x/hour or more. So, your pump needs to be sized to provide enough GPH for 3 or more turnovers per hour....BUT, aside from JUST the GPH rating, you must also consider what the pumps GPH rating is for a given head pressure. (eg: if the pump is located 24 inches below the discharge into the tank, you have two feet of head pressure) .

You could get fancy and start calculating line loss for piping, elbows, etc, but it ain't that critical. Usually you go a little bigger than you think you need on the pump, and just choke it (on the pressure return side only) if it's output is excessive.

I will read this again later, and see if it still makes any sense:)....and edit if required! lol

PS: As far as noise goes, I recall seeing a link for a fellow making standpipes that are supposed to be quieter, but you don't have a standpipe in this setup. But for others, here is the link. looks simple enough to build....

http://www.dursostandpipes.com/

EDIT:PS:Make sure you check out the POPULAR MODIFICATIONS sub-pages on the durso site.

James

Edited March 4, 2007 by James (Western Canada)

[dunl]

Thanks James. This is a saltwater setup. I'm not worried about how strong of a pump I need to get the water back up, I just want to make sure the overflow plumbing is constructed properly so it drains without a huge amount of noise.

Case in point? The last plumbing on this used a 2" pipe. That's a hell of a lot of water if it drains full. Problem was that 1200gph did not fill the pipe, so all you heard was a 2" pipe consistently half full of water draining.

[James (Western Canada)]

DUNL: Several things need clarification....

Can you better describe what was used on this setup for the overflow and also on the pressure side ?

BTW: did you look at the different setups listed (as sub-pages of the POPULAR MODIFICATIONS page) on the durso site??

James

[seajays]

You might find some info here.

http://melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

http://home.nc.rr.com/stockmanreef/

[dunl]

Thanks guys for the replies. Just getting back to this, and hoping to start working on it tomorrow again.

The top of the tank on the stand is 54 inches high, approximately where the water will have to be pumped to when it is discharged.

As for what was on the tank before, let's completely forget that and plumb it right this time. Bottom line is the pipe from the inlet to the sump was to big for the downflow, resulting in huge noise.

So, back to the beginning. I have a 3" hole drilled in the glass 8.5" below the top, and a 900gph pump going in below in the sump. Pump to top of tank is 54inches high, give or take a few.

To connect on both sides of the glass hole, I will need some way to reduce the area down to probably 1.5" - seems to be a normal size. What different ways could I do this? I think once it is reduced, everything else on both sides of the reduction will become quite easy to do.

[Sam Chicklets]

You could use a bulkhead that is threaded on inside and out and use a swage nipple or bushing to reduce it to 1.5 inches.