29G with 10g fuge plumbing questions

T

Trogdor

New Member
I have a few questions in regards to plumbing. I'm having a hard time grasping the concept of how to size the pump correctly along with the right size of pipe. Here is what I have planned and maybe someone can help ease my mind a bit.

29g display tank
10g refugium
PVC Pipe (Ø is probably going to be 1"-1 1/2")

I know that I’m going to need a pump in the fuge that can handle a 50â€
 
D

drty811

New Member
what i did for my plumbing was drill a small hole at water level towards the back glass. when the pump turns off the hole sucks air in and breaks siphon. for your overflow i would have your tank drilled and build a overflow or just buy an HOB overflow box. if your pump is to strong for your overflow just put a ball valve to control the flow.HTH
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
yeah that's pretty much where I'm headed, except I'm not going to drill my tank. I'm going to try and build a HOB Overflow box. I talked with some of the plumbing guru's at talkingreef.com and they got me straightened out on what I need. Here's the pump that I'm looking at.

Mag-Drive 9.5
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_powerheads_pumps_danner_mag_drive_supreme.asp?CartId=
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=DN1127

With a 4ft head i'm looking at another 800gph in my tank... :gcool :strip
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
2 probs i see
1) that overflow box isn't designed to skim the surface - to do this you need a box in the tank as well
2) without a durso you'll have a lot of noise - not a prob, but just be advised
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
1. I'm not planning on pulling water from the surface. The U-tube should be about 3-4" below my water surface. Let me know if you think I really need to skim the water before it enters the fuge. I do plan to have a strainer on the intake to the overflow to keep livestock from going on an adventure.

2. Could you explain #2 a bit more? Will an airline attached at the top of the U tube be enough to vent off the extra air?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
skimming from the surface is a must IMO - it eliminates the surface film, helps with O2/CO2 exchange, and most organics are less dense and tend to collect at the surface. every tank i own surface skims either with a glued in box, HOB pre-filter overflow, or a false wall.
a durso is a special DIY to a pvc fitting with a vent hole, that allows a partial siphon to be created in the return line that greatly reduces the noise but won't flood in case of power outage, see here or search "stand pipes" for other ways to do the same thing. they are not neccessary but greatly reduce noise, so if your building it might just as well do it right, it is a very simple mod
http://www.dursostandpipes.com/
 
R

reefman23

New Member
johnanddawn said:
skimming from the surface is a must IMO - it eliminates the surface film, helps with O2/CO2 exchange, and most organics are less dense and tend to collect at the surface. every tank i own surface skims either with a glued in box, HOB pre-filter overflow, or a false wall.
a durso is a special DIY to a pvc fitting with a vent hole, that allows a partial siphon to be created in the return line that greatly reduces the noise but won't flood in case of power outage, see here or search "stand pipes" for other ways to do the same thing. they are not neccessary but greatly reduce noise, so if your building it might just as well do it right, it is a very simple mod
http://www.dursostandpipes.com/
Click to expand...
Word....
















That means I agree! :mrgreen:

Jesse
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
What an exhausting week this has turned out to be. Last Friday I went to Home Depot and purchased everything that I could imagine that I needed; pvc, unions, tee's, elbows...etc. I made a mock up Saturday while my wife went out shopping, go figure...lol I ordered the Mag-Drive 9.5 pump from Marine Depot because all of the local stores wanted $140 for a $70 pump.

So I received the pump today (Thursday). I carted everything out to the garage , just knowing that I will flood something. Hooked everything up like I have above...what is that? My display tank is overflowing! S*** what did I miss. With everything turned off, I sit there pondering what is going on. The overflow siphon can't keep up with the drain on the overflow. I adjust the ball valves and get it to kind of work but there is a slight imbalance which caused the fuge to overflow. Out of frustration I turned, what I hoped to be a great fuge, into a close-loop system. I will post photos in my on-going thread in the 29g and under forum.

Btw...being on your feet for nearly 12 hours in wet shoes sucks :lol:
 
D

dancefish

New Member
like the design// but wonder ? :?: ? would it not be better to have the fuge above your tank rather than below? just a thought that way wouldn't you have a better or easier if nor quieter system with a more balanced system at least thats what I remember from my physics classes in school?
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
If I were able to put it above then I would have just had it overflow back into my display and wouldn't have needed 95% of the piping. I was trying to conceal the 10g in the stand, but ultimately it failed...or my knowledge of plumbing isn't as high as I had thought.
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Well I must give a big thanks to everyone for their input. I am now a proud owner of a closed-loop system. I filled the 29g tank up today and I am sitting at about 1200gph. I was sure that it would end in a sand storm. Much to my surprise, I haven't seen any large amounts of sand blowing around. The flow does get a bit laminar towards the bottom of the tank, which isn't so bad because it will blow the junk out from under the rocks.

I used 60lbs of the CaribSea Aragamax Sugar-sized sand then a 20lb layer of the Aragalive sand (giving about a 3.5-4" bed). The live sand helps keep the sugar sand from blowing around and I'm so glad that I have the flow that I do now. I just have to deal with the loud ass mag-drive pump and my wife complaining about it...lol I swear everything was quieter in the garage... ;) Anyway thanks everyone and I will be posting pics sometime today when I get more time. Back to Christmas cleaning.... :roll:
 
islandcreation

islandcreation

New Member
Trogdor,
Glad to see everything worked out! I remember doing my piping and adjusting my ball valves.... to me that was a pain! I can't imagine what you went through. I bet a huge weight just came off of your shoulders.... Oh wait you took it off but put it right back on (wife complaining about the noise)! :mrgreen: ha,ha,ha can't wait to see the pics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top