Basement sump to 1st floor tank plumbing questions

[Matt L.]

Sorry I missed this one initially.

For the closed conduit flow, the flow from the pump back to the tank, use the sizing guideline chart I presented at the April 30 Meeting?

If I understand your set-up correctly, your tank has two, 3/4" inflow-to-tank lines. Also, from whaht I gater, the Ampmaster 3000 pump produces 52gal/min @ 4ft of head. This equals roughly 3000gal/h. I am not sure how high your tank is above the sump. But it seems that to drop to 1400gal/h, you would need something like 14ft of head. Is this a basement sump? Anyhow, introducing the flow with a two, 3/4-in. lines is probably using toio small of a diameter pipe.

If you have 1400gal/h of flow, then you would need a 1.5" line leaving the pump, split to two, 1" lines before reducing to 3/4" at the tank.

If you have 3000gal/h of flow, then you would need a 2.5" line leaving the pump, split to two, 1.5" lines before reducing to 3/4" at the tank.

Clearly, having 3000gal/h would be excessive. The pump wpuld need to be throttled back,

Matt

 

[dedfish]

Overflow mods which are pretty straightforward. And one of the adjustable nozzles.

Is that one of the OM adjustable nozzles? If so, how do you like it? How is the construction?

Thanks!

 

[Matt L.]

...Also, from whaht I gater, the Ampmaster 3000 pump produces 52gal/min @ 4ft of head. This equals roughly 3000gal/h. I am not sure how high your tank is above the sump. But it seems that to drop to 1400gal/h, you would need something like 14ft of head. Is this a basement sump? ...

Sorry, I just noticed the subject heading. So yes, if you have 1400gal/h of flow, then you would need to use one of the following two options for delivering flow to your tank from the pump:

1. Run a 1.5" line from the pump, and use a 1.5" T and then reducers on the laterals to reduce the flow to 1" for a velocity of ~<4ft/sec in the main line followed by ~>4 ft/sec in the laterals. That's okay...

2. Run a 2" line from the pump, and use a 2" T and then reducers on the laterals to reduce the flow to 1.25" for a velocity of ~2.5ft/sec in the main line followed by ~2.5ft/sec in the laterals. This option would be quieter and permit a flow rate greater than option 1, but needs larger piping...

I hope this at least settles your issue of how large piping you need to run from the pump to the tank.

As for the drains from the tank, I would use the largest size you can pratically fit, if noise is an issue. Two inches on each joining to 3 inches would be cool, but as for draining flow, it is more art than science,

Whatever you do, do not run a line smaller than 1.5" from the pump, and do not introduce flow to the tank with a line smaller than 1". It is okay that the bulkheads are 3/4" at the very end, but don't run 3/4" lines.

Matt

 

[jacqur]

Matt L is the man. Everything he suggest is tight on. I wish I had heard his April 30th talk.

Do a bit of reserach n sizing. No need to merge (2) 1" lines into a 2". a 1.5" pipe handles the flow of (2) 1" pipes. Also agree with Matt regarding the 1" returns. I gather you want to use the stock bulkheads but the velocity out of the 3/4" will be surprising high and will blast your corals.

Again - just my $0.02 but if you bring the return around the back of the tank and over then you can use all four bulkheads as flow to the sump. You can modify your overflows and this gives a lot of piece of mind and flexibility down the road.

For the question regarding the OM nozzles - Yes those are the adjustable ones and in my opinion adjustable nozzles t the tank return are an absolute must. You can try to figure everything out with engineering calcs but when you finally flick the switch you want to be able to adjust the direction believe me. Also allows for future adjustments as rock scaping changes and corals grow. Even at $20 a piece it is worth it. The OM nozzles are great because they are infinitely adjustable - 3 360 degree swivels in series. You could try lockline as well but I'm not sure what diameter that stuff comes in.