Bottom drain help please

Are you trying to match the flow rate of a certain pump or are you trying to pick a pump based on the maximum drain rate?

Well according to this table you should be okay. Your drains should handle approximately 5000 GPH together. Maybe check it against another source to be sure though.

I also like to put ball valves on pumps to throttle them back if needed.

Pomatomus said:

Well according to this table you should be okay. Your drains should handle approximately 5000 GPH together. Maybe check it against another source to be sure though.

I also like to put ball valves on pumps to throttle them back if needed.

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This is wrong. This is not a syphon set up, take a look at the pic. Water spills over from one pipe to the other. This is a much slower drain. The advantage of this set up is no check valves and also no possibility of overflowing your sump when the pump fails.

rodger said:

I guess I don't know how to use the chart. I came up with 17,000 GPH.

I am confused since the water is going up to reach it's own level, and falls down the other side, but it does not create a siphon.

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You are correct! This is not a syphon set up and is a much slower drain. Just read your PM Yes poop and crud can build up in the bottom of that drain. Its a great way to remove water from the bottom of the tank but not good at picking up crud. Your still going to have to gravel vac. Use this system with and overflow for the water on the top. I use Glass-holes.com overflows they work great.

According to the sticky in the DIY tank section- http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?205645-Pipe-Sizing-Charts-and-Flow-Rates - each 2" drain should flow around 1500gpm in this configuration.

I appreciate the correction. I just looked on google for pvc pipe flow rates. Is there a more useful table I could find? The sticky thread has all of the components to make the calculation, but I must have missed the actual formula. I get what you're saying though, the table I posted is for a "full pipe", and an overflow probably won't be full at all times. I suppose the water falling down to the sump would actually exceed the rate at which it drains from the tank due to the acceleration of gravity, causing it to suck air from the vent.

rodger said:

Egon, do you have to run a snake in the bottom drains occasionally to clean them out? If so, how often?
Thanks

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No, it works great , zero maintenance. It just doesn't flow much water. At least as much as I thought. The fish poo and crud seems to be very lite , not clogging material if that makes sense?

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