I've decided to plumb my 240g into my house's plumbing for draining and filling the tank. Luckily there is a bathroom just on the other side of the wall from where I'm setting things up. I have two 40g breeders that will be connected via dual siphon tubes for a sump. Very much like fmueller's setup. Ideally I'd like to divert off of one of the return pumps into the drain pipe from the bathroom sink for quick water drain. I'd also like to connect the hot and cold water lines to some kind of dual-valve or hydrostatic mixing valve setup right over the sump for quick filling. I'm no plumber nor much of a DIY guy, so does anyone have any guidance/tips/warnings for me?
Plumbing into house for drain and fill tips?
- Thread starter FedEXguy
- Start date
For my tank my drain is out the window and I use my basements shower head that I connected a water hose to for ease of water changes. If you're going through all that trouble of plumbing I would do a drip system instead that means pretty much no water changes or way less water changes.
this is in no way meant to be negative but if you aren't feeling real confident in your plumbing skills and your aren't a real hands on person, I'd suggest getting a quote from a plumber in your area. Your idea isn't terribly hard but hardlining an aquarium to your house's actual plumbing could issues down the line if things don't go correctly.
Short of that suggestion it would be real similar to hooking up a sink in relation to the drain line being plumbed into your existing drain like and a mixing valve installed just like it would be on your hot water tank etc...
The problem with a drip system is that I'm on a slab. To do a drip system I would have to have a gravity overflow on the sump and I have no place for that to terminate short of drilling through an exterior wall. Unless I'm missing something, since I am new to plumbing tanks (always canister and/or hob before.) I want to be able to do a small, quick water change daily or every other day and I don't think a drip is the answer in my case.
I did get a few quotes and they were ridiculously high at around $500+ I'm not completely unhandy and since most of the mess I make will be hidden by a stand that you can't see behind, I'm not worried about the aesthetics or hiding the plumbing back inside the wall. My current tentative plan is to Y from the pump with a shutoff on both sides for water diversion and go up and out the back of my tank down to a p-trap that Ys into the drain pipe. Then cut both hot and cold lines and add a sharkbite T or similar on each. Run tube from that into the stand and over the sump and connect them through something that will allow me to temperature regulate the water.
for being not confident you described exactly how I'd do it haha. sounds like you have that thought out pretty well.
I'll upload some pictures tonight of what it looks like in the wall so anyone can point out what I should or shouldn't do.
They're many ways around it. You can have a float switch that can take 10-20 gallons out every hour or so depending on how much you drip and all you need is a powerhead or pump to do that. It will push it wherever you drain it too. Its automated so you don't do anything at all when the level hits a certain spot it will activate it but you need to know which spot and its all trial and error.
What happens if the float sticks? I think I like the sound of automation but I have a fear of flooding my house. I'll keep the idea in mind, though.
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You can literally hook up 4 switches to it just in case at higher levels if the first switch didn't catch it.
