Bottom drain on ply tank

[JaxsBr]

im tryin to fugure out how im going to plumb my tank to my sump.
150gal tank 40gal sump.
putting river stones in so when oscar poo falls between the stones it might be hard to remove so i thought of a bottom drain.

anyhow.wil this drain work without syphoning after power goes out.
thanx

 

[JaxsBr]

oops.forgot the pic.
sorry its real crappy

 

[CHOMPERS]

It will work just fine, just move the vent to the pipe next to it (going to the sump). The pipes will need to be oversized to get good flow. It would also be a good idea to use a plenum below the rocks.

 

[JaxsBr]

will something as eggcrate work for a plenum.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Yep, that's the idea. Cut the eggcrate to fit the bottom of the tank and then mark where the drains will be. Next, lay 1/2" pvc pipe on the eggcrate radiating out from the drains to the edges of the tank. In areas farther away from the drains, there will need to be pipes that only reach part way to the drains. (It will make sense when you start laying out the pipe. Mark the locations of the pipe on the eggcrate, and then zip tie the pipes to the bottom of the egg crate. After you put the assembly in the tank, add a layer of window screen over the eggcrate to keep the gravel out.

 

[toffee]

you can also use one of these:

With the plenum and gravel, you wil have a very powerful UGF. Not sure if you still need to vacuum though.