overflow question/problem

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R

rotccapt

Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 7, 2009
311
11
48
oklahoma
hi guys i am trying to work out a problem that i have. i am building a 120 gallon plywood tank and i am using a 35 gallon sump/bio tower for my filtration. my pump is a quiet one 4000 and it feeds a spray bar and under gravel jets simultaneously. my pump side works great no problems here. my issues are on the return to the sump. i did not realise when i drilled for my bulkhead fittings that the water would fill to the top of the bulkhead fitting. this would not be a problem but it puts the water 1/4 inch from the top of the tank. so i would like to find a way to drop the water level by at least 1/2 inch. currently i am using two 1" pvc overflows i am not using boxes just the bulkhead fittings with screens on them. currently my overflows are keeping up with my pump but just barely. so i would like to lower the water level. one thing that i have found is that when playing with different ideas i found that when the piping gets a gulp of air my flow rate almost doubles. currently my overflow plumbing consists of a 1 inch bulkhead fitting that flows into a street 90* elbow down about 2 feet of pipe hits another 90 and then goes into a "T" to help distribute the water between the two overflows and into twospray bars that are at the top of my bio tower. my idea is to take and replace the street 90 with a "T" and have the end that is above the water level open to air. my thinking on this is that i a creating a vacuum that is restricting flow because when the overflow gets a big gulp of air it speeds up. so i am hopping to alleviate this vacuum with the open "T". dod you think this will help my water level? my next thought to help with the water level is to install kind of a dorso stand pipe by adding a 1" 90* elbow to both returns in conjunction with the "T". what do you think of this idea?

another idea that i had was to take and step up to 1.5 inch pvc pipe but still use my 1 inch bulkhead fitting or swap out to 1.5 inch bulkhead fittings and also drop the fitting down a hair when i re drill the holes.

sorry for the long post but i need to get his figured out soon so that i can move the tank into the house. it is currently in the garage. also for those that want pics of the tank i have a build thread in the diy section here http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=337105

thanks for you help
 
Going to 1.5" pvc pipe and bulkhead should fix the issue. Or you could use a smaller pump which will return less water and lower the overall water level.
 
solved my problem i found some 1.5 inch bulkheads at my local pool supply store and re-drilled the holes so the top of the hole matched the top of the old hole. now the water level goes up to about 3/4 of the opening. i also ditched the spray-bars in the bio tower i found that i got the same coverage with just two open pipes with less noise. also all drain plumbing is now 1.5 inch i posted pics on my build thread. my water level is now about and inch below the rim of the tank which is acceptable
 
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