Plumbing multiple tanks for breeder/grow out rack

[SaltyPlum]

Hi lads, just finished building and setting up my quadruple breeder/grow out rack. The top and middle row have two 65g tanks side by side. Please see pic below.

All tanks will be running off the same system and sump. The two top tanks will overflow into the middle row tanks which are fitted with ball valves to control the flow. The two middle tanks are also fitted the with ball valves, however I ended up joining the two overflows into the same piping with an elbow and T joiner. Before I go and fill it up for a test run I would like to get members with experience in plumbing thoughts on whether having the two overflows joined up to the same piping is a good idea and whether this will work. Please see pic below to see what I'm talking about.

 

[fishdance]

You shouldn't have any valves on your drainage pipes. Control water flow on input pipes.

So if your top tank drainage feeds into your lower tanks then you can only have the same flow for all those tanks. That limitation might be fine for your situation.

Having a common drainage line will work if your drainage flow isn't excessive. Usually I step up a pipe size so blockages can't occur. Your tanks are so close/small you could easily have independent drains but again it's up to your style of fish keeping.

 

[SaltyPlum]

You shouldn't have any valves on your drainage pipes. Control water flow on input pipes.

So if your top tank drainage feeds into your lower tanks then you can only have the same flow for all those tanks. That limitation might be fine for your situation.

Having a common drainage line will work if your drainage flow isn't excessive. Usually I step up a pipe size so blockages can't occur. Your tanks are so close/small you could easily have independent drains but again it's up to your style of fish keeping.

I also have a ball valve set up on my return. I use ball valves on the overflow draining to control the flow of water so that the water level is higher than the actual drain, this allows for a quieter draining. Otherwise you get a loud gushing and gurgling noise. I have the same set up on my 90g 3 tier rack and it works well. My only concern is the two bottom overflows joining into the one pipe.

 

[fishdance]

Yes, I realise. You asked for opinions and I am politely suggesting that having a tap on drainage side is a bad design.
Similarly, I would not have a common drain pipe unless it has a wider diameter than the inital pipe.

I don't mind if you don't take on board other opinions. I do have an embarrassing large number of tanks and many years of experience though.

 

[SaltyPlum]

Yes, I realise. You asked for opinions and I am politely suggesting that having a tap on drainage side is a bad design.
Similarly, I would not have a common drain pipe unless it has a wider diameter than the inital pipe.

I don't mind if you don't take on board other opinions. I do have an embarrassing large number of tanks and many years of experience though.

Well I did make this post to seek other members opinions, and appreciate the advice, however I also have a large number of tanks with many years experience too. So only given my reason on why I use ball valves and why I feel they work well with what I am wanting to gain running a quiet system. When I built my first rack I followed Joey (DIY king) video on how to build and plumb a breeding/grow out rack. In his video he highly recommends using ball valves on overflow drains.

 

[heffesuita]

I am currently building a couple different multi tank systems. I persoanuly think draining the top into the bottom is a bad idea. Only vecause it is making the system work harder u will be draining debree from the top into the bkttom then the bottom has to work twice as hard to clean its self. I had this idea on a 2 tank system with draining the top tank into the bottom tanks overflow because ot has 2. 1 1/2. Inch drains in in so could handle it. Not that yours can not handle it my comcern would be spreading debree from one to another just to have to be eaned twice as much by the next tank. Now what i have decide to for examplr is have 4. 20 gallon highs on top row and 48 x 18 x 16 on bottom row. The top 4 tanks will have 3/4 drains. All will drain straight down into one 2 inch drain and from there to the sump. So 2 inch pipe runs along back of stand with 4 3/4 tees up to each tank and each tank with 90 degree elbows down with. Tubing to connect the pipes so dont have to be perfect. Your way is a million times less complicated,less mess of plumbing. I think if u insist on draining the top to the bottom. U should do it by draining the top tank to the bottom tanks over flow plumbing. Still pretty clean and not much more pipe and avoids the top tanks water draining to the bottom tank. Either way great set up i like 65 gallon tanks. Is a lot of way to plumb tanks for sure. Your way will work good and easy if u can drain only water from top to the bttom Like say a heavy pre filter so debree does not drain into the next but then kind of defeats the purpose of the hole system. Then needed something else for mechanicaul and only using the sump for bio. My two cent i hope it helps some. I am allways interested in what lthers do and excited to c the finishes product on this one and how it come out because again i am doing a few and ideas are allways helpfull for us all.

 

[Toby_H]

Once upon a time, I had a very similar set up.

48" x 18" x 16" 50 gal on top, overflows feed into the...
48" x 18" x 16" 50 gal in the middle, overflows feed into the...
48" x 18" x 21" 75 gal on the bottom, pump goes up to the top tank.

I had three of the same racks side by side by side. Eventually all 9 tanks were tied into a single system.

The best part was... on the middle rack of one tier... I put a bunch of 1 gallon jars in the 48" x 18" x 16" 50 gal. I rigged the overflow to run roughly evenly into each Jar. I connected each jar to the 48" x 18" x 16" 50 gal they were in with a siphon (with prefilters), then lowered the water level on the 48" x 18" x 16" 50 gal. This allowed me to use each jar as a separate fry tank, and still used the 48" x 18" x 16" 50 gal that they were in as a grow out.

As you tinker, you'll learn all sorts of neat tricks with creative plumbing. Hopefully it's in a room that can handle a good bit of water on the floor, as trial and error includes, well, error.


On another wall I had a 30 gal on top, 3x 10 gal in the middle and 30 gal on bottom.



I 100% understand what you mean about using ball valves to build up pressure to silence the gargle. It works, though at a risk. It's a risk I wasn't willing to accept.

I did find that I could add T's and 90s and 45s to muffle it to an acceptable rate. That said, mine were in a garage fishroom and the gargle was mostly acceptable.

Keep playing with ideas see where you can improve function and reduce risk.

 

[jjohnwm]

I've watched a bunch of King of DIY's videos and although he has plenty of good stuff, I noticed that he also espouses some ideas that I long ago tried and abandoned . Valves on drain lines is probably one of the worst. I can't be sure, but I suspect that F fishdance at least (and likely others here...) had large multi-tank installations operating back when Joey was in diapers, so I know which opinion I would probably trust more. When dealing with lots of water being moved around in your house, you don't merely want a system that works; you should strive for a system that can't fail. Drain valves don't belong in that system.

Every time I read a post like this, where noise of aquarium plumbing is a driving force behind a plumbing system's design, I am grateful for a misspent youth that incorporated loud music, loud motorcycles, lots of shooting and generally high noise levels. I am now so deaf that a gurgling aquarium is the least of my worries.

 

[fishguy1978]

My 29g rack is set up similarly where the top drains into the lower but I only control the input with ball valves and a DC control pump. My inlets are set up on a manifold so I want even distribution of flow. I should have used 1in for the drains and closer to 2in for the collection pipe. I used 3/4in and 1.25in because I already had it.

 

[C. Breeze]

I've watched a bunch of King of DIY's videos and although he has plenty of good stuff, I noticed that he also espouses some ideas that I long ago tried and abandoned . Valves on drain lines is probably one of the worst. I can't be sure, but I suspect that F fishdance at least (and likely others here...) had large multi-tank installations operating back when Joey was in diapers, so I know which opinion I would probably trust more. When dealing with lots of water being moved around in your house, you don't merely want a system that works; you should strive for a system that can't fail. Drain valves don't belong in that system.

Every time I read a post like this, where noise of aquarium plumbing is a driving force behind a plumbing system's design, I am grateful for a misspent youth that incorporated loud music, loud motorcycles, lots of shooting and generally high noise levels. I am now so deaf that a gurgling aquarium is the least of my worries.

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