Plumbing my sump HELP?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
i had the flexible stuff, but it looks messy so i used 'CPVC'
(rated for food use, so its aquarium save)
 
Go to home depot or your hardware store, picture your sump in your head, where it will sit etc... Then Find out what size fitting you need to connect the over flow box and the pump. I would go with 1" PVC both ways. Buy elbows and also a back flow preventer so if your power goes out your pump won't back fire and draw in water. You also need what I call a threaded nipple and that will be where the water comes from the pump so it won't come out a one inch pipe. Buy PVC cement and it cures in like 15 seconds and it's safe. Also a ball valve for maintenance shut off. And your all set, all that is like $30 very cheap
 
what side does the ball valve go on the in or out? I am all so new to this.

Also why is it not viable to just use heavy duty tubing for the water flow?

JT
 
dgk9723;4899298; said:
Go to home depot or your hardware store, picture your sump in your head, where it will sit etc... Then Find out what size fitting you need to connect the over flow box and the pump. I would go with 1" PVC both ways. Buy elbows and also a back flow preventer so if your power goes out your pump won't back fire and draw in water. You also need what I call a threaded nipple and that will be where the water comes from the pump so it won't come out a one inch pipe. Buy PVC cement and it cures in like 15 seconds and it's safe. Also a ball valve for maintenance shut off. And your all set, all that is like $30 very cheap
Click to expand...

Careful careful in giving all this advice....

1" PVC will not get the job done in this situation. It is not big enough for the pump he is using and will greatly restrict flow(about a 1/4 of the 2" PVC flow). Use 2" or larger(2 inch is fine for your pump). That loss in flow is bad for your system and would make your overflow box a waste.

The elbows you use should all be extended 90 degree ones and not the quick right angle type if possible(almost always is possible, they don't take up much more space). The right angle type will restrict even more flow. More of the same on wasting the pump and overflow.

The back flow part is only necessary if your return pipe is going to be fully submerged in the water, otherwise it is unnecessary because the air would cause the back siphon to break.

You shouldn't use just PVC cement when putting together PVC pipe. You also need primer and to follow the steps on the container properly. The primer, cement, and pipe are all made so that they work using all 3 properly. Taking any part out of the equation is looking for problems(and leaks!!!).

The ball valve is a good idea, but not for maintenance shut off. It would be useless for such things as you will have to shut the pump off anyway and that would cause the water to stop, thus not needing the ball valve. The ball valve is for adjusting flow if needed. If your pump is too strong you can adjust the flow by closing the valve some so that the overflow box can keep up and not run the pump dry. This piece must ALWAYS go after the pump and NOT before it. Never restrict flow on the intake side of the pump, only the outtake. You will burn out the pump by restricting the intake side.

This info coupled with the PM's I sent you on how to put it all together and you should be all good. Good luck and let us know if you run into any problems and need some help.
 
Did not know he is doing a 200g+ tank. The. Yes ofcourse 1" won't work. 2" is good.

I did not use primer what I did was put a layer inside the other end of the PVC and jam it in there and turn it counter clockwise and worked. No leaks or w.e.

I use my ball valve for maintnence. I turn both ball valve an pump off. That water level is left like it is. Then I clean out the bottom of the sump like all the build up and fill it with fresh water for w/c. And I don't have a ball valve on my return pump line only on the intake. Also I recommend the back flow preventer because I'm sure he will have the water line sumbmerged unless he likes to hear the noise of water shooting into the tank At 1200gph
 
dgk9723;4900835; said:
Did not know he is doing a 200g+ tank. The. Yes ofcourse 1" won't work. 2" is good.

I did not use primer what I did was put a layer inside the other end of the PVC and jam it in there and turn it counter clockwise and worked. No leaks or w.e.

I use my ball valve for maintnence. I turn both ball valve an pump off. That water level is left like it is. Then I clean out the bottom of the sump like all the build up and fill it with fresh water for w/c. And I don't have a ball valve on my return pump line only on the intake. Also I recommend the back flow preventer because I'm sure he will have the water line sumbmerged unless he likes to hear the noise of water shooting into the tank At 1200gph
Click to expand...

I agree with you that the cement should work ok. For the cost of the primer it is definitely not worth the risk of it not working.

Didn't realize you meant on the overflow line coming into the pump. That would work if he was doing pvc for the incoming, but he is doing flexible hose. There also will be 2 flexible hoses because of the overflow box.

I wanted to make sure that he understood not to restrict the intake of the pump itself when you said intake.

That is true with the noise level. I recommended to him that he split the return pump pvc line into at least 2 or 3 different pipes so water gets returned all over the aquarium. When doing this is decreases the noise quite a bit. But yes it can still be quite annoying and the back siphon stopper would solve this.

The other thing I would say is that depending on sump size the return pipes can be in the water just barely and so they don't make noise and they only back siphon a very small amount of water in a power outage. This is the method I have used.
 
Ok here is the dilemma the threaded part of the pump is 3/4" I bought a 3/4 to 1" ID bushing I am unable to find a 3/4 to 2" to use 2 " pipe? Now what?
 
what kind of pump?

also, I put ball valves with disconnects on both sides of my pumps so I can replace them without draining my sump. (nonstop is right though, never turn the valve closed on the intake side of a pump with that pump on. bad juju)

if you only have 3/4 coming out of your pump, just plumb your return 3/4. Its not gonna hurt it.
 
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