Sump pump and plumbing parts arrived today

[gas4544]

Woohooo! Today I received my shipments of plumbing supplies from Savko and Petsolutions. Yesterday, I received my Lifereef prefilter/overflow box. It looks like I now have everything I need to set up my sump. This is gonna be a fun weekend!

[hughem]

Do you have the parts for a silenced standpipe? How about foam or a sand bag for under the sump to absorb vibration?

Planning on putting a "union" under the overflow? It helps if you want to disconnect it quickly.

Think about ball valves in the overflow and return lines. This will allow you to shutdown the sump prior to water changes and avoid flooding the skimmer.

[gas4544]

I do have a 1" gate valve to plumb into the return line. Sounds like a good idea to add a ball valve in the supply line to the sump, too. I will be using flexible tubing between the overflow box and the sump, so I can probably get by without a union.
Foam under the sump sounds like a good idea, too.

What can you tell me about the "silenced standpipe parts"? Does this work with hang-on overflow boxes?

[shadetree]

gas4544,

The standpipes are the Ken Stockman hang on overflow style, http://home.att.net/~rstockman/overflow.htm

Scott

[gas4544]

Shadetree,
Thanks for the link! Looks like its off to Home Depot to buy the required materials.
I have most of my plumbing finished for the new sump. Tonight I have to mix up some more saltwater to compensate for the added water volume. By the end of the weekend, I should have my sump running.

[MtnDewMan]

Good luck with the sump. I built the Ken Stockman standpipe version in my Lifereef Slimline Overflow box ... works great. IF you have any questions with it, just let me know. I believe we are even in the same neck of the woods too.

http://www.fitermania.com/aquarium/images/lifereef_durso_mod.jpg

[gas4544]

MDMAn,
I just got home from Home Depot with the PVC components. One hour and $3.19 later, I get home and discover that the parts I bought will not fit in my Lifereef Slimline Overflow box.
Then I come back to Reefcentral and see your picture of your Ken Stockman standpipe in the same overflow box. This is just too strange! Are we living parallel lives?
So, what combination of PVC components did you use? Your set-up looks great!

[MtnDewMan]

Hey Gas,

I had problems with parts when I first put it together. Because it is the slimline version of the overflow box, the original design couldn't be followed to a tee ... here are the parts I used:

One 1" PCV Pipe (cut to fit to give the standpipe the necessary height ... had to play with this a bit to make it not too tall ... It is around 4 inches or so I think) I drilled 3/8" holes in the pipe for the water flow.

One 1" Cap (I drilled two 5/64th inch holes in the end of the cap you start out small on the holes and increase gradually. These holes help stabilize the water level)

One 1" to 1 1/2" bushing (there is a ridge in this bushing that needs to be ground down with a power drill sander or something similar like a dremel tool because this piece must fit completely over the 1" PVC pipe. The original stockman design used something like a 2" piece I believe).

One 1 1/2" PVC coupling (this piece goes over the above bushing and encloses the holes in the 1" PVC Pipe .... you should notice a 1/4" gap between the 1" PVC pipe and this part when assembled)

One 1" Coupling (this piece connects the standpipe to an existing 1" pvc piece that was sticking up into the overflow box)

I didn't use a drop of tape or glue to put this together. The hardest part was filing down that ridge in the bushing and the next hardest part was sawing the PVC pipe down to size (which wasn't too difficult at all as long as you have a saw).

Good luck ... it is really easy to get together once you have the right parts. Let me know if you need any further help.

[gas4544]

Hey, thanks for the quick response. Looks like its back to Home Depot tomorrow morning.
How much water flow are you getting with this setup? I am going to use a Mag Drive 9.5 as a sump pump and control it with a 1" gate valve.

[MtnDewMan]

I was using a Mag 7 with no valve control, but now am using a Custom Sea Life Velocity T1 pump with it throttled back a bit with a gate valve (not because of overflow/standpipe limitations, but because it was creating quite the churning in my tank).

The overflow box is rated for 700 gph, I am probably pushing near 500 gph ... You will definately have to throttle back on the mag 9.5, just because it may be more than the overflow box itself can handle (even without a standpipe mod).

You will have to play with the number of holes to drill to get the flow area that is needed with the higher flow you will likely be pushing through. It will be interesting to see how it works out for you because with the slimline version of the overflow box, we are really limited to the 1 1/2" setup instead of the original stockman design of 2" ...

Let us know how it works.

And yah, been checking out the boards this evening. My exciting Friday night this weekend :)

[witness_creation]

sounds good.

[gas4544]

Yesterday was a long day, but I did get my sump up and running. I had to make some changes to my original plumbing design, so I have some extra PVC fittings and flexible tubing on hand now.

Last night, it was a little difficult to fall asleep with all the noise my overflow box drain was making. So today on the way home from church, I picked up the parts needed to make the MDMan standpipe. Wow, what a noise difference! At night, I think that I will quiet it down some more by reducing flow with the gate valve.

My sump pump is plumbed to two Fluval water return spouts. I have to throttle back the pump with the gate valve, or I get too much water turbulence. Sometime soon I will figure out how to reposition my Maxi-Jets. I was running four of them on my Wavemaster Pro before I hooked up the sump. For now, I have two MJ's in the tank.

I also took down my Fluval 404. Good-bye, nitrate factory! I moved the bacteria-laden ceramic filter media to the sump for now.

All these changes necessitated moving my Remora Pro skimmer. It was hanging off the back of the tank, but with the overflow box and all that plumbing back there now, there is no romm for it. So I moved it to hanging off the left end of the tank. It is now more accessible.

I have run a few power-outage tests and the system is okay. I have 2.5 inches to spare in my sump after the tank drains.

Well, that about does it for now. Thank you all for your help on this project, especially you MDMan. Today I'm gonna try to do something besides mess with my tank.

[MtnDewMan]

Glad it all worked out. Glad I could be part of the solution too. You are in Bellevue right? We should check each other's setups out sometime.

[hughem]

I quiet my overflow (in addition to the standpipe mod) with a folded hand towel across the top. This also keeps out dust and block the light from the MH on the overflow box to reduce algae growth.

[witness_creation]

Also could I use a pvc connector for a bulk head on my projects???
any suggestions on how to make pvc threaded connectors work for this application.

Also what kind of over flow diameter tubes should I go with???
to my sump I will build?? Return Pump Hose diameter?
Any rhyme or reason to the dia for these I know it has to do with Gph....but what about return pressure??? and dia of pipe????
all info on the tubing size and associated fittings would be appreciated thanks!

Oh yeah please give me some dimentions Lxhxw if you can of both your internal and external boxes for external overflow
thanks
Hope to get going on this project so this info would be appreciated!
thanks

Lon

[witness_creation]

Could you guys help out here???

[gas4544]

Lon,
I'm not a plumbing guru, but I know that there are some here at Reefcentral. I suggest starting a new thread to expose your questions to more people.

I do not have any bulkheads on my system. My overflow line is 1" ID flexible tubing. My return line is also 1" ID flexible tubing until it reaches a tee to split to the two water returns. My sump pump is a Mag Drive 9.5 controlled by a 1" gate valve.
I am using a Lifereef Slimline prefilter/overflow box. It is the same one that MDMan shows in his picture. The dimensions of that overflow box can be found at lifereef.com. Buy a good overflow box. This is a critical part of the plumbing and it is worth a few extra dollars to go with a Lifereef box.

[hughem]

Lon,

While it is possible to use a threaded PVC connector for a bulkhead fitting, it isn't recommended. Most bulkhead fittings have a thread much longer than you need, but PVC connectors' threads are generally shorter than you need. This is because you have to factor in acrylic washers on both sides of the wall, and a rubber gasket.

Was this desire a supply or money issue?

As for size, overflow diameter is commonly 1" PVC, and the return pipe/tube is 5/8" or 3/4" (flex tubing or sched. 40 PVC respectively). Obviously you want the overflow to provide more volume than the return. Because it is very difficult to determine the flow impact of various plumbing configurations, there is no reliable formula for determining the exact GPH in an overflow or return system.

You don't need overflow box dimensions. Just buy one. Believe me, if you try to build it yourself, and the inside box leaks, Murphy will take control and cut you power, the inside box will bleed water and flood your house. This is not a good DIY candidate.

[witness_creation]

tanks will let you know how it goes