that is easy my friend
just drill a hole in the return pipe just above the water line and that will act as a siphon. I would put it in the back facing the wall of the tank thou so you dont get any spray thou IME

Use some True Union Check valves?

I've had then on all my tanks, and never failed me.. the swing gate has no metal springs to rust, so should never stick open.

i was thinking check valves but they can fail and it reduced flow on the pumps but alot.

do you mean in the sump part or in the tank part?

I'd never build a system without them... and because there isn't any metal parts there really is no place for it to fail. At least not on the ones I use. It's just one extra fail safe..

Based on how low your returns come in on your tank and siphon break is going to be tricky becuase the water is gonna drain down to those return bulkheads, which is why I gave the suggestion of check valves. Unless I missed something on your plumbing system.

ok... You posted this earlier... but later on you mentioned your CL was running thru the manifold instead?...

So does that mean your sump return is coming back thru the 4 bulkheads in the tank?

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...Manifold-1.jpg

no that diagram is kinda messed up , it would return just through the top 2 holes

hey man i see that you went with the 45 in stead of the 90 you will see alot better flow and less head loss on 45 then 90 and it looking pretty fancy now

He was talking about the Tank water line. Which means for a siphon to work, your return plumbing needs to higher than the water line... You will usually see a siphon break on plumbing that comes up over the tank rim and back down under the water.

That's why I suggested check valves, because I was (and still am) under the impression that your return plumbing comes back in on the top 2 bulkheads on the back of your tank?

yeah that is correct, the returns are just the top 2 on the back wall of the tank. originally i was going to use those for the CL but changed my mind after i got the tank.

yeah i did, it does look better with the 45.

i was just working on my plumbing and i was wondering if putting the union under water is a bad thing, and if i want to keep it above?

well ive got a few things in the mail and now i can finish the plumbing but before that i need to get the glass in for the baffles in the sump, i took apart my stand to get them in properly. i will get some pictures later.

well here are some of the things i got, the rest are bulkheads and loclines and such. The only thing i am not pleased with is that when i ordered my product from BRS and the charge came up on my credit card, the credit card company charged an extra 1.25 for the dollar exchange, so for something that was 260 was now 410, so i wont be buying from them any time soon. Got a little work ahead of me to be able to get water into it, but im excited because im getting there.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding556.jpg

I also got my 2 tanks to fit finally but i had to take the tank off to do it.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding557.jpg

more to come once i get my sump built and finished and put the tank back on the stand.



and a little preview of what the loclines look like in my manifold.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding562.jpg

and presto the plumbing is DONE!!!! and when i mean done i mean that all the piping is in place not glued yet. so not really done but the harder part is done. ON WITH THE PICTUREs, cause i dont like to talk much.
oh yeah please point out any problems so i can fix it before i glue.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding563.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding565.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding567.jpg


http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding568.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding569.jpg


http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding570.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding571.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding573.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding577.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...wedding578.jpg



you might notice in the pictures the sump glass isnt in yet, i have yet to order it. hence also why i haven't glued anything.

looks great man, What i would have done was put barbed connections on there with 90's so the plumbing was close to the tank, so you dont have all that plumbing pipe sticking out the back......

other then that that is what i would have done . looks good to me tho got to love the plumbing.....:mrgreen:

now get that tank turned around and start filling it

thanks man.
i needed room for an ATO bucket so that gives me the room also, you wont even see it once im done. i think i got all the unions and ball valves i need in there. hope the rockscape turns out just as nice once im done too.

well i picked up some rock. so now aquascape time.

and on with the pictures.


picture of the sump i built. YEAH IT HOLDS WATER first try too.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics004.jpg





and with the power of magic, the sump area is complete. YEAH.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics016.jpg


http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics017.jpg



picture of where is sit in our apartment. you'll notice that i painted the manifold black, but really didnt matter, as i will have a canopy.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics018.jpg



and the little bit of rock i have to work with. got another 25 pounds in the tank i am taking out.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics022.jpg



i will post pics of the aquascape i do and you guys can let me know what you think.

Lookin awesome so far! Keep up the good work, I love the clean lines and lack of visible equipment.

and now the scape is done, let me know what you think, ive got tons of rock left over, i cant use it all. so i can change a bit, and the rods will be covered in putty.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics027.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics028.jpg


http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ishpics030.jpg

that scape is awesome!

Very nice!!!

thanks guy, the only problem is all of it is dead rock, so i will have to wait longer for the tank to get mature, before i add the fishies.

It's getting close.. lookin' really good!

i know so close, just water. im so excited.

Its filling up.

ya fun for you but no pictures of it filling up, wow and you call your self a reefer who cares...:redface:

your right i apologize hahah. but ive already ran into problems i broke my front plate on my CL pump so now i have to order a new one. but luckily i can still fill it up. and i will get pictures of the water :mrgreen:.

as promised sorry its mostly full already.


http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...5/fishpics.jpg


oh and im not really happy at all with the return flow and with my CL flow, to bad i cant get another pump, the wife wont allow it. going to have to put powerheads in the tank after all.

AND NOW MY STUPID A$$ vertex skimmer wont even turn on.

u have to plug it in man.. sorry couldnt resist.

hahah the only time you chime in, is to give me a hard time :D no worries,

also found out my pipe that flows from the overflow into my refugium doesnt work so i have to take that out and cap it, not enough flow pushing through it so it just sucks up air.


also a quick question, my herbie seems to be sucking air everyone once in a while, and it gets noisy, i cant seem to get the little air bubbles out of it. do people get a little air bubbles or is it usually no air bubbles.

maybe try adjusting your gate valve just a little bit more and see if you can get it so no air bubbles are happening

no thats not it, i have it at a height where its about 1/2" from the overflow, its making bubbles but none are reaching the bottom, i think i might have some kinda of air leak. i have to take out the refugium line from the overflow maybe that is where its coming from.

got my skimmer working again, i think the impeller was stuck on the rod because it was turning without the front plate on but once i put it on, it wouldnt turn, so thats working, thanks goodness because i dont have money to put down on a new skimmer.

but the stupid air that is coming through i think there might be a leak in my gate valve anyone else ever had that problem.

Can you take pictures of the top of your herbie so we can get an idea of the water height?

In ancient times...
Hundreds of years before the dawn of history
Lived a strange race of people... the Druids

Looks great! - STONEHENGE!!

Wow this looks crazy... are the rocks attached anyhow or just stacked? Almost looks like it might be a little precarious? It looks really good though, can't wait to see it stocked :biggrin:

no they are attached, i use fiberglass rods from canadian tire to attach them together and some putty. i put in the sand after so all the rocks are on the bottom.

ive found 2 leaks one is in the fuge bulkhead, so fixing that one, the other is in the pvc where the CL intakes are. not really sure how to fix that one?

the water height is literally about 1/2" down the the top of the water level, but i till take a picture, the height always changes around a bit when i put different flow through the fuge.

Looking good... how high off the water is your light?

BTW, tank doesn't look level... Water line is all outta wack!