Plumbing Help
 

looking for a 3/4" check valves [plastic type]
or back flow preventer
do you guys know what store carry these parts?
went to home depot and they have the backflow preventer but its copper

How come you need this? Shouldn't be nessisary unless you're inventing something. :mrgreen:

dood remember my plumbing?
when that mag12 shuts off water from my main gets syphon down to my sump
=o)


oh yeah did you open the shop today?
couldn't come over too much snow
and shitty i'm working tom
hopefully i get off early

Hey Jesse,

Why not drill a little hole in the line just before it hits the water in your tank. That way you don't get a back siphon? And it just sort of pees out into your tank while its running. :biggrin:

Christy :)

almost any and all sprinkler, irrigation suppliers will carry a 3/4" pvc check valves, make sure to get the kind that swings from a rubber support, the other ones will slow flow down too much. do you have a delta irrigation near you? or bcg services?

My understanding on check valves is they'll fail..eventually. All you need is a hole for a siphon break (2 holes is better).

thanks guys
really appreciated
i'll do that drilling thing tom don't mind saving few bucks
=o)

hole size
 

How big of a hole do you drill? With my luck I'll end up with a stream that shoots 40 feet.

Cheers,
Al

i'm thinking of drilling 4 1/6" heheh would that work guys?

no, go a bit bigger. algae and such will clog up a hole that small. I did mine 1/4, and I drilled right thru the pipe giving me two holes. This is incase a snail happpens to be sitting on one hole when the power goes out.

thanks again brad
:smile:

the ones I use have a min 20 year life span... the old adage, you get what you pay for...

if you do the holes, they can work great, just make sure they dont get cloged too much or they are no good, algae will fill them in, or coraline, or salt crystals depending where you drill

Agree with more than one hole. Many moons ago, on another tank, with only one hole, my wife called at work one day saying water was spraying into the air.

A snail partially over the hole was the cause. :eek:

Hey Guys,

I don't care for the one way valve under this application either. They may work for 20 years but if something like algae, snails ,chitins, or a limpet are in the path of the rubber flap when power fails the rubber flap can not close properly. The hole drilling thing seems to work, one just needs to keep an eye on them,water will come out of the hole which decreases the chance of them gumming up. I think the best bet is so keep the return lines as close to the water surface as you can, this way minimizing the amount of water back siphoning into your sump. You just need to figure out what the safe running level of your sump will be.

I have mine so the two farthest returns are only 1/4 to 1/2" below the water surface that way the returns themselves are the siphon break.

Steve

I do what Steve does as well. I have two returns from a Squid which are hung about 1/2 under the water surface. This means that my overflow runs dry just after the siphon break. Both returns are also mounted so they cannot slip and fall lower into the tank, thus that would cause the sump to overflow.

Check valves Fail....
 

Just drill a 1/8 hole 1/4" below the waterline. Checkvalves do fail then you will have a problem.
Cut the power to the return pump to test it. Backfill should stop befor the overflow. You should have room in your sump for that amount of drain.

Re: Check valves Fail....
 

the problem with this is if you have coraline growth and such they will be incrusted over in no time. if you do the "holes slightly under the water line you must make this part of your regular weekly maintance to ensure they are clear. also make a couple on oposit sides of the pipe so snails can't cover them up on you.

Steve

Steve, mine have been under water for over a year and I haven't cleaned them. While looking once in awhile is fine, weekly maintenance is a bit overboard, IMO.

you have to have a tank that actualy grows coraline algae :rofl: I found mine needed cleaning twice a month so I started checking them every time I cleaned my skimmer.

Steve

Sorry, I hadn't taken into account you have a young tank still, with most of your coral being the algae variety. :razz:

you guys are funny :razz:

I'm funny, he's funny looking!! :rofl: