Plumbing/Noise Question

[sphelps]

The main drain line should have a gate valve installed directly before the pipe drops into the sump. When you adjust the valve the main line will be full of water so there won't be a cascading effect. It's important that this main line does not tee into the other drain line(s) at any point before or after the gate valve.

[Reef23]

Originally Posted by sphelps

The main drain line should have a gate valve installed directly before the pipe drops into the sump. When you adjust the valve the main line will be full of water so there won't be a cascading effect. It's important that this main line does not tee into the other drain line(s) at any point before or after the gate valve.

Thanks that's the exact info I was looking for. I'm still alittle confused with what I should do with all three drains going to the sump. Main drain will drain directly to skimmer section. Other two use as emergency drains and plumb to what part of my sump ?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Reef23

Thanks that's the exact info I was looking for. I'm still alittle confused with what I should do with all three drains going to the sump. Main drain will drain directly to skimmer section. Other two use as emergency drains and plumb to what part of my sump ?

The other two drains could be tee'd together into one line if you want and can go into any section of the sump you want since they are for emergency only unless you plan on running some water through them all the time which is an option. For simplicity you could just make all lines go into the same sump section.

[fishytime]

It doesn't matter really..... Where ever it's most convienient

[Reef23]

What's the best setup? Run 2 main drains and one backup or one main and two backups T'd together

[sphelps]

For me personally, I would run three separate lines if it was easy to do so. One main with a gate valve. One secondary with a Durso standpipe and one for emergency only (straight pipe, ending just above Durso). I would tune the gate valve so some water goes into the secondary but not the emergency. Adjust it basically so just a little water goes into the standpipe so it's still silent. The advantage here is that your need for continuous adjustment is greatly reduced, if water flow increases or decreases slightly for any reason it will still remain quiet.

It really just depends on what you want, many people with a Herbie swear they never need to readjust the gate valve but I know of people who didn't like the system as they found it required too much adjustment, I fixed their concerns by changing to something similar as I mentioned above.

[Reef23]

Originally Posted by sphelps

For me personally, I would run three separate lines if it was easy to do so. One main with a gate valve. One secondary with a Durso standpipe and one for emergency only (straight pipe, ending just above Durso). I would tune the gate valve so some water goes into the secondary but not the emergency. Adjust it basically so just a little water goes into the standpipe so it's still silent. The advantage here is that your need for continuous adjustment is greatly reduced, if water flow increases or decreases slightly for any reason it will still remain quiet.

It really just depends on what you want, many people with a Herbie swear they never need to readjust the gate valve but I know of people who didn't like the system as they found it required too much adjustment, I fixed their concerns by changing to something similar as I mentioned above.

Great Advice!
So on the main drain no standpipe at all just let it drain down the bulkhead ?
My tank is 52x26x23 with an external coast to coast. My sump is a 40G breeder. My skimmer section just will fit the super reef octopus xp3000 I plan on running so it will be tight to fit all three drains in that section. I don't really want to have one drain in my fuge as it will stir up the DSB. Should I have a drain going to the return section with the return pump ?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Reef23

Great Advice!
So on the main drain no standpipe at all just let it drain down the bulkhead ?
My tank is 52x26x23 with an external coast to coast. My sump is a 40G breeder. My skimmer section just will fit the super reef octopus xp3000 I plan on running so it will be tight to fit all three drains in that section. I don't really want to have one drain in my fuge as it will stir up the DSB. Should I have a drain going to the return section with the return pump ?

No standpipe on the main drain but you could put a short length of pipe to extend up a few inches below the second drain standpipe if you want. This will prevent the entire overflow box from draining which may or may not be important depending on the size of the overflow box and the space available in the sump for back flow.

If you follow my recommendation then it would be best to put the main and secondary lines in the skimmer section if possible and the emergency can go in the return section.