Return Bulkhead so deep?

[Squiddy]

I will have to give that a try. I know that the level in the overflow box and the level in the tank always stay the same. The pump I have should be putting out about 500gph at 5ft which doesn't seem like that much to me. What is the ratio for tank size to amount of water turned over in an hour again? I guess I need to do some more research... just haven't had time.

[hawk]

500gph doesn't seem like much to me either. How high is the stand pipe?, can you post a pic of the top of the stand pipe?

[SuperFudge]

That one is not custom, it is what Sea star supplies.

It is also standard sea star overflows, and drain pipes.

The 2" extention on the pipe is not glued so you can cut it to your needs.

Cut at about 3/4" below the bottom of the overflow fingers, for a pump that runs about 500 gph, the bigger the pump the more you cut it down.

If you are unsure, leave as a dry fit, there is no need to glue that joint.

I like to leave them high enouph to leave a definate drop in water,making sure you are surface skimming well, but not enouph to make noise.

On sea star or any euro braced tanks, it is also nice to run the water line in the tank high enouph to just touch the bottom of the bracing.
If not, it will develop salt creep and block light.

The hole through the overflow is meant to have a threaded street 90 fit into int with another 90 off of that...Or some locline.
This is done because the overflows are glass inside and cannot be drilled that close to the edge.
This will prevent backsiphon down to that hieght.


Marc.

[Jason McK]

there you go, I thought there would be a logical explanation.

J

[smellsfishy]

some solutions i came up with for my SeaStar.
it's a terrible picture but i made this 45degree T goes into the threaded 90 which threads into the bulkhead. It's hard to tell but it slopes upward to about 2" below the water surface . it sucks back less water this way. as i have a hammerhead for a return i had to keep it this low or the air syphons from the surface but with your flow amount you could have it higher, you may want to consider lockline, instead, note the 45degree split directs the current into the corners as well.
you will also want to put some kind of silencing on the standpipes, i designed a stockmen style cap for these standpipes, if your interested i can send you a pic.
as for the overflows i found the teeth slots to be no where near capable to handle the flow i wanted but i had already stocked the tank so i had to break them off and replace with leaf gaurd mesh (guttergaurd) from Rona, it doesn't look great pro but it works really well, if you leave some teeth in to support the mesh.
hope this helps

[Squiddy]

Thanks for the reply Marc. You got me all excited and then when I went and took the standpipe off, I found that it has all been glued together so I think I will stick with my original plan. Lots of good points though regarding water level and plumbing the return line.


Whole standpipe


Profile shot of top of standpipe


End on shot of top of standpipe


Bottom of standpipe

I'd love to see a picture of the standpipe cap you made for your SeaStar, smellsfishy. I knew I was going to have to do something with it. I will have to see how the water flows through the teeth. I don't really want to have to start breaking them off... yet. However, I think I will follow something similar to what you have done with your return line. I couldn't make it out at all in the picture but I get the idea, thanks.

[smellsfishy]

you should have got a 2" diameter thin wall pipe to go into the top, this is what you adjust in length/height (don't glue it), remember you can't cut it back on, haha. take off a little at a time until you got it right.
btw it looks like you got way to much teflon tape on those threads, you only need 5-8 turns max imo, maybe it's just the pic??

[Squiddy]

you should have got a 2" diameter thin wall pipe to go into the top, this is what you adjust in length/height (don't glue it)

What you see is what I've got. Northing more. Anything more on top of the top piece would have made it even higher anyways. I dunno!? Maybe something got glued that shouldn't have been? That standpipe came exactly as it's shown in the picture above...

btw it looks like you got way to much teflon tape on those threads, you only need 5-8 turns max imo, maybe it's just the pic??

I'm going to rewrap that piece anyways because the tape got chewed when I screwed it in the first time. I don't think I put too much on the first time but I will make sure I don't this time.

Hey can you post the pictures of your standpipe and how you modified it to be quieter? Did you just use two 90 degree elbows? I went out and got the pieces I need to complete the return line. I will still need some Locline but I'll get that later. I don't think anyone over here stocks Locline... I think Scott at IPZ has a few pieces... but not everything I need. Guess I'll go back to Mike for that stuff.

[Squiddy]

Ok so I cut a bunch off the drain line and put a coupler in. I just guessed at the length and I think it's perfect the way it is now. The water is just barely touching the bottom of the Euro braces. Is the water supposed to pour over the edges of the overflow box (through the teeth) or are the teeth just supposed to stop fish etc?

I'm going to go figure something out for the return line now. Will post more pictures when I'm done.

[smellsfishy]

oops guess i should have sent some pics sooner it would have saved you some hassle. I'll pm ya to many pics