beginning of plumbing, does this work?

Eld4nte · Feb 7, 2015

So this is the beginning stage of my plumbing, I could not find a check valve and had to order one from a local plumving store. My return is about 4 ft high and has 2 45s and one 90. The overflow is the same height but made with 3 90s. I was debating running a T to a ball valve off my return to drain excess back into my refugium or skimmer. I don't have baffles in my sump yet but I plan to place a skimmer in the compartment where my overflow is and a fuge in the middle. All plumbing is 3/4" and my pump is a aqueon AQ2300. Max gph 608gph, with my set up i think I'll get about 400. 50g tank and 30g sump.

Nothing is glued so i can change whatever!

Thanks for any input!

AZDesertRat · Feb 7, 2015

More pics would help but right off you should never need a check valve in your return piping and yes you do want a gate or ball valve next to the retrun pump but no tee. It is far better to restrict the flow back to the display versus returning or wasting it back to the sump. By adding head to the return pump with an inline valve you reduce the work the pump must perform so the powerconsumption goes down, there is less heat production, the pump lasts llongerince it is not working as hard and usually the pump operates quieter. Whe you return flow to the sump via a tee and valve the pump is working harder to produce the water you are wasting back to the sump so power consumption is higher, more heat is generated and passed into the water from the pump and it is louder in operation.

Do you have photos of your standpipe or overflow arrangement? You will want to eliminate and 90 degree elbows between the standpie and sump and use 45 degree elbows or even reinforced vinyl tubing to reduce headloss. Since the overflow is gravity the slightest amount of restriction such as a 90 is very significant and can lead to floods when the pump outruns the verflow. You will laos want the overflow piping to be at least one size larger inside diameter than the return so it it better matched. If the return is 3/4" your over flow should be 1", 1.25" or ever 1.5" since it is gravity and the return is under pressure so flows much faster.

www.melevsreef.com has a very good article on DIY sumps and plumbing, the only part that is questionable is he suggests the tee and valve in the return which is counterproductive and should not be followed. A simple test with a Kill A Watte meter on the pump proves this out in a mattter of minutes.

Eld4nte · Feb 8, 2015

I'm having a hard time uploading pictures as this is from my phone. But I did add a ball valve over my return and I got rid of 2 90s on my overflow. I will try some pictures!