drain overflow questions..

[reefin101]

Growout tank.....60x 32x 12...

I plan to run two 2 simple PVC drains internally, for redundancy. One on each back corner proximity.
Max flow to the tank will be ~ 400gph. So 1 -1" drain could easily handle it.

question: would it be better to have them just go out thru the bottom or go out the back and have upturned elbows to set the water height?
either way I plan to use intake screen to keep critters out.


Out the back seems to leave more space on the bottom for corals or rock or whatnot.
Also seems that if the PVC got knocked out that it wouldn't fully drain the tank, only down a few inches...
But will the extra bends be any sort of issue down to the sump??

The drains in the bottom simply seem a simple straight shot down to the sump. But if the PVC comes out, full drain of the tank!

I don't want to glue the PVC into the BH so if i need to adjust something or clean the PVC is removeable. It really shouldnt ever come out as it's a pretty tight fit..but nonetheless........

 

[Bosco83]

I have never heard of anyone having a problem with their standpipe coming out of the bulkhead and most tanks are drilled through the bottom. The only way I could see it coming out is if someone was messing with it.

 

[Pkunk35]

i think you are right about having more space with a drain in the back, i ran a tank with a overflow box setup in this fashion and i did like it a lot, I barely noticed it there.

You may get more noise than your want tho and I'm not sure if you could setup any kind of pipe to reduce the noise.

The bends in the piping and a smaller overflow will limit or cut your flow through rate, but if you already have two drains and one is redundant I'd imagine you'd be ok as you already mentioned.

Would take some tweaking and design but sounds ok to me. One thing i did was use flexi pipe from overflow to the sump to cut down on right angles in the overflow line.

GL!

 

[tspreef]

I have always done my out the bottom. I had a friend that put his holes out the back and even though it looks a little better I thought it made a lot of noise. For him it was ok because his tank was a basement tank but if you have it in the main part of the house probably would not like it.
I just recently opted to to flex pipe to the sump instead of having it hard piped. I like that a lot better also.

Have fun :smile:

 

[slugwall]

i think you are right about having more space with a drain in the back, i ran a tank with a overflow box setup in this fashion and i did like it a lot, I barely noticed it there.

You may get more noise than your want tho and I'm not sure if you could setup any kind of pipe to reduce the noise.

The bends in the piping and a smaller overflow will limit or cut your flow through rate, but if you already have two drains and one is redundant I'd imagine you'd be ok as you already mentioned.

Would take some tweaking and design but sounds ok to me. One thing i did was use flexi pipe from overflow to the sump to cut down on right angles in the overflow line.

GL!

Sound advise!

 

[reefin101]

Thanks for all the input.....

well Max flow will be 400gph. I will put in 2 -1" drains. So I'd imaginge gurgling and whatnot will be next to none as the amount of water draining is not much. anyone have experience here?

Also a little noise really isn't a big deal as this is in my fish room of which is in the basement.

As for space, either way i think I have plenty of room wether out the back or out the bottom as these won't take up much real estate.

Hmmmm.....I could always do an external coast to coast overflow like my last DIY grow out tank.....

But I am trying to just keep this simple and effective.