Plumbing Drainage Issue

[1stNoel]

Hello Reefers,

I'm having issues dialing in my tank to have more drainage, remove the air sucking noise, and prevent a sump overflow:

I have 3 drilled lowboy frag tanks that are connected to one sump. Each tank has one hole for the return, and one hole for drainage. After plumbing and filling with water, I noticed the drainage lines made the large sucking air sound...so I created Stockman Standpipes, which worked as far as noise...but significantly reduced drainage flow to then cause a flooding concern (more water coming in than is going out).

I have valves on both holes, so I reduced the flow of the return line, and this resolved that concern. Water level is perfect.

However, when I turned off the power to do a flood check on the sump, too much water now drains back into the sump. So the current setup will cause a flood and needs to be fixed, but I'm not sure what to do:

• I can't raise the Stockman's, because they are already at the max height I can place them.
• If I took off the Stockman's and just ran an open drainage hole (i.e. with just a plain PVC pipe), could I kill the noise by simply adjusting the valves?
• Perhaps open the hole on the Stockman cap to increase drainage?

Suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Noel

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Pictures will help us understand what your working with. For my drains I did just use an open pvc pipe and it really helped with noise

 

[1stNoel]

Here's a picture of the Stockman after it's broken syphon and stops draining, and here's the sump before I turned the pump back on to stop it from flooding.

The drilled holes are near the compression fitting , but it drained down to the end of the coupling.

Return nozzles are connected to a check valve, and did not have a syphon...so it's coming from the Stockman.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Ya I'd just try the plain pvc. I've also struggled with a stockman in the past and ended up just using a straight pipe. Here's my drain

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Also fwiw check valves can fail, I'd add a second line of defense against return line syphon. I like to drill 2 holes in my return line just under the water in the display tank. Once the syphon starts those holes will end up above the water line, suck in air, and break the syphon

 

[theMeat]

Could use both holes for drain (herbie style) instead of one return, one drain. Then run the return over the rim. This will be quiet.
If you have enough pipe diameter to run safely at a certain level it should run at same level with stockman, depending on how you made it/how high the holes fir water intake are. The air hole doesn’t need to be bigger, the holes inside the stockman to allow water flow need to be bigger.
Don’t think it’s a good idea to valve/restrict a drain on a single drain system, as you have. Restricting return is not a problem.
Maybe a lower max fill line in sump will allow enough room for power outage back flow. Maybe an auto top off will make that lower max fill line more doable.
Do you have a siphon break hole on return line?

 

[1stNoel]

I'm going to raise the return lines and drill a hole in them. The ones that you currently see are temporary ones that I just threw in there with some remnant pieces (to focus on the drainage).

I experimented with a durso-type drain and will try that instead. It looks to also be quiet but drains faster.

 

[Brett S]

It looks like you don’t have an overflow at all and the drain pipe is just in your tank. This is a significant part of your problem. Normally when you have an overflow and the power fails the water level will drain 3 or 4 inches to the entrance of the standpipe, but only in the overflow. So it might be a gallon of water max. In your case the entire tank will drain 3 to 4 inches to the entrance of the standpipe which could be many gallons, depending on the footprint of the tank.

Even if you go with a herbie style drain you’ll have the same problem. The only way to fix this is to install an overflow or to use a straight PVC pipe that ends near the surface of the water. But that is almost certainly going to be loud.

 

[1stNoel]

You are correct. No overflow; and yes, it drains just fine when I use an open PVC pipe, but it doesn't do it silently.

The test Herbie I used seems to work well and is silent. I just need to make one that's the proper height so I can test how much water drains into the sump when the power shuts off.