running 2 sumps???

[totion]

i've been helping a friend with his 180 gallon tank. he is running two sumps with overflow boxes. one overflow is an esphopps pf1000 matched up with a mag 12. it ran perfectly with the ball valve wide open. he added the second sump to his system with a mag 9.5 and an unknown overflow box with a single 1 inch drain line in it. he is having trouble getting the levels in his sumps to equal out. he has been trying to fine tune ball valves on his return lines but even with the slightest adjustments the one sump will fill and one start to drain and vice versa.

is there any way to fix this?

he has been blowing my phone up since 10 am messing with this setup.

thanks for any help!

 

[totion]

actually they are both mag 9.5 pumps. one overflow is smaller. so he should throttle the one with smaller overflow down a little, right? or should he get a matching overflow box so the same pumps have the same overflow boxes?

 

[Fishman793]

the best thing to do would be to get the same overflow, but holding back the one pump temporarily should be ok until the box arrives

 

[Bow]

He should probably find a way to plumb the sumps together somehow. Even up higher then the water levels then he typically wants. That way in the event of one pump failing the one sump won't overflow. It will spill into the second where the pump is still functioning

 

[totion]

we have talked about that but he isn;t comfortable drilling his sumps. it may be a while before i could get up there to do it for him. the issue we are having with getting a matching overflow is that it will have two drain lines and the sump (which is an acrylic wet/dry converted to s sump) has a single inlet. the option there would be for me to drill a hole and add a bulkhead to it.

im thinking plumbing them together would be easier.

how hard is it to drill acrylic.

 

[Bow]

Not sure about drilling acrylic. YouTube probably knows. Can't be that hard. Even with a matched overflow if one pump stops the overflow will continue from the other sump. I'm contemplating a similar set up but don't feel comfortable with them seperate. If the water level in each should be 10 inches (theoretical) then I'm planning on drilling a 2" at like 13 inches. That way the one pump can still overflow to both sumps and return at a reduced rate

 

[Bow]

Could he just plumb both drain tubes into one bigger one or will it not fit the port

 

[Reefing Madness]

If the sumps are plumbed together just get a much bigger return pump. The single overflow with 1" line is probably 600gph. Bigger return would set him back up like he was before, using the exsisting T and ball valve to fine tune the single pump return. Or shut off the 9.5 and close the ball valve that he has on the branched line, how close is that water matched going back to the DT?

 

[totion]

Could he just plumb both drain tubes into one bigger one or will it not fit the port

The intake is a 1 inch. His wife is very adamant about me not drilling his eshopps sump or the wet dry converted sump

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[totion]

If the sumps are plumbed together just get a much bigger return pump. The single overflow with 1" line is probably 600gph. Bigger return would set him back up like he was before, using the exsisting T and ball valve to fine tune the single pump return. Or shut off the 9.5 and close the ball valve that he has on the branched line, how close is that water matched going back to the DT?

Both sumps are plumbed independent of each other with vinyl hose and ball valves, no ts. It turns out both pumps are mag 9.5s. When he gets one sump flowing right the other one slowly drains or fills. Before adding the second sump he had a mag 9.5 with eshopps pf1000 overflow and the ball valve on the r er urn was wide open and everything is great. He has major cyano issues and is trying to get up to a 30x turnover in his display by adding the second sump. The big sump has a big reef octopus in it. The other sump from what I remember is empty.



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[Reefing Madness]

You shouldn't really use the return lines from the sumps as flow, you don't want to restrict them or cut down the flow rate for any reason, as you want these matched to the overflows. Reguardless if he's running one sump, 2 or 3, if they are plumbed together, he needs to match the return using one pump to the 2 overflows. Tell him to just use the second pump as flow without all the sump plumbing.
If he was using the MAG12 with the valve wide open, he may be able to close it most of the way and be able to match the 2 overflows that go into the sumps, by itself.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I made a double sump for someone. It was connected via 2 bulkheads per sump. Get the biggest size you can get a drill bit for or do more holes.

 

[Bow]

I made a double sump for someone. It was connected via 2 bulkheads per sump. Get the biggest size you can get a drill bit for or do more holes.

That's the safest way I can think of

 

[SeymourDuncan]

You should have seen version 1. Then the dude said it was for his moms tank lol!!!

I do not recommend this version to anybody.

 

[Bow]

lol. Give points for creativity. And recycling

 

[SeymourDuncan]

It was a concept sump lol. It didn't leak or anything. In fact it would make a great hydroponic garden as is. If he didn't take it home it would be plumbed into my pond.

 

[totion]

hmm i guess i need to just convince his wife to let me drill the sumps and add bulkheads to plumb them together. i doubt she will budge on that though.

 

[Bow]

Just stress the flood factor. The mess the rugs and hardwood. The agrivation of a divorce and needing to sell all the stuff. Wow a few bulkheads where you can't see them seems nice now

 

[totion]

Her thing is the cost of the eshopps and the chance of ruining it. I've talked him into running one sump and setting up a closed loop system with the other mag drive. It will be very simple, intake made of pvc painted black, vinyl tubing, mag 9.5, more vinyl tubing, utube outflow.

 

[Bow]

I can't imagine drilling it being that hard. But that idea works too