Taking Advantage of Gravity

[ca1ore]

I have a more complex reef system than most, and it has been my mission to find ways to use less motors and pumps on said system. While I have mostly failed, one thing that I did on this current system that has proved to be inspired was to design it to take advantage of gravity. It's a BIG tank and I run a basement fish/sump room so the same 10' head pressure challenges I face on the return means that the drains on my overflow generate sizable pressure on the way back down. When customizing my overflow (then built by modular marine), I went with a modified bean - three siphon drains and then the two standard backups.

Each siphon drain has a purpose:

1. The main siphon, nominally 800 GPH, feeds my TMC110 UV sterilizer
2. The second siphon drain, nominally 450 GPH, feeds my algal turf scrubber
3. The third siphon drain, nominally 450 GPH is split down in the fish room and feeds both my remote refugium and the frag tank.

That's three pumps saved!!

That I have significant 'drop' head pressure on the drains certainly helps to prevent drain air lock, but I imagine this is something that even folks that run an in-stand sump could do. System has been running for 18 months now and there have been no material disadvantages to this approach.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I have a more complex reef system than most, and it has been my mission to find ways to use less motors and pumps on said system. While I have mostly failed, one thing that I did on this current system that has proved to be inspired was to design it to take advantage of gravity. It's a BIG tank and I run a basement fish/sump room so the same 10' head pressure challenges I face on the return means that the drains on my overflow generate sizable pressure on the way back down. When customizing my overflow (then built by modular marine), I went with a modified bean - three siphon drains and then the two standard backups.

Each siphon drain has a purpose:

1. The main siphon, nominally 800 GPH, feeds my TMC110 UV sterilizer
2. The second siphon drain, nominally 450 GPH, feeds my algal turf scrubber
3. The third siphon drain, nominally 450 GPH is split down in the fish room and feeds both my remote refugium and the frag tank.

That's three pumps saved!!

That I have significant 'drop' head pressure on the drains certainly helps to prevent drain air lock, but I imagine this is something that even folks that run an in-stand sump could do. System has been running for 18 months now and there have been no material disadvantages to this approach.

Thanks for info and sharing, comrade.
What type of creatures?

 

[Awesome Dennis]

How do you minimize the amount of water that drains down into the return chamber when you shut down the pump? I’m currently setting up a multi tank system and a have similar plan but I want to minimize water draining in a shutdown without a check valve.

 

[ca1ore]

The mouth of the main return only sits about 1/4" below the display water surface, so very little water back siphons when the pump stops. Since the other tanks are fed from the overflow drains from above, there is no back siphon there.