My plumbing plans

[jun41]

OK, here are the plans i drew up for my plumbing. I plan on having a 75 gal with a corner overflow. I plan on having a durso standpipe in the over flow, and a sump/refugium in the stand.

Questions:
1. How would i connect the sump to the return (iwaki 1200gph)? I've heard about bulkheads but have no idea how i would drill a hole in the sump and connect a pipe with it to the return.

2. When all is done with connecting the return to the sump, how would i get the water back in the show tank? Do i just put a pipe over the edge of the tank and shoot the water back in there?

thanks

-thoroughly confused

 

[Anonymous]

1, if the sump is plastic, you can drill it yourself, but if it is glass, you need to bring it to glass shop and ask them to do it for you.

2, if the tank is predrilled for return, you can connect the output of the pump to it. You can also dump water directly into the tank above, but keep in mind about possible siphoning if there is no checkvalve or anti-siphon device to prevent the accident when the pump failed or goes offline.

 

[jun41]

1. How would i connect the bulkheads? Are they just plug in kind of things or what?

2. What is meant by siphoning?

 

[Canada]

If your return is below the surface of the tanks water and your pump fails or the power goes out, the return will begin to drain your tank to the point where the return is above water. Not a good thing if you intend to have the return at the bottom of the tank. Most people seem to just put the return at the surface. If you wish to return to the bottom you can use anti-syphons or check valves.
Or you can try this..... put a 1/4inch valve into the return at the tanks surface. Just drill a hole slightly smaller and jam it in. Some silocon couldn't hurt. Now when your tank is running with the level of water you want, adjust the valve so it doesnt spray to much. The extra 1/4'' output also doubles as a surface circulation. So now when the power goes out and the return will only syphon until the 1/4'' valve is out of the water which will then suck air. Just make sure your sump can handle a little bit of extra water.

I will try and draw a diagram and post it.

 

[Canada]

This is a pretty crude drawing and is open to a lot of modifications. Also, the 1/4'' valve may be too small if you have a powerful pump. It would just shoot across your tank like a fire hose. In that case just use a larger valve, or point it down, whatever. I hope the attachment posts. I am still new to this forum stuff.

Darn it!!! The file is bitmap format and it wont post. I hope my Posts make sense.

 

[Anonymous]

> 1. How would i connect the bulkheads? Are they just plug in kind of things or what?

Bulkhead has two adoptors, one at each end. The adoptors can either be slip, thread, or one of each. For slip, you need to cement the pipe to it using PVC cement. For thread, you need to put Telfon tape on the pipe, and screw it to the bulkhead. Once you see one, you will know what I am talking about.

Here:

Typically, the "flat" end of the bulkhead is inside the sump, while the "nut" end is outside.