Drain Plumbing Question

[iannarelli]

My sump, a Trigger Systems Sapphire Cube, only has one drain connection leading to the filter sock chamber. I will be running a bean animal overflow, so I understand that a small amount of water can or will be trickling down the secondary drain. This is probably my OCD wanting *ALL* the water from the overflow to pass through the sock, but, if I were to add a tee fitting as close to the sump as possible (see below), is the only consequence that the secondary will also get clogged if there's a blockage somewhere between the tee and the pipe exit? Which would mean the emergency would engage immediately? Or is there something else I'm not thinking about? My emergency is going to empty into the return chamber, and my secondary could empty into the skimmer section, which wouldn't be the end of the world.... Anyway, I'm just curious, so this might just end up being a hypothetical question.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Personally I would have all 3 as their own drain. If tuned properly there is very little water exiting the 2nd. And depending on your thoughts I use a sock only when cleaning the tank heavy or something. Otherwise my tank is filtration is skimmer only. I dont think that secondary drain is going to hurt anything missing the sock

 

[iannarelli]

Personally I would have all 3 as their own drain. If tuned properly there is very little water exiting the 2nd. And depending on your thoughts I use a sock only when cleaning the tank heavy or something. Otherwise my tank is filtration is skimmer only. I dont think that secondary drain is going to hurt anything missing the sock

Makes sense, and saves me some money on even more fittings! You don't run anything in front of the skimmer in place or the sock? Not even filter foam?

 

[KStatefan]

You will not get a full siphon on your main and will have lots of air in it plumbed like that

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Your secondary will suck air.

I have a gate valve on my main and all water goes down it. Secondary is only if something happens.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Makes sense, and saves me some money on even more fittings! You don't run anything in front of the skimmer in place or the sock? Not even filter foam?

Correct. I started my big tank (a 180g) with a clarisea filter roller. It works fantastic but maybe too well, so I went with socks after a year or so. The problem with socks is that I absolutely hate them. Now I have my primary drain and secondary drain dumping into the sump. The skimmer is in the same area. That’s it on filtration.

I think you might be surprised to see how many people here do not use socks or rollers… I was. My sump accumulates some gunk but I’m ok with that. I feel like the corals are able to feed better and my water stays really clear. I used to worry that it wouldn’t. The 3rd picture is looking through 6’ of tank even with dirty glass

 

[iannarelli]

You will not get a full siphon on your main and will have lots of air in it plumbed like that

You're right. Didn't even consider if essentially be making a giant venturi.

 

[iannarelli]

Correct. I started my big tank (a 180g) with a clarisea filter roller. It works fantastic but maybe too well, so I went with socks after a year or so. The problem with socks is that I absolutely hate them. Now I have my primary drain and secondary drain dumping into the sump. The skimmer is in the same area. That’s it on filtration.

I think you might be surprised to see how many people here do not use socks or rollers… I was. My sump accumulates some gunk but I’m ok with that. I feel like the corals are able to feed better and my water stays really clear. I used to worry that it wouldn’t. The 3rd picture is looking through 6’ of tank even with dirty glass

Your tank looks awesome! I've never had to deal with filter socks (FW guy), so I'm going to see if they're really as big of a PITA as they're made out to be...

 

[PharmrJohn]

Your tank looks awesome! I've never had to deal with filter socks (FW guy), so I'm going to see if they're really as big of a PITA as they're made out to be...

In my last 90G iteration, I ran three socks. Yes, they were a PITA at times, but they grabbed SO much stuff that ended up dealing with the inconvenience. I had probably 9 to 12 socks, so I could swap out and go on a moment's notice. In the reboot, I'll probably run socks to start. If I feel I can get away without them, I'll ditch the idea and run without. If I'm having issues with high NO3 nd PO4, I'll consider a Roller. Now, I hear that trying to swap out a sock system for a roller system can be a challenge. To be honest, I'm not sure why. I've yet to look into it. Just realize that if you are entertaining the possibility of changing up down the road, you'll not want to presume it's a simple switch out.

 

[iannarelli]

Your secondary will suck air.

I have a gate valve on my main and all water goes down it. Secondary is only if something happens.

Makes sense. Hadn't even considered that it would mess with the ability to siphon.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Makes sense. Hadn't even considered that it would mess with the ability to siphon.

Does your overflow have three pipes? Or just a main and an emergency?

 

[iannarelli]

Does your overflow have three pipes? Or just a main and an emergency?

It has three. I could always cap one of the bulkheads but I'd prefer to run bean animal for the added redundancy.

 

[mrpontiac80]

In my last 90G iteration, I ran three socks. Yes, they were a PITA at times, but they grabbed SO much stuff that ended up dealing with the inconvenience. I had probably 9 to 12 socks, so I could swap out and go on a moment's notice. In the reboot, I'll probably run socks to start. If I feel I can get away without them, I'll ditch the idea and run without. If I'm having issues with high NO3 nd PO4, I'll consider a Roller. Now, I hear that trying to swap out a sock system for a roller system can be a challenge. To be honest, I'm not sure why. I've yet to look into it. Just realize that if you are entertaining the possibility of changing up down the road, you'll not want to presume it's a simple switch out.

If you notice in my picture above I was using a hang on sock rack. This is because my sump is modified from a triton style to accommodate a clarisea roller. I had to cut out a panel.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Do you have a picture of the sump? Why can’t you have two pipes going into the sock area?

My sump has an attachment for having a bulkhead here but I didn’t want it.

You could do two gate valves and then the emergency into the return area.

 

[iannarelli]

Do you have a picture of the sump? Why can’t you have two pipes going into the sock area?

My sump has an attachment for having a bulkhead here but I didn’t want it.

You could do two gate valves and then the emergency into the return area.

It's not open like yours. It has a bulkhead fitting you plumb into.