Sump Plumbing Sanity Check

SnowyFox · Oct 14, 2024

I’ve been trying to get all of the plumbing for my new aquarium figured out, and wanted to make sure what I did looks reasonable before I glue it all together. This will be my first reef aquarium, though I’ve done freshwater for years. Trying to future proof as much as is reasonable.

I’ve got a DC pump in the back corner that will be attached to the manifold with 1.5” silicone tubing. The full length of the manifold is all at 1.5”. The first branch off of the manifold is a 1” line that splits into (2) 1” lines going up to the display tank. Those lines are further reduced down to 3/4”.

The rest of the branches coming off of the manifold are all 3/4”. The first 2 valves won’t go to anything yet, they are reserved for any future expansion. The third valve that points down to the sump is to provide flow for a refugium that I plan to add to the right 1/3 of the sump with some aqua mesh. The last 2 valves will power the Carbon and GFO reactors.

I wasn’t sure if it would be better to have the future expansion valves mounted up in the ceiling of the stand like this or just point down like the one for the refugium. With them mounted in the ceiling it frees up some back wall space to potentially mount something, like maybe some dosing pumps down the road.

View of the stand and aquarium. I think it’s roughly 80 gallons in the display and 20 in the sump. Setting it up as a peninsula

Thanks for any feedback. Just hoping for some reassurance that I am on the right track here before I cross the point of no easy return with glueing it all up

Daz_1978 · Oct 15, 2024

Check out "Bean Animal" pluming for inside the overflow box. Very quiet, but you can always do this later. What you have may be quiet enough for you.
I don't glue anything inside of the overflow box. You'll need to clean it periodically or may want to tweak or change it. That looks like the same overflow box that I have... A "Bean Animal" will barely fit inside of it, if you use "Street L's" instead of regular PVC 90's.

I'd suggest adding:
1. A check valve in the 1" line coming off of the supply pump... or 2 check valves in the 3/4" lines after the 1".
2. A shut off valve in the 1" line coming off of the supply pump... or 2 shut off valves in the 3/4" lines after the 1". (Place these between the check valves and the display tank ports)

Without the check valves, your supply lines will drain water back into the sump... until the water in the display is below the supply holes. It'll potentially (probably) overflow the sump.
The shut off valves should be after the check valves. This will be helpful if you ever need to replace the check valves. The shut off valves will also be amazing, if the check valves cause "water hammer" in the lines.

As far as future proofing:
Who knows what the future holds, or if the future proofing will be in the right place? As long as you have one unused valve that you can attach to later on, you'll probably be just fine. PVC is easy enough to modify, we're only guarding against working in that cramped little space in reality.

SnowyFox · Oct 15, 2024

Daz_1978 said:
Check out "Bean Animal" pluming for inside the overflow box. Very quiet, but you can always do this later. What you have may be quiet enough for you.
I don't glue anything inside of the overflow box. You'll need to clean it periodically or may want to tweak or change it. That looks like the same overflow box that I have... A "Bean Animal" will barely fit inside of it, if you use "Street L's" instead of regular PVC 90's.

I'd suggest adding:
1. A check valve in the 1" line coming off of the supply pump... or 2 check valves in the 3/4" lines after the 1".
2. A shut off valve in the 1" line coming off of the supply pump... or 2 shut off valves in the 3/4" lines after the 1". (Place these between the check valves and the display tank ports)

Without the check valves, your supply lines will drain water back into the sump... until the water in the display is below the supply holes. It'll potentially (probably) overflow the sump.
The shut off valves should be after the check valves. This will be helpful if you ever need to replace the check valves. The shut off valves will also be amazing, if the check valves cause "water hammer" in the lines.

As far as future proofing:
Who knows what the future holds, or if the future proofing will be in the right place? As long as you have one unused valve that you can attach to later on, you'll probably be just fine. PVC is easy enough to modify, we're only guarding against working in that cramped little space in reality.

Thanks, I am painfully familiar with the syphon issues on the return lines. I ran a sump on a large 120 gallon freshwater aquarium for years, and caused a few floods from that. The solution I used before was to just place the outputs of the locline sprayers to be right at the water line, so as soon the water level started to drop it would break the syphon. I think I also drilled a small hole on the bottom of the locline as well to act as a syphon break. Back when I was setting up my freshwater tank many years ago, I was under the impression that check valves can fail over time if they aren't properly maintained, and they also can reduce the amount of flow in the system, so I just tried to design around them.

The bean animal style of overflow plumbing is what I was planning to use. I have a U i can swap out in the box, I just thought I would try to experiment with creating a bell-mouth spillway design like what a lot of large dams use just to see if it would work or not. The thought behind it was that there is a much larger surface area for the water in the box to spill over that is evenly distributed around the full circumference of the pipe. The typical upside down U has it all concentrated on a single side.

I've also got 1" shut off valves on the return lines already just before they reduce down to 3/4", so we are definitely on the same page there.

For future expansion, I was thinking of a UV sterilizer at some point down the road

SnowyFox · Oct 15, 2024

This is a better view of the back side. Waiting on the second 1” valve to arrive to finish building the second return line.

PharmrJohn · Oct 15, 2024

When I build my sump and install plumbing, I'll have ball valves (or a facsimile thereof) on all outgoing and incoming piping. I know there are other fittings than ball valves that are better, I just can't remember the names. I've only got concepts at this point as I have not plumbed a sump in 15 years. Also, I'll have the ability to disconnect plumbing so I can remove the sump without getting out the Sawzall. I'll also be able to utilize this feature to add (or subtract) plumbing at my discretion.