Tank Journal Archive

[mscott]

Made a bit of an edit to the plumbing, i am now using both of the drilled holes to run water down into the sump, the up is just a free standing pipe now. I am also thinking of running it without the hood as i think it just makes it look nicer and more open, but i guess i will have to wait for lights before i can make that decision

 

[mscott]

Well after a few minor floods (one a durbrain mistake of my own) I can say that the tank is comfortably running its two down pipes and one up. It is also running relatively silent in comparison to what it was before (a small fan on level 3 is about twice as loud).

 

[mscott]

Well now i have my 2 downs, I've encountered a slight annoyance, it seams that i have created 2 full siphons to these, now this is fine, the annoyance comes when one of them seams to fully drop its siphon, then there is this really loud bubble gurgle sound.
Anyone know why this might be happening??

 

[Buddy]

You need to tune the syphon with a valve. Look up the herbie overflow, I think this is what you have set up.
One pipe is your syphon and the other pipe (a bit taller) is your backup pipe. I tune my syphon so there is just a trickle of water going down the backup pipe.

 

[mscott]

This is what my plumbing is, both of the pipes are running from the pre-drilled holes and bulkheads on the back of the tank.

 

[Buddy]

How does it look inside the tank?
Here is a pic I stole off google. The siphon has the valve on it, you tune it so the water rises just enough to trickle in to the backup pipe. The backup pipe doesnt need a valve.The backup will determine the height of the water in your weir.
If your main syphon ever gets blocked, the backup should turn in to a syphon once its submerged.
(You dont need the extra bit of pipe coming out of the back up elbow. Also just ignore that clear hose)

 

[mscott]

If i add an elbow to either one of the pipes, facing either way, it overflows, Neither or them have anything on the inside, just a bit of a grate i put there this morning to catch some of the crap in the water

 

[Buddy]

What size pipe and bulkheads are you using?

 

[mscott]

all pipes are 1", both bulkheads are 1" as well. The pipe pumping up is 1" but i do have a ball valve i can use if i must (it makes the pump humm if its on too tightly, on a sidenote of humming, does anyone have any ideas on how to quell the slight buzz/humm from the skimmer??) the fitting for the pump was actually a 32mm instead of a 25, so i had to scale that back down already.

 

[Buddy]

Oh I just noticed. The syphon needs to be air tight, you need to put a sealed cap on the pipe ;)
You can leave the air pipe on the backup to keep the noise down but it wont turn in to a syphon if your main syphon gets blocked.

Also your valve goes on the syphon pipe.

 

[mscott]

rigggghhhhttt, so i need to replace the cap on the back and pretty much do what I've done to them to the pipe im turning into the syphon?

 

[Buddy]

Take the air pipe out and block the hole with your finger for a minute, you should feel the hole sucking against your finger and it will create a syphon as soon as all the air is purged out of the pipe.

 

[mscott]

Check that is what happens, however it also makes it quite loud

 

[Buddy]

Maybe its still purging all the air, a syphon should be silent.

 

[mscott]

Hummm, i might have a better look into it when im draining it to replace the freshwater with salt water

 

[Buddy]

Let me know if you want me to drop in and give a hand.

 

[mscott]

No worries, well im not sure where im getting my water from or anything like that yet, so if it ends up being someone from here i might try and make a day of it and you can all help me with the scapeing as well

 

[mscott]

Edited the hood so it sits a bit higher, i like it a lot more than before!

 

[joey13]

Hey man,

Have you glued alll those fittings with PVC glue? If not, I would strongly suggest you do! Recipie for disaster otherwise IMO.

Looks good otherwise!

Cheers, Joey.
:)

 

[mscott]

Hey joey at the moment no as I keep changing the design of it. Once I have something im happy with I'll be gluing them all up