90 Gallon Build Thread

Looks great Sparky, but my only concern is that ball valve before the T. How are you going to get the flow to make a 90 deg to supply water to the other pipe. Shouldnt the ball valve go after the T? Luna

 

Hey Luna. That ball valve is only there to shut the overflow off when doing maintenance. During normal operation it'll be kept wide open. If it were after the T, then it wouldn't serve its purpose.

 

Thanks Tangster. I'm a bit hard headed. I suppose I need to make mistakes to experience where I went wrong. As I mentioned, I'll be testing it out to find the water level in the return chamber so I can have the sump drilled for the float valve. Since the test run will be freshwater, and I used unions, it won't be anything to swap it around. If it's at all noisy, I'll employ the J's.

 

Yes well thats the way of the world Fluids like Gases and as you know electricity current all move i way's that have been dictated long before we where around But never glue anything in this methoed below the sump tanks rim.

 

So I decided to go with the "J" method for the overflows. The plumbing is done, and I've been filling the 90G with RO/DI water since yesterday. I should have it filled in a few hours, and then I'll attach the return pump to the center ass'y and see what's what. Here are some pics:

 

Great pics Sparky, but I still dont understand how you expect the water to flow to the "extension" pipe? The horizontal pipe with the second J ? Luna

 

Luna, it's just an alternate path for the water to flow. Like Tangster was saying, liquid, gasses, electricity even; if there's an alternate path, it will be utilized.

When the descending water comes to that junction, the back pressure will force some of the water off to the side and into the horizontal pipe. Because the pipe is horizontal, it's going to offer more resistance, but that's exactly what I want--so the 'fuge side gets less flow.

Maybe Tangster or someone else can express it better than I can. It will work, though.

 

I agree with Luna. I'd have 2 more ball valves. One after the T going to the fuge, and the other after the T going to the skimmer side.
By all means keep the top ball valve there for maintenance shut-offs, actually, I'd put them above the unions if I were you. That way you can shut off the bulk-heads and still disconnect the piping below the union.

 

Plz keep me posted b/c it doesnt make any sense to me, but then again, Im not the sharpest knife in the draw. lol Thats why I suggested on placing a ball valve after the T so by closing the valve a little, that will force some water to the refug side. Luna

Oh I get it now, the back draft from the J . I got it now. The knife just got sharper lmao

 

nice work! i didn't get how the water would end up on the right{facing tank}side myself, looks like i learned something today to!, you've got me wanting to hard plumb mine now.