Turned of my main pump to feed like always, and when I turned the pump back on heard a siphoning noise. I then unpluged it again to find that bubble algea was growing in the overflow box and a piece broke off and got hung in the ball valve in the overflow pipe. Got lucky this time. Let this be a warning to others. Have a good one.
Near catastrophy! Warning to others.
- Thread starter smokin reefer
- Start date
Look man anything on your tank or mine will eventually clog up. I was just giving everone here heads up to check their siphon holes and such. If I want to know if YOU think its alright to use a ball valve on the overflow I will ASK you for your .02 cents. Later.
smokin reefer":3gncllcx said:
Relax my friend, no offense intended. Hence the winky emoticon.
There have recently been several threads discussing valves of any type on overflow lines, and the general thought is they are a no no. I was just piggy backing on your heads up with a heads up about valves in the drain line.
This board is about sharing our .02 cents, which is why you started this thread in the frist place, and why I added to it. Feel free to ignore my .02 cents, but please don't get upset when I share it.
Have a good one.
RR :mrgreen:
As smokin reefer pointed out, at some point something 'big' is going to go down your tank drain. Putting a valve, and using a valve on your drain reduces the diameter of that drain. When something 'big' goes down the drain and gets caught up on the valve reducing the diameter of the drain you get a flood.
On larger diameter drians, like 2 or 4 inches, this is less of a problem. On anything less than 2 inches I wouldn't risk it, but some people do.
The idea behind using a valve is to reduce the flow down the drain so it makes less noise. While this works, it seems as if you are setting yourself up for an eventual flood - and there are other ways to reduce the noise - use a durso, raise the stand pipe intake, etc.
A gate valve is preferred because you can make more accurate adjustments with it. However, it will restrict the drain the same as a ball valve.
:mrgreen:
On larger diameter drians, like 2 or 4 inches, this is less of a problem. On anything less than 2 inches I wouldn't risk it, but some people do.
The idea behind using a valve is to reduce the flow down the drain so it makes less noise. While this works, it seems as if you are setting yourself up for an eventual flood - and there are other ways to reduce the noise - use a durso, raise the stand pipe intake, etc.
A gate valve is preferred because you can make more accurate adjustments with it. However, it will restrict the drain the same as a ball valve.
:mrgreen:
No kidding, that's a rather large Valonia.
I agree though - I've never used any type of valve on the drain line.
I use 1-1/2" PVC for the drain line, so I'd have to have something pretty big growing in my overflow to ever have to worry.
The top of the overflow is covered with "eggcrate" light diffuser and is held in place by the cap on the Durso pipe. Nothing's getting in there unless it grows there. With almost 1000GPH turnover, not much settles in the overflow 8)
I agree though - I've never used any type of valve on the drain line.
I use 1-1/2" PVC for the drain line, so I'd have to have something pretty big growing in my overflow to ever have to worry.
The top of the overflow is covered with "eggcrate" light diffuser and is held in place by the cap on the Durso pipe. Nothing's getting in there unless it grows there. With almost 1000GPH turnover, not much settles in the overflow 8)
I do have a cap on my drain. The cap has a air tube in the middle to adjust
water flow. My problem is the noise it makes no matter were I ajust it. With out the value I would hear water gushing all the time. By the way can someone explain the differance between gate and ball vaules?
-Kevin
water flow. My problem is the noise it makes no matter were I ajust it. With out the value I would hear water gushing all the time. By the way can someone explain the differance between gate and ball vaules?
-Kevin
ball valve has a ball with a center hole in the middle of the ball. They also have a T shap like handle. Gate Valve has a divider that is raised and lowered via a twist knob (like the ones on the water spicket outside of your house). Gate Valves are easier to make fine adjustments with vice a ball valve.
Attachments
Yeah, I would love to see how you guys have your plumbing set up! My tank just came in and we are doing the plumbing this week. I think I have a good design, but I'm always looking for a better mousetrap :wink:
As far as smokin's initial post in this thread I'm really glad he shared his experience. What do you guys recommend for periodic cleaning of the overflows? Do you have some sort of bong brush or something
(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
As far as smokin's initial post in this thread I'm really glad he shared his experience. What do you guys recommend for periodic cleaning of the overflows? Do you have some sort of bong brush or something
(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Righty,
My setup I bought from Marineland. Its called Jetstream. There web stite is
www.marineland.com. I tried to include some pic's but my picture size's are to big. I will try to make them smaller and include them later. Go to the website to see my setup. Just to let you know I'm not using there tide pool sump I have a Amiracle 350 filter. I'm still wondering if someone can explain to me the differance between gate and ball values.
My setup I bought from Marineland. Its called Jetstream. There web stite is
www.marineland.com. I tried to include some pic's but my picture size's are to big. I will try to make them smaller and include them later. Go to the website to see my setup. Just to let you know I'm not using there tide pool sump I have a Amiracle 350 filter. I'm still wondering if someone can explain to me the differance between gate and ball values.
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