External Durso thoughts or suggestions

[Digger]

First of all, great site. Lots of great information.

I was wondering if anyone could comment on some of the fluid dynamics of the attached image for the drain to my sump. It is a fresh water build so no skimming needed and rather than build in an overflow box I thought I could build a screened section at the intake and go with external plumbing.

I envision a Durso design in that I come out of the tank and 90 up to a Tee at the desired water level. Top of the Tee is capped and drilled/tuned and water goes along horizontal before dropping into sump.

My questions are will this work? I am using 1.5" bulkheads that allow me to reduce if necessary. I see the Durso design allowing air in to reduce back pressure which should allow the water level in the tank to be the same as that in the vertical pipes as well as acting as a siphon break.

Return, pump and everything else is golden, just trying to keep as much crap out of the tank as possible. It is a 60 gallon tank with a 55 gallon food grade barrel as a sump. Lots of work still to do there....

Excuse the crude drawing, not an artist.

Thanks,

Digger

 

[mcvicker]

Fluid dynamically it will work, but there are some other issues. Structurely the external pipe will concentrate force at the bulkhead, kind of like a lever, so it would need to be well secured at the top and possibly reinforced. You would miss out on surface skimming, which is important for both salt and fresh water. I would recommend an external overflow box, which can be had for pretty cheap. I have been running one on my tank for a little over 2 years.
-chris

 

[DonW]

I dont know how your filtering the tank but if its at the sump, I would not go that route. The dirtiest water is at the surface, one of the reasons we use overflow boxes.

Don

 

[RandyStacyE]

Not too long ago I decided to consolidate a 55 gal tank (with a sump) and a 38 gal (with a sump) into a 75 gal tank. I definitely wanted to get away from using siphon overflows!

Here's a link to my thread on Reef Central.

It's as simple as it gets and it would appear to take up a lot of space, but it considering the amount of BS that's involved with making an alternative/smaller overflow box ... this gets the job done and will put a smile on your face

Something lime this is worth considering.

 

[kgross]

Fluid dynamically it will work fine, and with it being a fresh water tank, I would not worry about the surface skimming also. Actually I think the water coming off of the bottom would be better to run to your filter, I think it will be dirtier than the water at the top. Now as Chris said if you do not support it very very well, you will break the bulkhead or the tank at the bulkhead that is a pretty long lever to put pressure on the bulkhead. So if you do it, make sure you support the pipe at the top of the tank very very well.

Kim