A safe return

Hello my fellow addicts,

I am in the process of building a ~250 gallon Aquarium....72" long x24" wide x30" high. I will be using a ghost overflow with three 2" bulkhead fittings for a bean animal set up. I believe I will need 2 1" returns. I would like to locate the returns as low as is reasonable in the aquarium (say 4" from the bottom) for aesthetic reasons. Each return will have its own pump. What is the smartest/safest way to ensure there will be no back flow when the pumps fail. Is there a recommended check valve? Can redundancy be built in?

thank you for any advice you can provide!!

I use these for my returns on a herbie style overflow, they have a small hole drilled into them right at the water line which acts as a siphon break once the pumps shut down. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Lots of good info in here as well. http://www.beananimal.com/projects/s...ow-system.aspx

The returns on my 230 are routed thru the bulkheads and are piped above the waterline across the top of the tank. One less failure point IMO. A valve failure will send lots of water out of your tank with them four inches from the bottom.
Pat

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Originally Posted by Second Hand Pat

The returns on my 230 are routed thru the bulkheads and are piped above the waterline across the top of the tank. One less failure point IMO. A valve failure will send lots of water out of your tank with them four inches from the bottom.
Pat

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Seconded with Pat any failure will be catastrophic. Why do you want the returns so low? Are you putting them through a bulk head? You can paint PVC or use grey schedule 80. If it is water movement to prevent settling gunk you want then buy 1 or more wavemakers. I often find my discus sleeping 6" away from my 465 gph hydor wavemaker in a 90 gallon tank.

i wanted them low so I could more easily hide them. I am trying to acheive pretty much the impression of a cube of water with fish in it. The ghost overflow runs from the tank thru a wall where the sump etc are in a separate room. Based upon the response it sounds like the risk isn't worth the "look". Ill mount bulheads for returns beside the ghost overflow on either side...a couple inches below the surface.

Im surprised that kind of flow doesn't disturb the discus! Has the hydro wavemaker helped keep things in suspension for an overflow?

thanks!

The lower the return the more water your sump has to be able to handle before siphon break. Bad idea in my mind. Even check valves fail and back leak.

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Originally Posted by Blobfish

i wanted them low so I could more easily hide them. I am trying to acheive pretty much the impression of a cube of water with fish in it. The ghost overflow runs from the tank thru a wall where the sump etc are in a separate room. Based upon the response it sounds like the risk isn't worth the "look". Ill mount bulheads for returns beside the ghost overflow on either side...a couple inches below the surface.

Im surprised that kind of flow doesn't disturb the discus! Has the hydro wavemaker helped keep things in suspension for an overflow?

thanks!

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Why not just put the returns just below the surface ? Why a couple inches down? Can keep them high and would be hidden by the rim of the tank mostly. Also with them just below the surface it's less water to worry about draining intowthe sump