Marcus,

  Tried to send a PM.  Said your mailbox was too full to receive mail.

http://www.championlighting.com/e/env/0001KR9kJBDwxugSWA9f1c5/Products/Plumbing/plumbing.html?link=/Products/Plumbing/valve.html - http://www.championlighting.com/e/env/0001KR9kJBDwxugSWA9f1c 5/Products/Plumbing/plumbing.html?link=/Products/Plumbing/va lve.html

They have PVC gate valves.

Brass would corrode quickly and it has Copper in it which would kill any inverts.

How is the water getting from the tank to the sump?  In tank overflow, or hang on the tank siphon box? 

Sarnack,

  Thanks for the link.  At least now I know someone make them.

http://www.savko.com/partlist.asp?pgid=1 - http://www.savko.com/partlist.asp?pgid=1  is cheaper for PVC valves.

How big is your return pump (brand/model)?  Sounds like you have a really big return pump if it'll pull away from two 1" drains.

The pump is 1200 gph.  Can't remember the make right of the top of my head.  We have a 225gal tank w/ a 55gal sump/refugium so it does a good job of moving the water.  It pulls away for the drains because I (currently) use ball valves to restrict the amount of water coming out of the drains. (helps reduce the gurgling noise and sets the water level where I want it)  

Thanks for the website.

Sarnack,

Forgot to say thanks for the info on copper in brass.  Something was nagging me about brass and I couldn't figure out what it was.  Our crabs and shrimps thank you also.

You have an Iwaki 40RLXT, if I remember correctly.

PM box is empty now. sorry

Why restrict the drain?  You might as well get the full use out of the pump!  Either open up on the drain valve, or Google for "durso standpipe"  or "stockman standpipe" to get an idea how they work.  They are a DIY drain silencer that will cost you less then $5 to make.  If you need more instruction just ask.  I've got two on my 125 right now and they are absolutely silent!  The pump definatly makes more noise then the drain.

No problem.  The best thing to do to make the overflow silent is make a standpipe to raise the water level in your overflow chamber, so the water falling into it falls a shorter distance.  We did this on Danny's tank and you can't really hear it.  Best part is this is very cheap and easy to do!

The one we did:

http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe_frame.htm - http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe_frame.htm

Another style:

http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe-ken_stockman.htm - http://www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe-ken_stock man.htm

http://home.att.net/~rstockman/overflow.htm - http://home.att.net/~rstockman/overflow.htm

The pump is not restricted (well, just slightly to stop it from making air bubles. thanks again marcus).  I will google the ideas you sent jfinch.  Can never now too much.  The drain is restricted to reduce the distance the water has to drop while going down the return.  If left wide open the returns have more volume than the pump.

Your standpipe plan is excellent Sarnack, but our overflows are literally 2-1" PVC pipes in the center of the tank (spaced at the 1/3 point of the tank) so it won't work for us.  The plan is to place the tank in a wall when we build our retirement home so we wanted to have 360 degree viewing options (since we don't know how it will sit in the house yet).  We pile live rock to hide the returns and no overflow to look at.

Thanks for all the inputs from everyone.  We are still newbies at this and I like hearing ideas and opinions! 

Those of you who have Dursos:  Do air bubbles come out the drain pipe(s)?

The Weimers were having a severe air bubble problem in their tank.  I made some adjustments to the ball valves on their pump and drains to eliminate the bubbles.

The tank that they have has two 1-1/2" stand pipes in the middle of the tank without an overflow.  Yes, just two big pipes right in the middle.  They eventually want to view the tank from both sides if they move again so this was their only option.  Dursos might be a bit big for 1-1/2" pipes and bulky right in the middle of the tank.  But they are always an option.

hmmm.  A duro would work just fine in their setup except it wouldn't be skimming the surface.  Unless a skimmer box is used.  This is the DIY forum, so if it were me I'd make a skimmer box that allowed the drain pipe to go right through the middle of the bottom and put a durso in the box.  But that's just me.  What's it doing right now?  Just an open pipe at the top?  How are snails and stuff kept from being sucked down?

This is the kind of durso that I'm talking about that could be used right in the middle of the tank.  The image on the left is the same as the one on the right only with the outside fitting/pipe slid down so you can see inside.  This could be made on your setup using 3" pipe for the outside.  As marcus says though, it might be a little bulky.  Water level would ride where the coralline ends at the top.

Marcus, here's a picture of the return from my two dursos from a Velocity T4 pump.  It's really not too bad.  Almost any sump would make short work of them.

I like backing up the drains because its silent and makes no bubbles.  It sounds like Dursos do the same thing.  Either way would work great.

Jon, the Dursos that I have seen have the 90s and look like an upside down 'J'.  The way you do it would not be too bulky.  Right now, they have bulkhead screens on the pipes so no large particles or snails get down them.

Thanks for the pics!

I think I've reconsidered dursos for this particular application.  Durso's when first started or restarted (like after a power blink) have a tendancy to pull a full syphon right at first which sucks most of the water out of the overflow box before stablizing.  In a tank without an overflow box the durso might suck out water all the way down to the bottom of the outside pipe (3-6 inches depending).  That might be enough to overflow the sump.  So if you're not installing an overflow box of some sort, I'm not sure a durso would be the best choice.

Actually I did it all on my own... but the idea isn't really orginal, I've seen pictures/desriptions of the same thing elsewhere (stockman drain) and I'm sure he didn't get the idea from me.

(reminds me of when I was 5-6 yrs old and I thought I invented "standing on the swing and swinging" only to find out later that every kid in every neighborhood in town was doing the same thing )

That's almost as good as a lady that I work with that used to jump off her second story roof with a sheet tied to her hands and wrists.  She thought she had invented parachuting.  Her ending didn't turn out as great as the dursos though.  True story.

Jon, I must say that you ARE an inventor in my book!