Total Pageviews

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Tank Plumbing

In my fishroom all tanks have at least one bulkhead. Lager tanks have two out the back. The holes a 1 3/4 inches for a one inch bulkhead. The hole is drilled 6 inches in from each end and 4 inches down from the top.
One bulkhead is plumbed to drain so it can be used to empty the tank by rotating the pipe down or as the primary drain if run on a flow through configuration. To make this work as a drain that can siphon the tank empty the plumbing needs to be vent free to below the tank. Just think of it as a siphon tube running through the wall of the tank. If you vent at the bulkhead you can run the intake on the bottom without emptying the tank. Generally I plumb the first way and if I want bottom suction I simply put a tee at the inside of the bulkhead instead of an elbow.
The other bulkhead is plumbed to a central filtration system in a surface skimming configuration. Water is supplied to the tanks via a plumbing manifold with a supply valve at each tank. Water can be from the recirculating system or through a hose for large water exchanges. All tanks have box or sponge filters.