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Newbie making first wet dry DIY

4K views 24 replies 4 participants last post by  bearwithfish 
#1 ·
Making my first wet dry filter for my 100gallon. can i restrict the flow of a 1000gph with a ball valve?
 
#4 ·
1st when choking back a pump be sure to have a T off that goes back to the other side of the wet/dry this is where the ball valve will go and you regulate flow there if you dont use this the pump will burn out rather fast (about 1/2 its normal life if not faster)
2nd are you looking to make a PVC overflow or a box type? if you Google it or search youtube you will find a lot of great step by step vids... but be careful as some of those need modifications that they did not show... for example the PVC overflows need a check valve installed at the top of the bend over the wall i neglected this step in mine (before changing designs) and it kept failing
 
#10 ·
what i have seen (again i do not use this so any one with experience please jump in here) drill a hole to fit the valve and ten super glue it in adding some silicone for added barrier... be sure that it is set to flow away from the PVC to let air out... not let air in or you will be sure to have issues
 
#12 ·
not so while superglue is a great bonding agent it is not permanent on PVC.. interestingly on PVC it will hold until a certain amount of pressure is applied then is will cleanly snap off... very odd but has worked on other PVC projects i have used it for...
 
#13 ·
i think my siphon sucks. i have have a piece of 3 inch abs that acts as an over flow. in side of in there is a 1.5 inch pvc that goes outside of the tank with two 90 elbows and goes straight down to the sump. I haven't filled the tank completely up so maybe there isn't enough water in the over flow to create a suction... i have an air line on top of the 90 elbows to prime it. i decided against the check valve. probably be a mistake but time will tell. the air lone is long enough i'll put it in the sater to keep the pressure.
 
#16 ·
ok i see a few issues with this design
1st you would need to be sure that the siphon lines run into the over flow box and are actually under the water.. the movement of the water will draw off any air trapped up in the pipe itself... now that said with out a clear pipe on top its a lot of guess work to be sure te whole pipe is full
2nd (and the reason i would be most worried) as i watched that section the overflow in side the tank was creating a great deal of splash this brings a lot of air (bubbles) so you will likely have a lot of traffic in those air lines up top..

its workable but needs to be tweeked a a bit... perhaps drilling into the lower part of the over the wall pipes and inserting the air line there would creat enough drag to keep things flowing? hmmmm thoughts?
 
#18 ·
for that design i would say yes but we are dealing with a somewhat different set up.... i think its workable .. is there any way to contact the maker of the vid to ask for either more details or even a vid on how to make it?
other wise either google DIY overflow plans or you can youtube for that also to see some great builds and even get written plans free
 
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