Help me hook up my 55 gal barrels

[Shawn]

Ok... Now here is the situation. I have successfully ran a 55 gal drum as a filter on my pond, but often had to make minor repairs due to me being cheap.  While I am still cheap,  I decided to at least do this hobby right and begin to correct my mistakes.  Here is what I have to accomplish this feat:

2 55 gal barrels
   -  one with an outlet that supplied my waterfall and another outlet with the watersource, about 1" in diameter top is open
   - the other has not been touched except for cleaned. not even the top cut off..
1 - UV light from Lowes -- 22 watt, not a lot, but was on clearance
2 - 3/4" pipe size, 1.05" pipe o.d., 1 1/4" holesaw size 
2 - 1 1/2" pipe size, 1.90" pipe o.d., 2 1/2" holesaw size
3 - 3" pipe size, 3.50" pipe o.d., 4" holesaw size


My thoughts were to use the 3/4" pipe to make a cleanout at the near bottom of each barrel with an on/off spout. Replace the waterfall hole with a uniseal and then hook the barrels together with the 2 of the three inch uniseals. the water in change over to the 1 1/2" uniseals and the other used to send part of the flow to the UV light.

Now, my question is how should this look. How should the barrels be arranged and where should the pipes go in and out of the barrels. I just don't want to mess this one up. 

I hope to change out the liner (actually use the good stuff!!)...

Anyhow, all ideas are welcomed... (and appreciated!!) 

[Mikey]

Have you checked out John Johns setup for ideas?  http://www.gardenendeavors.com/rack/web8.html

[frloplady]

going with the doing it right idea... Bottom clean out drain in barrel... 2".  Go back to the box store and get a 2" shower drain with the pvc connecter stub on it.  Sometimes they can't be in exact center depending on the seam in the bottom of the barrel.  Needs to be as flat a spot as possible..a bit of knife work can sometimes make the center usable.  1 - 90 elbow and a 2" ball valve for each..voila.  You could plumb both of them into the same line, but they would both still need their own ball valve.  Depends on where you want the waste to go.  All my waste water goes to one pipe off of all my filters on the big pond.  On my smaller q-tanks the water goes everywhichway 

"the water in change over to the 1 1/2" uniseals and the other used to send part of the flow to the UV light."  Sorry..I don't quite understand this one... 
UV light has to be pump fed...  Where is the pump in this set up? 

As to where your 3" pipes need to go in and out of the barrels depends on the type of filter.  USUALLY the water comes in the bottom of the barrel and out the top and in the bottom of the next.  Those would be upflow type filters.

Uniseals are a great item to use to put pipes in barrels!

Mary
\

Ok... Now here is the situation. I have successfully ran a 55 gal drum as a filter on my pond, but often had to make minor repairs due to me being cheap.  While I am still cheap,  I decided to at least do this hobby right and begin to correct my mistakes.  Here is what I have to accomplish this feat:

2 55 gal barrels
   -  one with an outlet that supplied my waterfall and another outlet with the watersource, about 1" in diameter top is open
   - the other has not been touched except for cleaned. not even the top cut off..
1 - UV light from Lowes -- 22 watt, not a lot, but was on clearance
2 - 3/4" pipe size, 1.05" pipe o.d., 1 1/4" holesaw size 
2 - 1 1/2" pipe size, 1.90" pipe o.d., 2 1/2" holesaw size
3 - 3" pipe size, 3.50" pipe o.d., 4" holesaw size


My thoughts were to use the 3/4" pipe to make a cleanout at the near bottom of each barrel with an on/off spout. Replace the waterfall hole with a uniseal and then hook the barrels together with the 2 of the three inch uniseals. the water in change over to the 1 1/2" uniseals and the other used to send part of the flow to the UV light.

Now, my question is how should this look. How should the barrels be arranged and where should the pipes go in and out of the barrels. I just don't want to mess this one up. 

I hope to change out the liner (actually use the good stuff!!)...

Anyhow, all ideas are welcomed... (and appreciated!!) 

[Shawn]

going with the doing it right idea... Bottom clean out drain in barrel... 2".  Go back to the box store and get a 2" shower drain with the pvc connecter stub on it.  Sometimes they can't be in exact center depending on the seam in the bottom of the barrel.  Needs to be as flat a spot as possible..a bit of knife work can sometimes make the center usable.  1 - 90 elbow and a 2" ball valve for each..voila.  You could plumb both of them into the same line, but they would both still need their own ball valve.  Depends on where you want the waste to go.  All my waste water goes to one pipe off of all my filters on the big pond.  On my smaller q-tanks the water goes everywhichway 

Noted. I have a couple bottom drains laying around from previous projects...

"the water in change over to the 1 1/2" uniseals and the other used to send part of the flow to the UV light."  Sorry..I don't quite understand this one... 
UV light has to be pump fed...  Where is the pump in this set up? 

I have re-read several times, don't understand it either!!  As far as the pump, it is a submersible that will be feeding the water into the barrells/UV.

As to where your 3" pipes need to go in and out of the barrels depends on the type of filter.  USUALLY the water comes in the bottom of the barrel and out the top and in the bottom of the next.  Those would be upflow type filters.

K. Sounds good. into Bottom, out top, into bottom, out top. That is what I wanted to confirm...