Check valve ?

We have all ours in the verticle position.

The key is not to use the check valves from your hardware store like menards. They have cheap tin springs that saltwater corrodes very quickly.

BRS has the good quality check valves. We have them in the store installed & they did not fail once this summer during the numerous power outages.

 

I wouldnt trust it if it is in a critcal position. Those are for sump pumps, not saltwater.

Here is the one I am talking about

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/1-5-swing-check-valve.html

 

I have one of the ones above in my "box O' stuff" that I got from someone that was getting out. I can check the size for you when I get home. I do believe it is slipxslip. If you want it, just pay shipping and it's yours. Not sure where you are located, but if you can pick up, then obviously no shipping charge. If you throw me an sps frag for it I wouldn't hate you! /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/wink.gif I am in Ames.

 

Are you sure there is no way to design your system so you don't need a check valve? In my experience check valves tend to fail because the rubber gasket in them hardens and fails to seal.

Not to mention the waste of energy they cause by restriction.

If it were me I would look into alternatives and avoid using one all together, relying on them to work every time to prevent a flood is seriously risky.

 

Personally, i would not use a check valve because there is no real reason for having one on a saltwater setup. If your volume of water is too large for your sump and you are dependent on a single mechanichal mechanism, then you should re-think things because you are on a path of failure. Use a valve to cut back flow on your pump if it is too much. Also, i feel that there are too many sessile organisms that secrete and build up calcium skeletons and enclosures that will cause a check valve to fail.

 

I agree with what most others have said...check valves in a reef system are bad.  If you find that the tank is designed in such a way that it requires them, look for a way to re-design things to prevent the need for a check valve.  I look at them the same way as a float valve.  It's not *if* it will fail, it's *when*.
In your situation, you may want to consider moving the return line to a higher location, or using some PVC or locline to move the output of the return to a higher location.  I've attached two 90 degree PVC elbows to a PVC tube in a similar situation and made a spray bar out of the tube.  It raised it up so I don't get back-flow through the spraybar in a power outage.
That being said, there are some cases where you need a check valves.  One is on my biopellet reactor.  I have the early version of the Reef Octopus BioPellet reactor and the water from the pump goes in the top, the water out of the reactor goes out the side.  If the tube on the side is higher than the water level, then as soon as the water has drained to the point where no more can go out the hole on the side, a siphon is formed and it starts back-flowing through the top and right into the pump.  Unfortunately, this happened to me and filled my pump full of biopellets.  Adding a check valve fixed this.
I was pleased to talk to CoralVue at MACNA and hear that they had re-designed their reactor to have an integrated check valve and they offered to send me the parts free.  I would recommend that anyone that has this reactor, contact CoralVue and request the new parts.  I'm waiting on the parts, but I look forward to taking off the external check valve.
If you have to use a check valve, I completely agree with Craig, the ones that BRS sells are best.  They have a clear body so that if there are things building up inside, you can see them.  All plastic construction so you don't have to worry about metal springs degrading.  Finally, they have unions on each end and you can actually reach inside and physically inspect the quality of the seals.  They are a bit expensive, but definitely worth it.
Also, your plumbers were confused.  They said vertical, but they meant horizontal.  Confusion is the only reason why any plumber would tell you not to install a check valve vertically.
--AJ