Home of the Durso Standpipe

For the people with the skills and patience for Do-It-Yourself (DIY)

The Durso Standpipe™ design is perfect for coral reef display, marine fish only, or fresh water aquariums where you need a quieter display tank.  However, there are a few important details that need to be brought up if you plan on making a Durso Standpipe™.

PVC Size to Use

My tank has a 1 inch bulkhead on the bottom glass where the water drains out. For this size hole, I recommend you use 1¼ inch Schedule 26 PVC for the standpipe. I do not recommend 1½ inch PVC as the larger fittings are much harder to fit inside overflow chamber (also called a weir). Secondly, there is no advantage in 1½ inch over 1¼ inch PVC when dealing with a 1 inch bulkhead — the bulkhead is the limiting factor for the amount of water that can drain out.

These instructions assume you will be constructing a standpipe for a 1 inch threaded bulkhead.

To Oversize or Not to Oversize

With 1 inch and smaller bulkheads the standpipe's PVC diameter needs to be larger than the bulkhead to work correctly. I get a lot of e-mail questions on why this is. Honestly, I’m not sure. Typically if you use 1 inch PVC pipe on a 1 inch bulkhead you get poor results. (Some exceptions with smaller low flow tanks.) Take my word on it and use 1¼ inch PVC pipe. For large tanks with 1.5 inch bulkheads and large return pumps however, there does not seem to be any need to oversize the standpipe for larger bulkheads. Bulkheads 1.5 inches and larger can use PVC pipe & fittings that match the size of the bulkhead. (I consider tanks in the 350 gallon and up good candidates for 1.5 inch bulkheads).