I didn't think of this problem.....

[Vinman75]

A rebuild of a 55 gallon FOWLR tank and I have a self made 20 gallon long sump underneath that I fashioned from reading Melevreef webiste with the baffles and the different comparments and all. I used to have a hang on the back crappy skimmer and I got a reef Octopus and I drilled the tank with a kit from gl**************s and got a 700gph box for the overflow. All is done and installed. Here is my issue:

I have the 700ghp overflow box going down into the sump and will be going through the baffles and going to the return pump section of the tank. I was going to use a Eheim 1060 pump that I had gotten real cheap used from a friend. When I filled up the tank and got everything started today. I think the Eheim 1060 might be too powerful as it would drain the water in the return section (which is small) and almost run dry as the water was not moving fast enough from the tank down to the sump again. Can this be true? I couldn't find the flow rate for the Eheim but I wasn't expecting it to be so powerful and also due to the fact that it is 4 feet below the tank? Any thoughts on what to do?

 

[reefstarter]

install a ball valve in line and tune the pump to your specs . can never have too much outflow , too little on the suction side will cause the pump to cavitate and eventually fail

 

[Vinman75]

Sorry for my ignorance but, I don't want to act like I don't understand something if I am not sure. What exactly is a ball valve or what does it do? And I assume you mean to put it in the line between the return pump and the spout that returns the water in the display tank?

2nd, by cavitate, you mean run dry. i.e. the pump sucks the water out of the sump and then runs dry and burns the sump so that it fails? Am I on the same page?

 

[BrianMac]

A ball valve is used to restrict the flow of water from the pump to the aquarium. The valve is placed between the output of the pump and the aquarium

 

[cilyjr]

That pump is only a 600 gph pump. You likely don't have enough water in your system. Did you account for water in the plumbing?

 

[JohnK]

Second that ^.

How full was the sump before you turned the pump on? Also was the display filled right to the teeth on the overflow, or was the water a half inch or inch below?

If anything fill the display until water starts to trickle down the overflow, then slowly keep adding water until the sump is @ 1" from overflowing - then turn the pump on.

 

[ro_nicu]

with the pump turned off you want the sump to be somewhat full. when the pump turns on the sump level will drop and the tank level will rise, the water will start going over the overflow and flow in back in the sump. depending on the overflow the desired flow might only be achiever once the DT level rises by something like almost 1/2 inch. the water level in the sump will drop a little more than according to (takes some water to fill the plumbing)
Water drop in Sump = (sqftDT/sqftSump)xLevelRise in the DT
mark your sump level with pump on and off so you know how much to top off without messing up. if you top off too much you run the risk of flooding when the pump turns off for some reason, if you don't top off enough you will be pumping back a mix of bubbles, not good either.

 

[s_kelley]

^
What they said.

 

[Bobbofin]

I have that same overflow. It will handle the that flow easily. Have you reduced the line down line from 1-1/2" to 1". AI 1" line will only handle 300gph. I reduced my line down to 1" because I only have a Sicce 1.5 357gph pump, with head maybe 225gph. I only do 3-5x tank volume through the sump then rely on power heads in tank for remaining flow. Saving on electricity.

 

[reefstarter]

Cavitation is more of a "skip " in the pump , but yes its sort of means running dry but only for a second or 2 . tottally running dry is obviously very bad . some pumps can do it but not too many . and those are called "hose " pumps . I won't go in to detail on those since none of us would ever use them , although I bet they would make a nice wave action out of return lol

 

[Vinman75]

Thank you everyone for your help. I got the right water level and everything is working now. Thanks again. Only issue I am having is the overflow box from gl**************s is so friggin loud. Sounds like water going down the drain. I am going to have to write or call them. It is kind of ridiculous. Not sure it is a water level issue but it is very loud and water dropping into the box or something??

 

[Vinman75]

Am I wrong to be using the black cover thing on the overflow box? Maybe I should just be using the black wire film type stuff and keep the cover off the box. It down't fit write and I think the noise is from the water running off the cover and into the box and then going down the drain spout. Any thoughts?

 

[ro_nicu]

The pipe going down is not at full siphon hence the noise. Put a valve on it or look into other options, plenty of ways to achieve that, Google is your friend on this one.

 

[JohnK]

Don't put a valve on a drain unless you have a second back up drain. Using a valve works great - until the first snail, chunk of algae, or anything gets drawn into the valve and causes a flood.

Use the plastic wire mesh stuff to disrupt the flow pattern in the overflow box to reduce the noise a bit. Keep the cover on the box as it will contain a bit of the noise. Next, if it's still annoyingly loud, try adjusting the drain pipe so that it's at a bit of an angle so that air can rise out easily and water slide along the side of the pipe. If it's still loud, try searching for "reverse duroso" to add on the sump end of the drain.

 

[Vinman75]

Yes. After posting the last two posts I went online and read about the mesh thing. I am doing that and it seems to have cut down the noise quite abit. Thanks again!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

E-mail glass-holes and they will send you some enkamat (large spaced nylon mesh) to cram in the overflow and quiet the sucker down. It makes a heck of a difference in noise level but doesn't impede water flow. Also prevents critters from creeping down the drain.