Q: overflow not catching up to return all of a sudden?

[newenglandreef]

I have a 75G reef ready, never had a problem with this before.

All of a sudden, my return is pushing too much water for my overflow to catch up. Check the lines, no clogs in the return, anywhere? Anyone had this happen? Doesn't matter how much water I add, it keeps emptying the sump.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Stan

 

[jason401]

Do you have any kind of valve on the pump side you can tune down a bit?

 

[P-Nut]

This happened to me once. I never found what happened.

Is your tubing broken somewhere?

 

[newenglandreef]

Not a single valve, but now it started catching up. I took a coat hanger and cleared out the drain--but, I didn't see anything flow through the clear tubing below. Complete mystery, but it's working now...?

Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[wrassefan]

if you have a bean, you should be able to run the volume high in the box. I have the herbie and every now and then, I open the valve up completely and flush the drain.

 

[bdaley]

your pipes might be blocked with something, I have had to removes snails before when it happens to me.

 

[Dekon]

Check the little slots in the overflow, maybe something is blocking them. When I do a water change, I take an old toothbrush and scrub them out just to be safe.

 

[MikeG]

As others have said, check the line like it seems you have. Checking any teeth in the overflow is anothergood idea. Last thig I wuld mntion is if there are any vent holes in the top of the drian pipe. If there is and this gets out of adjustment it can spped up andalso slow down your flow.