csb
New member
Been working on the most hellish project I've ever encountered with my tank. Adding a sump to a sumpless tank ... Sounds easy. Turns out, that every step of the way has been a major hassle. 2 weeks later on a 2-day project, here I am and it's still not working.
Ok, so there's some kind of problem with the overflow and I'm out of ideas. Hopefully one of you experts out here can help me troubleshoot it.
Not a drilled tank... overflow is HOB with a siphon tube. It's all DIY ... the overflow is made from 2 "Lee's specimen boxes". The outer box has a durso pipe in it. There's a siphon U-tube between the inner and outer box. The inner box has inlets at the appropriate water level. Pretty standard stuff here, nothing unusual.
The durso, bulkhead, drain pipe, fittings, etc. are all 3/4". Sump has a Mag-5 return pump, feeding 3/4" tubing into a SCWD, then 3/4" tubing on each side of the SCWD back to the tank.
I chose 3/4" for everything because that's what the SCWD needs and that's what the calculator said was the appropriate drain size for the 300 gph flow of the mag5. I also figured that the flow reduction from the SCWD would essentially act as a built-in safety buffer allowing the 3/4" drain to handle the capacity.
THE PROBLEM: (It doesn't work)
So, when I plug in the return pump, the water level in the tank comes up... the siphon tube works and the drain starts flowing. Then, the water level doesn't stop where it's supposed to. It just keeps rising... until it flows over the top of the inner HOB overflow box,and then reaches the top of the tank. At that point, I pull the plug on the return pump and everything drains back down.
After troubleshooting a few things to the best of my knowledge, I'm stumped now and I'm very frustrated with this whole project. I just want the damn sump to work and I'm sick of every hassle, especially now that I my tank isn't fully functional and I'm leaving it with a sitter from Fri-Sun!
MY TROUBLESHOOTING (didn't fix anything)
1. The first thing I suspected was the 1/2" barb fitting at the drain. Originally, the 3/4" bulkhead went into a 1/2" barb fitting, because the 1/2" fitting was much easier to stick on the end of the 3/4" drain tubing. So, I sucked it up and replaced it with a 3/4" barb fitting which sucked to put into the 3/4" tubing, but resulted in an even 3/4" ID drain. SAME PROBLEM - tank still wants to overflow.
2. Next, I suspected that the 3/4" siphon tube perhaps wasn't able to move enough water. So, I threw a second tube in there just as a test. SAME PROBLEM ... tank still wants to overflow.
DRAIN OBSERVATION ... I have an observation about the drain ... the water just seems to flow down about half of the pipe's diameter. The drain pipe does not become 100% full. (durso cap is OFF) ... is the problem perhaps the durso pipe????
I'm out of ideas of where to look next. Help from anyone is greatly appreciated!!!
--csb
Ok, so there's some kind of problem with the overflow and I'm out of ideas. Hopefully one of you experts out here can help me troubleshoot it.
Not a drilled tank... overflow is HOB with a siphon tube. It's all DIY ... the overflow is made from 2 "Lee's specimen boxes". The outer box has a durso pipe in it. There's a siphon U-tube between the inner and outer box. The inner box has inlets at the appropriate water level. Pretty standard stuff here, nothing unusual.
The durso, bulkhead, drain pipe, fittings, etc. are all 3/4". Sump has a Mag-5 return pump, feeding 3/4" tubing into a SCWD, then 3/4" tubing on each side of the SCWD back to the tank.
I chose 3/4" for everything because that's what the SCWD needs and that's what the calculator said was the appropriate drain size for the 300 gph flow of the mag5. I also figured that the flow reduction from the SCWD would essentially act as a built-in safety buffer allowing the 3/4" drain to handle the capacity.
THE PROBLEM: (It doesn't work)
So, when I plug in the return pump, the water level in the tank comes up... the siphon tube works and the drain starts flowing. Then, the water level doesn't stop where it's supposed to. It just keeps rising... until it flows over the top of the inner HOB overflow box,and then reaches the top of the tank. At that point, I pull the plug on the return pump and everything drains back down.
After troubleshooting a few things to the best of my knowledge, I'm stumped now and I'm very frustrated with this whole project. I just want the damn sump to work and I'm sick of every hassle, especially now that I my tank isn't fully functional and I'm leaving it with a sitter from Fri-Sun!
MY TROUBLESHOOTING (didn't fix anything)
1. The first thing I suspected was the 1/2" barb fitting at the drain. Originally, the 3/4" bulkhead went into a 1/2" barb fitting, because the 1/2" fitting was much easier to stick on the end of the 3/4" drain tubing. So, I sucked it up and replaced it with a 3/4" barb fitting which sucked to put into the 3/4" tubing, but resulted in an even 3/4" ID drain. SAME PROBLEM - tank still wants to overflow.
2. Next, I suspected that the 3/4" siphon tube perhaps wasn't able to move enough water. So, I threw a second tube in there just as a test. SAME PROBLEM ... tank still wants to overflow.
DRAIN OBSERVATION ... I have an observation about the drain ... the water just seems to flow down about half of the pipe's diameter. The drain pipe does not become 100% full. (durso cap is OFF) ... is the problem perhaps the durso pipe????
I'm out of ideas of where to look next. Help from anyone is greatly appreciated!!!
--csb
