Help with overflow drain

Coasterfrk

New member
This is a newer (to me) setup, The tank drains down through the floor to a basement sump it has a 3/4 return to the bulkhead, then 1" return in the overflow (the way I got it) and then a 1" drain, due to the tanks location the drain line has a union and 4 - 45 degree turns in it, but generally is straight down to the basement. the turns are necessary to get around some supporting structures but the slope is never less than 45 from vertical. The problem Im having is the overflow has the overflow in an overflow where it takes water from the bottom of the overflow too, I do not have enough return water coming in to get the water to go over the upper teeth (which are badly damaged although unrelated, working to get them fixed) the drain is rather noisey and doesn't seem to keep up, The water level seems higher on the doors than it should be to me, if I restrict the airflow into the doors even slightly it starts siphoning and any less doesn't seem to do anything either, I don't have enough room in the overflow to turn it into a herbie. any advice?

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seems like there's not enough turnover, i.e. your return pump isn't powerful enough for pumping the water 12' or so of head.

Or, your sump water level is too low as well.

If the drain was imbalanced compared to the inflow you'd have overflowing issues.
 
I have a dc adjustable pump, when I turn it up high enough to get the overflow to work properly the drain doesn't keep up, sorry I missed that detail above

In some of my own reading I read I should have a 1.25" doors going into the 1" drain, does that matter?
 
This is what I don't like about "Reef ready" tanks. You're bound 100% by the single drain overflow.

It seems like it should be set to siphon and in that case you need to turn the return pump up.
 
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