findingnemo2
New member
I am in the process of uploading pictures!! Takes a minute, but they'll be up soon, I promise.
Lots of time and money wasted- HELP!!
- Thread starter findingnemo2
- Start date
findingnemo2
New member
PICTURES ARE UP
PICTURES ARE UP
OKAY I PUT THE PICTURES UP..YOU CAN SEE THEM AT MY GALLERY. THEY ARE IN ORDER, BUT YOU HAVE TO GO TO PAGE TWO AND WORK YOUR WAY BACK. THANKS SO MUCH!
PICTURES ARE UP
OKAY I PUT THE PICTURES UP..YOU CAN SEE THEM AT MY GALLERY. THEY ARE IN ORDER, BUT YOU HAVE TO GO TO PAGE TWO AND WORK YOUR WAY BACK. THANKS SO MUCH!
findingnemo2
New member
Mine is not an older one, its new and no air is trapped.
findingnemo2
New member
That makes sense. We will try to find flex that will go up into the fitting on the out part of the overflow. Is this glued just like the pvc fittings?
crsswift70
Active member
Can you explain your pump return plumbing? What is that pipe coming down back in to the sump?
crsswift70
Active member
Just in case i miss the answer, i don't have that plumbing method in my return. I just have a straight shot to the tank with a ball valve in-line. The water that makes it back to the tank, can go down the overflow. That is what keeps the equilibrium in my system. You turn down the return flow, which only allows a certain amount of water in to the tank that spills in to the overflow.
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
I skimmed parts of this, so if this is a repeat....
First off, even though your overflow is rated for 1200 GPH, there is no way it will ever be able to handle that much. I would guess it will be able to handle around 1000. There is only one overflow box that in my experience that will actually handle what it is rated for, and that is a LifeReef one.
Your best bet is to have a ball valve AFTER the Mag, just play with turning it down until they are matched.
You can see in the following picture the blue ball valve that is after my external pump is turned down a bit to match my overflow.
(( the black one before the pump is wide open and is only there for when I clean the pump ))
First off, even though your overflow is rated for 1200 GPH, there is no way it will ever be able to handle that much. I would guess it will be able to handle around 1000. There is only one overflow box that in my experience that will actually handle what it is rated for, and that is a LifeReef one.
Your best bet is to have a ball valve AFTER the Mag, just play with turning it down until they are matched.
You can see in the following picture the blue ball valve that is after my external pump is turned down a bit to match my overflow.
(( the black one before the pump is wide open and is only there for when I clean the pump ))
findingnemo2
New member
I can try to explain. That is what my son put on for the excess to bleed water back into the sump.
crsswift70
Active member
so.. the overflow goes directly in to your skimmer as well? Then the water is pulled out of the skimmer by the small pump in the sump? Forgive me, but that doesn't look right. I however have an in sump skimmer so i could just be confused. It looks like that would totally restrict your drains flow rate. I'm also very skeptical of the return method of flow control. Did you see that somewhere else?
findingnemo2
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12919349#post12919349 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
I skimmed parts of this, so if this is a repeat....
First off, even though your overflow is rated for 1200 GPH, there is no way it will ever be able to handle that much. I would guess it will be able to handle around 1000. There is only one overflow box that in my experience that will actually handle what it is rated for, and that is a LifeReef one.
Your best bet is to have a ball valve AFTER the Mag, just play with turning it down until they are matched.
You can see in the following picture the blue ball valve that is after my external pump is turned down a bit to match my overflow.
(( the black one before the pump is wide open and is only there for when I clean the pump ))
No, you didn't repeat...just reinforcedSo adding a ball valve after the Mag on the return side will not cause the pump to burn out?
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12919391#post12919391 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by findingnemo2
No, you didn't repeat...just reinforced
Not at all, the pump in my picture is over 6 years old and has been running that way since day one.
The pump will just see it as addition head pressure.
findingnemo2
New member
No, the small pump in the first section of my sump feeds the skimmer, the skimmer puts water back into this section. The overflow is not fed directly to the skimmer. It works basically the same as an in sump skimmer, except externally, I have more room in the sump.
crsswift70
Active member
No, it's the inflow to the pump you can't restrict.
findingnemo2
New member
:rollface: Starting to breathe a sigh of relief here...
So, my son is confused about this? (Hopefully, wishfully, surely) lol!
I think I just looked at your pictures. Do I see you having the drain from your overflow joining with a tee and continuing with 1 inch PVC? That is your bottle neck. The two 1 inch bulkheads should each be 1 inch (or bigger) all the way to your sump seperately. You can not drain more then 5-600 gph through 1 inch pipe.
crsswift70
Active member
My apologies, i see how the skimmer is working now. I couldn't tell where the gray pipe was going. I agree that both pipes running separately will give you more flow, i however do have a valve in my drain plumbing as it controls the siphon rate in my Herbie style drain.
my return plumbing
my return plumbing
findingnemo2
New member
Thank you all for your responses! You have all helped me to breathe again! I will try to go with a valve after my Mag on the return, and hopefully all will be perfect! If not, I will try to seperate the overflow drain lines. I will keep everyone updated. Thanks again, my Reef Central friends!
