findingnemo2
New member
I see exactly what you're talking about now! Sorry that I had a hard time understanding. Thank you very much for your patience. I will certainly do that.
Lots of time and money wasted- HELP!!
- Thread starter findingnemo2
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findingnemo2
New member
Hey everyone, guess what? My son came by last night, and cut the flex hose coming from my over flows off some, (they were too far under the water in the sump) and anyway, you all know how I have been worried that the water was touching the divider glass in the middle of my tank? I got up this morning, and setting there having coffee looking at the tank as I usually do and low and behold, the water is no longer touching the divider! I don't know why or how, it is about where I wanted it to begin with. No other adjustments were done, just him cutting the spa flex hose's off. I had seen meleve advise to someone else on here to have your overflows no deeper than 1 inch under water in the sump. I didn't want to take up a bunch of his time last night so had him to just cut those off and maybe come back today, and work on the other issues. Needless to say, I am tickled pink and amazed and dumb founded.
I am going to try to cut the pump back some today, may wait on him and may not....I feel brave this morning!
See, I have debris floating in the display, very fine almost silt like stuff. I think this is caused from there being too much flow thru the refuge, as it has already been said, my mag 12 may be too strong for my 30 gallon sump. I am thinking maybe it is keeping the sand in there upset but I don't see it floating in the sump. He said well, mama, it would be hard to see as there is no back ground on your sump, which makes sense.
The spa flex he cut off was slimmed up inside really good. I am going to vacuum the return area in the sump out as there is a small amount of silt and a very small amount of sand in there, not a bunch but a little, then refill the sump. Here's hoping this combined slowing the pump down and vacuuming the return of silt and sand combined solves this problem......I hope I hope I hope! I will let you all know how this turned out and if it all of it works out.
I am going to try to cut the pump back some today, may wait on him and may not....I feel brave this morning!
See, I have debris floating in the display, very fine almost silt like stuff. I think this is caused from there being too much flow thru the refuge, as it has already been said, my mag 12 may be too strong for my 30 gallon sump. I am thinking maybe it is keeping the sand in there upset but I don't see it floating in the sump. He said well, mama, it would be hard to see as there is no back ground on your sump, which makes sense.
The spa flex he cut off was slimmed up inside really good. I am going to vacuum the return area in the sump out as there is a small amount of silt and a very small amount of sand in there, not a bunch but a little, then refill the sump. Here's hoping this combined slowing the pump down and vacuuming the return of silt and sand combined solves this problem......I hope I hope I hope! I will let you all know how this turned out and if it all of it works out.
findingnemo2
New member
Remember ya'll, mine is like melevshttp://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/glass/index.html and its like the second picture there. Just wanted to let you all know, just in case......
findingnemo2
New member
Let me try this again http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/sumps/glass/index.html
findingnemo2
New member
My plumbing is a little different, and I have my skimmer out of sump but its basically the same.
findingnemo2
New member
Ok, after much thought, and guessing, I have noticed the overflow box, the part that hangs on top of the tank, the left side of it set jacked up slightly due to the stress from the flex pipe against sump wall, once he cut that off, no more stress....and the box sets flush with tank rim. I never noticed, even with my pictures that is was jacked up slightly on the left side. Knowing there had to be a reason for this water level difference, looked back at some pictures we took, and sure eneough,it was jacked up slightly.
Can anyone help with ideas on the silt issue I am having? I am going to do the clean up of sump return now and see if this helps. Completely open for ideas and suggestions.
Can anyone help with ideas on the silt issue I am having? I am going to do the clean up of sump return now and see if this helps. Completely open for ideas and suggestions.
alextheromanian
New member
would help a whole lot if you took pictures of everything and posted them so people can see for themselves maybe theres a mistake youve made.
sounds tho that the pump is either to strong in which case youd need a valve put in the return line or bigger overflows...
sounds tho that the pump is either to strong in which case youd need a valve put in the return line or bigger overflows...
findingnemo2
New member
findingnemo2
New member
findingnemo2
New member
The above mistery is solved!
findingnemo2
New member
This was taken the next day I believe after it was all up and running, and you can see the silt in it and it still looks this way, even after cleaning the sump and sucking all the fine particles out. As soon as it filled back up, it became cloudy............sigh. My next thing is to put the little white pvc pipes back on the bulk heads inside the over flow box my son took off so the over flow would move more water.
findingnemo2
New member
You can also see by the picture above, the sand has been pushed back where the water tumbles over the bubble trap.
In Melev's photo, the sand is pushed over also. I think you still have too much flow going through there, if it were me I'd slow the return pump down (restrict it with the ball valve) some more.
Alternatively, you could get some heavier grade substrate in there. The stuff you have is pretty fine looking.
Alternatively, you could get some heavier grade substrate in there. The stuff you have is pretty fine looking.
Last edited:
findingnemo2
New member
We redid all plumbing from 1 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch a few days into this project. It did help, but I still had different issues.
1. Water too high in display tank. Cutting off spa flex from the over flow box fixed this, as it seems they were wedged in, which made my overflow box hike up a little on one side. With the spa flex cut, it is only 1 inch under water, its not wedged against the glass bubble divider in sump, overflow box lays flat on rim of tank.
2. Silt in my display tank.
I got up this morning, slowed the pump down, didn't really want to have to do this, wanted all the pumps ump, but I did it, using the ball valve on the return, (the silt in the display tank was the only issue left to tackle.) Low and behold... :eek2: ....no more silt in the display tank!!!! Yay!!!:rollface:
I want to say Thank you all so very very much for helping me and having patience with me! Ya'll were with me from the beginning and helped me thru it all, even when I felt like giving up, ya'll were here to encourage me! Thanks again and hope everyone has a Great Day!!
P.S. I also hope I have no more problems for a long long long long time!
1. Water too high in display tank. Cutting off spa flex from the over flow box fixed this, as it seems they were wedged in, which made my overflow box hike up a little on one side. With the spa flex cut, it is only 1 inch under water, its not wedged against the glass bubble divider in sump, overflow box lays flat on rim of tank.
2. Silt in my display tank.
I got up this morning, slowed the pump down, didn't really want to have to do this, wanted all the pumps ump, but I did it, using the ball valve on the return, (the silt in the display tank was the only issue left to tackle.) Low and behold... :eek2: ....no more silt in the display tank!!!! Yay!!!:rollface:
I want to say Thank you all so very very much for helping me and having patience with me! Ya'll were with me from the beginning and helped me thru it all, even when I felt like giving up, ya'll were here to encourage me! Thanks again and hope everyone has a Great Day!!
P.S. I also hope I have no more problems for a long long long long time!
Everyones Hero
New member
Here's a link that might help you out.
http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml
You're not the only one with headaches setting up your overflow. I made my entire setup by myself & I couldn't figure out why my feed wasn't working right until I started looking at overflow boxes. I realized what my problem was & I'm in the process of fixing it.
For your feed your should probably be using 1" (it's what your overflow is setup for anyway.) If you increase the flow of the feed & reduce the flow of the return it should be a good compromise.
I was using a 1/2" feed & a MJ-1200 return. Had I gone outside to grab a smoke like I wanted to I'd have a flooded bedroom. I stepped down to a MJ-600 & my siphon kept breaking. I was bashing my head against the wall until I realized how an overflow actually worked.
http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml
You're not the only one with headaches setting up your overflow. I made my entire setup by myself & I couldn't figure out why my feed wasn't working right until I started looking at overflow boxes. I realized what my problem was & I'm in the process of fixing it.
For your feed your should probably be using 1" (it's what your overflow is setup for anyway.) If you increase the flow of the feed & reduce the flow of the return it should be a good compromise.
I was using a 1/2" feed & a MJ-1200 return. Had I gone outside to grab a smoke like I wanted to I'd have a flooded bedroom. I stepped down to a MJ-600 & my siphon kept breaking. I was bashing my head against the wall until I realized how an overflow actually worked.
findingnemo2
New member
Thanks for the link. I changed the 1 1/2 inch for returns to 3/4. It seems the perfect size for the velocity I was wanting. Now having issues with one of the U tubes holding water on each end, but not in the middle and no flow running thru. Tried sucking the air out, and it worked, but only for a few minutes and resumed the no flow thing. I am thinking maybe I slowed down the mag 12 too much? Would that be a cause? I read where someone was having this problem and it seems that was the cause,(slowed the pump down too much,) if anyone could and would help I would appreciate it very much. Brenda
P.S. I am back with other problems WAY too soon!
P.S. I am back with other problems WAY too soon!
likemike99
Member
are you talking about about the u tubes in the overflow boxes? if so there might be too many bubbles on your surface, or the tube might be cracked. air has to be getting in somehow. try to watch and see where it is coming from.
findingnemo2
New member
Yes, I was talking about the U tubes in the overflow box. I turned up the mag 12 slightly, and both tubes are flowing water now and no air bubble in at the top of tube like before, so, I am thinking I have corrected this issue or so it seems. Its been several days and it is running fine now, never a syphone break. Thanks everyone!
