Megaflow Won't Stop Flowing! HELP!

[Spike8728]

Ok I'm kinda worried because if the power goes out, and I'm not around for it, I'm gonna have a problem.

I have a 180 gallon Oceanic Megaflow Tank. When I turn the main pump off, the water from the overflows still trickles very slowly into the sump, it doesn't stop. The water in the tank, slowly gets progressively lower. This could be a very big problem. Why won't the water stop?

Basically I have the grey "slinky" (if you will) hoses coming from the bottom of the overflows, attached to 1" pipe that goes horizontally, (basically straight) along a wall, 15ft into another room, that then empties into the sump. This happens twice for the 2 overflows. If anybody has heard of this or has experienced this, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Arthur1]

ok question number one. In the overflow you have a return line and a drain line. On the return line at the top there is a 90 degree pvc elbow, was there a little hole drilled on the underside of it (usually by the manufacturer)? There usually is and this is used as a syphon break. When this is done, and the power is cut to the main pump it introduces air into the return line so that the water should not be able to backflow (syphon) back into the sump. On the returns you have the black flex tubing that the water returns into the tank right? Move them closer to the surface if you want, this will make it so only x amount of water can flow back into the sump if those syphon breaks arent there or aren't working. I won't get into check valves as this will cause an uproar lol. HTH

 

[Blindf8th]

Megaflow drain pipes are notorious for slow drips into the sump, even after the siphon is broken and your return pump is turned off. I have the same issue, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Due to the way the inner "sliding" pipe of the Megaflow drain is designed, water will trickle until your overflow section's water level drops to below this junction where the two pipes are connected. For most people, that's only about two to 4 additional gallons of drip over a period of time; usually 3 or 4 days. If you have the sump "high water line" configured just right, it should be able to handle the drip for a few days with no problem, while the overflow section's water line gets low enough so that water can't seep through anymore.

However, always test this prior to planning an extended trip if you're concerned about an extensive loss of power. Secondly, as I travel quite a bit for work, look into using a full featured Controller that will alarm you via email or txt message in the event of power failure. (double check for battery backup for the Controller of course *grin*)

 

[Spike8728]

I have a ball check valve on the return line from the pump. The water isn't coming from there. It's the drains. Yea, I guess it would have to drip for a long time to actually do something. It's still a pain.

 

[sjm817]

If the overflow is not perfectly sealed to the glass, the water can trickle through. Is it dropping below the level of the teeth?

 

[Blindf8th]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13608587#post13608587 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
If the overflow is not perfectly sealed to the glass, the water can trickle through. Is it dropping below the level of the teeth?

His leak is through the Exit Drain pipe itself, down through to the Sump. That means water that might be leaking from a poor Glass Seal can't be the problem in this case. Water leaks from a bad Glass Seal drips to the bottom of your cabinet. At least, that's how Megaflow's are designed. I have no experience with other brands.

 

[Spike8728]

I use to have the sump underneath the tank, and I didn't have a problem with trickling. When I extended the run, and put the sump into the next room is when I seemed to have a problem, which doesn't make sense.

 

[sjm817]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13608635#post13608635 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blindf8th
His leak is through the Exit Drain pipe itself, down through to the Sump. That means water that might be leaking from a poor Glass Seal can't be the problem in this case. Water leaks from a bad Glass Seal drips to the bottom of your cabinet. At least, that's how Megaflow's are designed. I have no experience with other brands.

I was posting about the seal between the overflow and the tank, not the seal that holds the tank together. If water gets into the overflow from a bad seal, it can go down the overflow pipe.

Any water that gets into the overflow standpipe and runs out the drain has to get into the overflow first.

Spike8728
Is the water level dropping below the teeth in the overflow?

 

[Spike8728]

sjm817, I understand what your saying. But again, I didn't seem to have a problem until I moved everything. But it is very well possible that there is a small leak somewhere. I guess i could turn the main pump off, then pull the drain tubes out of the boxes, let the overflows drain completely into the sump, and see if it stops?

 

[Spike8728]

The water is close to the teeth. I don't think its flowing over. At one point I took the drains and pushed them down to relieve some of the water, then I pulled them back up, the problem still seemed to persist....

 

[sjm817]

It might be easier if you pulled the standpipe out and let the overflow drain. You could look inside and see if there is any sign of water trickling in.

Are you sure its not just water in the long pipe taking a while of fully drain out?

 

[sjm817]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13608839#post13608839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Spike8728
The water is close to the teeth. I don't think its flowing over. At one point I took the drains and pushed them down to relieve some of the water, then I pulled them back up, the problem still seemed to persist....

The norm is for the water to drain to the bottom of the teeth. It should stay there. If you have a leak somewhere that is allowing further draining, the level would drop below the bottom of the teeth.

 

[Spike8728]

Its possible, but why would it take 20-30min to drain? The run isn't that long. Again, I notice the water level in the tank get gradually lower. BUT, heres the thing.....the water trickles out of both overflows, which makes me think it's not a leak...it couldnt be.

 

[sjm817]

That is very odd that it would trickle out of both overflows. There is nothing common between them?

 

[Spike8728]

No, they are both completely separate, they are not linked in any way. I just really noticed this whole thing today while I was working on something, I haven't done extensive research on this problem yet

 

[sjm817]

No matter what, in order the water to go down the drain, it has to get in the overflow first. How is the water getting in there when the pump is off?

 

[Spike8728]

Good question. I guess I'll have to pull standpipes out and see what happens. Thats the next step, which I'm not going to try at this hour.

 

[Spike8728]

Maybe I'll try it tomorrow. Check in, Ill post how it went.

 

[jlaurence32]

If I pull the overflow tubes out of my 125 gal AGA dual megaflow tank and let the water drain from the overflow boxes into the megaflow#4 sump, there is about 1/2" before it overflows. But, then the water is trickling in to the overflows from the main tank thru the overflow seals. It's alot of pressure on the overflow boxes when the tank is full and the overflow boxes are empty, so they will leak. But by the time it takes the small leaks to overflow your sump everything in the tank will be dead anyway.

 

[Spike8728]

Update!

OK, I was messin around with my tank, and decided peered into the left hand overflow for HA-HA's. I noticed that some turbo snails had crawled in there. Upon trying to retrieve them, I noticed a long lost clown fish that I though had died, was still alive and swimming around in there!

So I turned off the main pump, and pushed the drain pipe down in the overflow as far as it could go, this drained some of the water in there. The overflow was now only half full, and yet I noticed movement on the water surface inside the overflow, like there was water trickling in from somewhere.

Upon further investigation, the return pipe in the overflow was leaking at the very top, where the threads for the head are. Hence: Tank Off> Water trying to siphon backwards through the returns> That water leaking into overflows> More water in the sump.