New tank, first fill.

[col]

Hi all, haven't been here for a while.

Just filled up new 48 x 18 x 24 with 20g (or so) sump, drilled top left corner for overflow.

First mistake, put weir too high and brace bars showing. It is a triangular weir over 32mm hole.

Tested with Eheim 1260 (2280 ltr/h) and the following happened:

The water in the return partition quickly ran dry so I put it in a bigger compartment to stop this. BUT, the water height in the main tank is too high and the overflow struggling to keep up.

Turned the tap on the return down (wouldn't run a pump like this permanently) and it solved it, water on overflow hole about half full and no gurgling etc. The problem being not much surface agitation. Also the water in the return section did not drain away.

That would lead me to think a smaller return pump is needed. Does it matter how slowly the water runs thru the sump, just going to be equipment in there for now? Other than surface agitation is there a problem with doing this.

Anyone else have brace bars showing? I can drop weir height of course.

 

[Craig Lambert]

You only need to turn the tank 4-5 times per hour through the sump. Sounds like you have a 75G tank, in which case 450GPH, would be just fine. That is plenty, it will run quieter, and help reduce any microbubbles returning to the tank.

 

[elephen]

What kind of pump are you using for the return?

 

[Sindjin]

I installed a "T" off of my return line and ran another pipe back into the sump. I also had a ball valve on that line. That way I could throttle back the pump and not damage it... some water went back into the tank, some back into the sump.

 

[col]

Eheim 1260 (2400 l/h), I have borrowed it to try out.

So it's not that far off - 450 x 4.54 = 2043 l/h

 

[col]

On the other hand:

75 x 4 (turnover per hour) = 300. 300x 4.54 = 1362 l/h

That's almost half of Eheim 1260.