Overflow Help NEED BIGGER

[Pickupman66]

OK.. So I am in need of some major help here. I went and cleaned out my mag drive and actually plumbed it with 3/4" pvc like instructed. HOLY CRAP dats alot of water. My overflow cannot keep up. pump drains the sump in a hurry. so I need an overflow, or a solution. I really want to use this pump to its full potential as I the corals love the flow.

If anyone has an Overflow rated to about 1000gph, please let me know. According to charts I am pushing about 800gph.

 

[crumbletop]

What size plumbing do you have for your drain? The AGA overflows are rated at 600 gph from what I recall. You can flow a mag 9.5 through there, though. You just have to have the plumbing big enough. Try 1.5" pipe for the durso down to the bulkhead (1", I think), and then run 1" pipe from the bulkhead to the sump.

3/4" PVC actually restricts the mags flow. You'd get more if you used 1" (not that you need more ).

At any rate, you could also install a ball valve in line between the return pump and the bulkhead to throttle back the flow, and/or put a Tee in the same location and route some of the flow back to the sump.

 

[crumbletop]

Oh, and something you can try. If you are using a durso, put your finger all the way over the air hole at the top and see if your drain then keeps up. If it starts flushing (water level yo-yoing back and forth) then you may just need to tune the durso air hole. I was able to get my 1" durso + plumbing to work -- but I hear 1.5" is easier and creates less of a problem with pulling air through the drain line (microbubbles)...

Re the water level in the sump, is your display at the point of overflowing when the sump gets close to empty, or is the level not yet above the tippy top of the overflow. IME with the single AGA megaflow, a mag 9.5 will push water up to about the tip top of the slits. If the water level does not get that high, then you might need more water in the system. If that is the case be careful about how much reserve room you leave in your sump, and how you do siphon breaks in your return.

 

[Pickupman66]

I ended up with a ball valve in the return line. just to throttle it back. seems as if it works when I have it aobut 1/2 turned down. according to calculators, I am pushing close to 800gph, so this overflow I have wont handle the full onslaught of the pump. I dont have a durso, I used a different type of silencer for hte overflow. it is off now, so no flow restrictions at all. 1" all the way to the sump.