Overflow Help

Snowsrfr

Snowsrfr

New member
O.K., it's been a while since I've had a tank with an overflow, so I'm trying to remember how to contend with all the issues I've had in the past.

I have a rimless tank, so my goal is to keep the water line 3/4-1" below lip due to my MP10's wave action.

My issue is that whenever I turn off my return pump, the water level in the tank/overflow rise and stay that way even after the pump is turned back on. Then my ATO kicks in to raise the water level in the sump. Now I either have to drain some water from display so I don't get water splashing over the sides from the waves, or turn my MP10's wave down. Even then the water level is still higher than when I started before. The water level in the over also is over the durso part of the overflow too.

What am I doing wrong? What can I do to eliminate this problem?
 
My issue is that whenever I turn off my return pump, the water level in the tank/overflow rise
Click to expand...

Not sure how this is even possible? You have just defied gravity! Can you post some pictures so we can all see what is going on.

When you switch off your return pump, the water from your DT should drain into your sump, therefore rising the level in your sump. Your ATO should not turn on if the level in the sump rises.

As I said, post some pictures of your overflow and sump.
 
You'll have to excuse my horrible explanation. Pain meds for a broken wrist, make for a foggy head.

What I'm trying to say is basically when I turn the pump back on the overflow doesn't seem to be keeping up with the return pump. Thus the water level in the tank rises, sump level decreases and then the ATO kicks in to compensate in the sump.

Maybe I need to throttle back my return and turn off my ATO when initially turning the return pump back on?
 
Snowsrfr said:
You'll have to excuse my horrible explanation. Pain meds for a broken wrist, make for a foggy head.

What I'm trying to say is basically when I turn the pump back on the overflow doesn't seem to be keeping up with the return pump. Thus the water level in the tank rises, sump level decreases and then the ATO kicks in to compensate in the sump.

Maybe I need to throttle back my return and turn off my ATO when initially turning the return pump back on?
Click to expand...

Having the overflow not being able to keep up with the pump is a serious problem. The rule I've heard to follow is to keep the overflow capacity at 25% over pump ability to avoid floods. If you'd matched it, something could get stuck in the overflow, and you have a flood. My suggestion is to either turn down the pump output or somehow increase the overflow capacity.
 
TripleT said:
Who built the durso? Got a pic?

What return pump are you using? What GPH?

What size tank?
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C.A.D Lighting built the durso, for the 50 G cube.

I'm using a Rio 14HF. It was a pump that I had and figured would work out fine. Have to look up the exact GPH....
 
strike2867 said:
Having the overflow not being able to keep up with the pump is a serious problem. The rule I've heard to follow is to keep the overflow capacity at 25% over pump ability to avoid floods. If you'd matched it, something could get stuck in the overflow, and you have a flood. My suggestion is to either turn down the pump output or somehow increase the overflow capacity.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I kinda knew that going into this, but just thought the overflow could keep up with the pump. I think my best bet is to throttle back the pump or just get a lower GPH one.
 
According to what I've found the Rio 14HF puts out 840 GPH.....C.A.D claims the overflow rating of the 50G Artisan is 1000 GPH......
 
Snowsrfr said:
Thanks for the info. I kinda knew that going into this, but just thought the overflow could keep up with the pump. I think my best bet is to throttle back the pump or just get a lower GPH one.
Click to expand...

No problem. Something else you can do instead of throttling it back, is to plumb some of the water to go back into the sump instead of the tank. If you do this, let me know how it works out, I've been looking to switch over to this method over throttling back my pump.
 
strike2867 said:
No problem. Something else you can do instead of throttling it back, is to plumb some of the water to go back into the sump instead of the tank. If you do this, let me know how it works out, I've been looking to switch over to this method over throttling back my pump.
Click to expand...

I'm actually currently doing that. I'm feeding my fuge off my return. I bumped up the flow from the return to the fuge the bit so we'll see how that works out.
 
strike2867 said:
Is that a good source? I have 10x as was told to me by a trusted LFS.
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10x was probably for total system flow. Which would mean return pump + powerheads + closed loop.

Flow through your sump can be slower. This can help the effectiveness of a fuge, save energy, prevent overflows from overflowing, reduce noise, kill less pods (should they be in your sump), increase the effectiveness of chemical filtration, etc.

10x total system flow is okay for a fish only system. Reef tanks are typically maintained at higher GPH's. And this is often accomplished by adding powerheads or a closed loop, rather than a larger return pump.
 
TripleT said:
10x was probably for total system flow. Which would mean return pump + powerheads + closed loop.

Flow through your sump can be slower. This can help the effectiveness of a fuge, save energy, prevent overflows from overflowing, reduce noise, kill less pods (should they be in your sump), increase the effectiveness of chemical filtration, etc.

10x total system flow is okay for a fish only system. Reef tanks are typically maintained at higher GPH's. And this is often accomplished by adding powerheads or a closed loop, rather than a larger return pump.
Click to expand...

Do you have a good source for this. I have 9x going through my sump. And roughly 30x inside the display. I do SPS.
 
The thing that has me confused is that if your overflow isn't keeping up with the pump, the tank would eventually have water spilling over the sides, regardless of your ATO kicking in or not. I don't see how it doesn't keep up at start but then somehow catches up?
 
lordofthereef said:
The thing that has me confused is that if your overflow isn't keeping up with the pump, the tank would eventually have water spilling over the sides, regardless of your ATO kicking in or not. I don't see how it doesn't keep up at start but then somehow catches up?
Click to expand...

Because once there is enough weight over the intake, it raises the number of GPH going down.
 
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