Plumbing Advice Please

[Stolireef]

I could really use some advice with what should be a simple plumbing problem. I've attached a diagram (not to scale and I'm a terrible artist) that I hope will help with the question.

I have a Geo CA Rx that I am trying to feed off of my return pump. The pump has plenty of pressure and I actually have to dial it back to keep it from overwhelming my overflow.

As you can see from the diagram, I installed a reducing T on my return (3/4" to 1/2") and installed a ball valve. I then made a nipple that allowed me to connect from the 1/2 inch PVC to 1/4" ID tubing designed to feed the reactor. The effluent tube from the reactor to the sump is standard black vinyl airline tubing.

The problem I'm having is that air appears to be getting trapped at the point where I reduced the feed tubing from 1/2" to 1/4" (see the arrow showing 'TRAPPED AIR'). The result is that air is being fed into the reactor and the reactor doesn't seem to be purging it even with the effluent wide open. I really don't have a clue why this is happening.:headwallblue:

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Stolireef]

Here's a picture of where the air pocket occurs.

 

[ngrubich]

Do the joints seem wet at all? As in the spots where the tubing attaches to the reducer fitting and is zip tied?

Just shooting out ideas, but:

- maybe the tubing isn't sealed completely around the nipple. Or that there is a pinhole in the tubing itself.
- maybe not enough water is diverting from the return line itself into the Geo. I'm guessing that the joint is a normal T fitting? You could always try a Y fitting to see if that helps if no one else has a better idea.
- I wonder if there happens to be an air pocket in that 1/2" CA feed line that isn't getting flushed out all the way because of a water flow issue. Is that line at an angle? If appears so from the pic (looks like it is pointing down), and in that case any air pocket should go up and out the return line, so maybe that isn't the case.

 

[Stolireef]

Do the joints seem wet at all? As in the spots where the tubing attaches to the reducer fitting and is zip tied?

Just shooting out ideas, but:

- maybe the tubing isn't sealed completely around the nipple. Or that there is a pinhole in the tubing itself.
- maybe not enough water is diverting from the return line itself into the Geo. I'm guessing that the joint is a normal T fitting? You could always try a Y fitting to see if that helps if no one else has a better idea.
- I wonder if there happens to be an air pocket in that 1/2" CA feed line that isn't getting flushed out all the way because of a water flow issue. Is that line at an angle? If appears so from the pic (looks like it is pointing down), and in that case any air pocket should go up and out the return line, so maybe that isn't the case.

Thanks for the ideas. I've triple checked all of the joints and everything is bone dry. I think I may have fixed the problem by closing the effluent line. That appears to have allowed the water flow to 'catch up' but we'll know in the morning. You are correct that the Ca Rx feed is angled down for precisely this reason.

I probably should have installed another return ball valve after the tees to the fuge and the Ca Rx but unless I have to, I'd rather not cut out all of the plumbing and do it over.

Stay tuned.