Pump is faster than siphon

[sksteph1]

This is the first sump I have tried to set up. I have a 50gallon tank with a 10gallon tank underneath inside the stand as the sump. I'm using a prefilter box with a 1" hose siphon for the feed and the return is a 3/4" hose driven by a Mag Drive 250GPH pump. I only takes a few minutes for the main tank (50 gallon display) to reach the point of overflow. The pump out paces the siphon and then I have to pull the plug on the pump and let the tank drain into the sump. There isn't a speed adjustment on the pump. What can I do to adjust this to reach an appropriate equalibrium and not overflow the main tank?

Please help.

Scott:strooper:

 

[sksteph1]

Answered my own question. I of course kept fiddling around with it, and then remembered that I had jammed the sponge core on the prefilter into the hose. I took it out and the waterflow is now working fine. Dumb 1st timer mistake.

Scott

 

[gregt]

Glad I could help.

Mistakes like that aren't reserved for first timers.

 

[Skipper]

Yeah, take a look at all of the responses in the Top Ten Ways You've Flooded Your House:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/tt/index.htm

This Top Ten received more responses than other other topic so far.

 

[cbrguy]

Answered my own question. I of course kept fiddling around with it, and then remembered that I had jammed the sponge core on the prefilter into the hose. I took it out and the waterflow is now working fine. Dumb 1st timer mistake.

Scott

I just installed my sump yesterday. I had the same question,but I found you can also use a valve to regulate the water coming from the pump too. Just in case you want to leave the sponge.

 

[gregt]

I just installed my sump yesterday. I had the same question,but I found you can also use a valve to regulate the water coming from the pump too. Just in case you want to leave the sponge.

That's very true. It doesn't hurt to throttle a pump back with a ball valve as long as you do it on the OUTPUT side of the pump. Never throttle on the input side.