ryshark
Active member
So water leaks under the bottom of your glass overflow box?
SC Aquariums Owners Thread
- Thread starter OceanWolf
- Start date
So water leaks under the bottom of your glass overflow box?
ReefCowboy
New member
Found my second frustration. The back chamber appear to have a slow leak which allows water to drain into the back chamber and then down to the sump. It's a very slow. Not sire if I'm going to bother trying to fix it. This was how much it dropped overnight:
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Seems like a bulkhead leak, being that the overflow is glued to the rear glass and the only way water can escape from top to bottom is through the three drilled holes, unless Im not quite understanding the issue.
homer1475
New member
I would fix it now. All you would have to do is drain the overflow down to the bulkhead(pull the siphon drain), and reseal the the glass from the inside. Not to hard but it would take a couple days to for the silicone to cure. At least you would know it would never be an issue in the future.
ryshark
Active member
Found my second frustration. The back chamber appear to have a slow leak which allows water to drain into the back chamber and then down to the sump. It's a very slow. Not sire if I'm going to bother trying to fix it. This was how much it dropped overnight:
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I see, so overnight it dropped all the way down to the level of your main drain pipe? I wouldn't call that a slow leak. If water is leaking into the overflow box, I don't think rasing your standpipe is going to help much in the event of a power outage. Unless your main drain was slightly below the water in your tank. I'm sorry, what a rare headache to deal with.
Last edited:
strat1960s
New member
Glad I did a 48 hr leak test in my garage.
If I understand the problem right, water is leaking into the overflow from a source other than the weir. To me that seems like a huge problem. The weir controls how far down the water can enter the overflow from. To me that seems like an uncontrollable source of water, which if anything would cause the sump to overflow.
PFAN, if you let the leak continue, you should be able to find how low on the overflow box the leak is. Once the water gets to the leak, it won't leak past it, unless there are multiple leaks. If the leak goes low enough, it shouldn't leak past the lowest drain pipe. If it were me, I'd still fix it.
Ted
If I understand the problem right, water is leaking into the overflow from a source other than the weir. To me that seems like a huge problem. The weir controls how far down the water can enter the overflow from. To me that seems like an uncontrollable source of water, which if anything would cause the sump to overflow.
PFAN, if you let the leak continue, you should be able to find how low on the overflow box the leak is. Once the water gets to the leak, it won't leak past it, unless there are multiple leaks. If the leak goes low enough, it shouldn't leak past the lowest drain pipe. If it were me, I'd still fix it.
Ted
The leak stops at my main return pipe. I'm just not sure shooting some silicone on the inside of the overflow will fix the issue. Spent all day today messing with it. I'm doing a test now to see make sure it can't overflow the sump if the power is out for an extended time. The sump also has a small leak between two of the chambers. Not a big deal but it still makes me question the quality of this system even more.
soulpatch
New member
Silicone the inner seam of the overflow glass. 5 minute repair and since its inside the box no need to be clean. Pop off your main drain and see how far it drops. Drain water from sump as needed. That 5 min repair will likely save you thousands later
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Would raising the height of the drain pipe in the overflow box negate this issue? Or is water still seeping down at the bulkheads? I wouldn't consider this a slow leak. However, if the sump can handle the maximum amount of water drainage and no corals would be out of the water (if you are planning on corals) in the event of a power outage, this might not be an issue. Not that these overflows are noisy anyway, but raising the drain pipe (if possible based on your setup) could make the overflow even quieter in addition to reducing the amount of leakage.
There is nothing leaking from the bulkheads. I did raise it up some. I have it set about 6" below the overflow. I think I may have found where the leak was when I let it drain down. It stopped draining at about a foot below the overflow so I put a bunch of silicone there. Not sure if that will fix it or not. I'll try filling the overflow in a couple days to see if it holds water.
Hey guys I have a question / idea I want some input on I have a 90g cube sca pnp but since they stop production for a little bit on the solid wood stand Steve had one built for me and long story short I now have the sump from the 80g instead of the original from the 90g but I was thinking today of cutting the second baffle from the return pump side out drill a hole on the top of the glass then silicone it back but all the way up to the short baffle then put the return pump in the middle chamber then turn the old return into a full refugium.
SaguaroSteve
Moved On
Still waiting to hear back from Steve on the MDF stand swap. Meanwhile I've been giving myself a complex going back and forth between keeping the MDF, building a wood stand, or buying one from Steve.
Can anyone with the MDF stand chime in?
On a different note picked up a Jebao DCT-6000 and Skimz Monzter SN123 DC Skimmer. Love the controllability of the DC.
Can anyone with the MDF stand chime in?
On a different note picked up a Jebao DCT-6000 and Skimz Monzter SN123 DC Skimmer. Love the controllability of the DC.
I just got the MDF if I had it to do over I would have either bought a solid wood or made one. One of the hinges already pulled out of mine and I had to get some more substantial screws to fix it. I would have also probably got a smaller sump so there would be room for an auto top off container in the stand. I think the sump for a smaller PNP system would have probably been plenty big enough for my 90g. The wife isn't loving the idea of a 5 gal bucket sitting next to the tank.
zooman72
New member
I wish the wood stands had been available when I bought my 50g cube, but oh well...:sad1:
As for a slim ATO, take a look at Advanced Acrylics' "narrow fit" ATO resevoirs - they are only 4-5" thick for the larger sizes. I plan on turning my sump 90 degrees and fitting one of the 4"x16"x16" (3.5g-4g) versions beside it in my 50g cube PNP...
ryshark
Active member
I'm about to have the same dilemma with my new 66g. Either I need to buy a 5" ATO container which can squeeze next to the sump or have the 5-gallon container next to the tank. Luckily for me, the location of my tank will allow for a furniture toy chest or storage chest and I can put the jug and other fish stuff in there to hide it. My wife will be okay with that, but not the 5-gallon jug
ryshark
Active member
yep, this is exactly what I was talking about. I've been to advanced acrylics, these units are nice. But as far as putting one outside my stand, that still wont look nice enough. I doubt my wife would go for that, better than a 5-gallon jug though.
I'm not even sure that would fit under my stand. Maybe if I stuck it in front of the sump but then it might block a lot of my access to the sump.
Potatohead
New member
If you get a good pump like the Avast diaphragm pump you can put your top off container pretty far away. Hiding the 1/4" line is tougher if you have hardwood and pretty easy if you have carpet. My container is in a cabinet about 15' away from the tank.
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