sputtering overflow

[timdam]

i was watching tv last night. then suddenly, my tank started making strange noises. when i looked to see what was up, i see that it was coming from my overflow box! it was as if the overflow didn't have enough water in it. i check the sump, and it had enough water in it. the only thing that i could think of was to make sure the slits were flowing and not clogged up with algae.

after a few minutes, the sputtering (if that's even a word) stopped. any ideas?

 

[Reefer Brandon]

Was there air in the U-tube?

 

[turretdr]

Could have been a snail, crab or fish got caught in the overflow. Check your sump.

 

[timdam]

i don't even know what the utube is. it just seemed like it was lacking water in the overflow, causing it to gasp for water. like i said, the sump seemed to have enough water in it.

 

[texhorns98]

Mine does the same thing, but I have two drains in one overflow box. What sized return pump are you running? I am only running about 700gph, so I've found that two drains are too much for that flow. Both drains seem to starve for flow...

 

[timdam]

thank you. yes, i'm not sure what gph i have. i just know that i have two tubes in the overflow. one for the water to come in, and the other for it to come out. it's a normal pvc tube. as u can see, i bought this tank off of craigs. it was set up when i got it. so i don't know much about it. but it never made this farting noise before last night. hopefully, it won't happen again. could it be the slits? i went thru them with a razor just in case they were getting algae clogged.

 

[texhorns98]

If it's making THAT kind of noise, at least you can blame it on the tank when you make it yourself!! :lol:

 

[TellyFish]

Is this a durso overflow or a siphon tube?

if its a durso style overflow I would suspect you need to better regulate the amount of air available to the pipe.

 

[timdam]

i'm not sure what a durso or siphon means. but it's built inside the tank. it has slits where the water flows thru and over the top. hope this helps.