Tank set up problems

[Emma1234]

Hello,

I'm having trouble with my tank setup I'm hoping to get some help.

I wanted to have a silent tank in my living room. I read about the Bean Animal silent overflow. I tried to set up a Bean Animal overflow system. I have a pvc pipe in my overflow about six inches tall so the pipe is completely submerged. This allows the water to completely fill this pipe with water. Therefore there is no air in the pvc pipe and no noise. There is a second pipe whose top is above the water level in the overflow just in case the water level rises too high the water will overflow into this overflow pipe and run into the sump. Here is a picture of the overflow. You can see the two pipes. The shorter one is behind the taller one and is a little harder to see in the picture. The water runs through this shorter tube into the sump. The taller one is the emergency overflow. The return from the sump comes in the other side. I'm wondering if this set up is causing me problems.

View attachment 363294

One problem is I can't tune my protein skimmer. The skimmer is an EShopp. I've cleaned it. Opened the tube all the way and adjust the tube slowly over time. I've tried to adjust it numerous times but I get the same result. You can see in the picture of my sump that I'm not getting foam in the cup. I get skimmate in the main chamber and sometimes in the cup, but I can't get the foam to build and drop into the cup.



Another issue that I'm having is the water level in all three chambers of the sump vary. I believe that one chamber in the sump should stay at a constant level and the protein skimmer should go in the chamber with the constant water level. I think having the water level fluctuate in all the chambers, including the one with the protein skimmer, could cause problems.

I'm not sure what I can change to make the skimmer work and the keep the water level constant in one of the chambers. Anyone have any ideas? I'd be grateful for your suggestions.

Thanks to DamonG for suggestions in a previous post

 

[ericarenee]

ok

As far as the over flow.. The Siphon line needs to have a turned down elbow.. it looks like its just a open hole ..
There must be a Valve on the Siphon line below the tank in your case to adjust it to hold back water based on your plumbing and return pump size..

As far as the sump.. the baffles look like they are all open at the bottom . If that is the case you need to put a baffle in a area before the Return pump chamber to where the water has to go over the top. this baffle can be set to the height your skimmer requires or higher.. Just be away of drain back from a power outage..


The skimmer..
1. does not belong in the return chamber as this is where water level will evaporate and cause it to go out of adjustment. .
2. needs to be adjusted over a period of a week not a few hours..

The above is my opinion based on the hard to see images and comments from your other threads..
hope this helps
you might want to go to youtube and watch some videos on proper sump setup and diy sump building to get a idea on how they are supposed to work... same with the over flow setup....

Good Luck
Erica Renee

 

[Emma1234]

Thank you Erica. I will do some more research.

 

[mcgyvr]

You don't have a bean..Thats a herbie

Can't see how the baffles are in the sump nor which chamber is which but it doesn't look like the baffles are correct at all..
When setup properly only the water level in the return pump chamber will change and its the only one where its possible to change in height..

A changing height never works well for a skimmer but being in the wrong water level is a bigger issue.. In general you need to adjust the tube until the water/bubble main level is right at the first blue ring on the neck to just above it.. "Dry bubbles" will continue from there up.. If you can't get that in 2 minutes of messing with the tube then its in the wrong level of water to start..