Nick_Northern
New member
Hi all,
I'm having problems with the plumbing on my new 300g that i'm hoping someone can shed some light on. I'm finding it very frustrating trying to balance my water level. For example I topped my sump this morning, and it immediately dropped back to its previous level sending the extra water up into the DT instead for some reason. I've provided all the relevant info I can think of below.
- Tank = 96x24x30
- Sump = 70x18x18
- 2 x Fluval SP4 return pumps (7000lph / 1850 US GPH each)
- Twin overflow - 2 x 40mm main drain (3"below waters surface) / 2 x 40mm emergency (dry)
- Left hand drain has a straight drop to the sump
- Right hand drain has a 6ft horizontal run to the 1st sump chamber - angled v.slightly downwards.
- Both main drains are controlled by ball valves (no valves on emergency's) and the pipes exit 1" under the water level in the sump
I have my suspicions that I just have too much flow going through the system, tried it with just one return running but it isn't enough to force the air out of the long horizontal run from the right hand drain and its constantly 'coughing' (aspirating??!) into the sump. Also the water line is visible in the DT with only one pump running, for some reason the manufacturer has left very little tolerance in the pelmet design so there must be a certain amount of flow backing up against the weirs or the WL is visible, which drives me insane!
Getting the water levels correct in the weirs was also a huge PITA which again makes me think i'm running too much flow for the system. Even the slightest adjustment to one of the ball valves either raises the DT level too high stopping any surface skimming or the weir level too low and the drains start to suck in air.
Hopefully someone out there can tell me where I am going wrong
Thanks
Nick
I'm having problems with the plumbing on my new 300g that i'm hoping someone can shed some light on. I'm finding it very frustrating trying to balance my water level. For example I topped my sump this morning, and it immediately dropped back to its previous level sending the extra water up into the DT instead for some reason. I've provided all the relevant info I can think of below.
- Tank = 96x24x30
- Sump = 70x18x18
- 2 x Fluval SP4 return pumps (7000lph / 1850 US GPH each)
- Twin overflow - 2 x 40mm main drain (3"below waters surface) / 2 x 40mm emergency (dry)
- Left hand drain has a straight drop to the sump
- Right hand drain has a 6ft horizontal run to the 1st sump chamber - angled v.slightly downwards.
- Both main drains are controlled by ball valves (no valves on emergency's) and the pipes exit 1" under the water level in the sump
I have my suspicions that I just have too much flow going through the system, tried it with just one return running but it isn't enough to force the air out of the long horizontal run from the right hand drain and its constantly 'coughing' (aspirating??!) into the sump. Also the water line is visible in the DT with only one pump running, for some reason the manufacturer has left very little tolerance in the pelmet design so there must be a certain amount of flow backing up against the weirs or the WL is visible, which drives me insane!
Getting the water levels correct in the weirs was also a huge PITA which again makes me think i'm running too much flow for the system. Even the slightest adjustment to one of the ball valves either raises the DT level too high stopping any surface skimming or the weir level too low and the drains start to suck in air.
Hopefully someone out there can tell me where I am going wrong
Thanks
Nick
