Overflow problem/issue

[BiggerBinkie]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if someone could help me or possibly give me some direction to a solution. Currently I have a 30 long drilled (bottom) with an overflow. Im running (or trying to) run the Herbie method for a silent overflow. I have a 1in drain pipe and a 3/4 emergency drain, I do have a spears gate valve plumbed as well. My main drain is about 1inch (if that) from my emergency drain and there might be my problem but looking for clarification.

The problem that I am having is that, I can't for the life of me get this thing tuned for longer then maybe a day. I've woken up lately to it going from a decent flow to almost non-existant drainage during the night. This causes my sump to go lower, auto top off to kick in etc etc... any help would be greatly appreciated because its driving me up the f'in wall :frusty: :frusty: :frusty: :frusty:

 

[SloppyJ]

Something is causing the decrease in flow rates. Do you run filter socks or reactors?

I have had mine setup for a while now and I've had zero problems. I keep it draining a little fast so that as my filter socks get clogged it's not too much work on my emergency drain. I also run my reactors off of a different pump so they don't affect my return flow rate. Slight tweaks in the gate valve take a few minutes to even out. Just be patient.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

Sometimes I run socks and sometimes I dont, last night for example I went to sleep about 11. The drain was running fine with quick flow and even a little noise which I don't mind. Woke up this morning and the drain seemingly looked almost closed. My reactor is a seperate pump located in the same chamber as my return pump. My first chamber water level never changes.

Should my main drain be much lower then my emergency, could that be some kind of issue?

 

[Jimbo662]

What's the depth of your overflow box and how far below the water is your main drain pipe? I went through about a month of fighting mine to get it dialed in. My box is about 8" deep and I basicially have no pipe on the main drain. I just have a filter screwed into the bulk head. I spent almost all of one weekend playing with the gate valve. Adjust it a fraction and wait a couple of hours. Also, how deep are the drain pipes submerged in the sump. I have mine about an inch under water.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

My overflow runs the entire height of my tank basically so it's about 14.5in deep. My main drain it's about 13.5in from the bottom of the tank. Emergency drain is at about 14in so there's only about a .5in difference in the two. My drain sits about 2.5in below the waterline in my sump.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

Btw I know that popular thought is the main drain should be about 6in below the emergency drain. However I'm afraid my 10gal sump can't handle the water if there's a power outage.

 

[Jimbo662]

Maybe try changing the depth of the drain in the sump to see if that helps...the deeper it is the more pressure is needed to get the water flowing properly and flush out any bubbles that are in the line. I'm not sure if the drain being that shallow in the overflow is going to work. There needs to be more pressure on the water flowing into it.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

Yeah I think tomorrow I'm going to start by cutting about an inch off the drain pipe in the sump, that should get it to about an inch under water. Then I'll turn my attention to the overflow side and how much I can bring that down. I have seen some people on YouTube that have smaller back drilled tanks and overflows use like a 90° as a way to create a better siphon which I may try and fiddle with.

I may have been going about this all wrong as this setup is only about 2 months old. I was under the assumption that you wanted water streaming down the drain tube. What I seem to be seeing online is that the water will sit there "seemingly not moving" when in fact it's flowing at the same speed it always was. It's just not as optically pleasing because your not watching it stream down the tube?!?!

Am I correct in thinking this, or still way off lol??

 

[Jimbo662]

Not sure what you mean by streaming down the tube.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

Basically I would open it up to like a full flow and try to get it still flowing that fast down the tube, just make it quiet. So I guess that would be like trying to match the drain flow to the return flow, which everyone seems to say is nearly impossible to maintain.

 

[SloppyJ]

Don't mess with anything under the sump. Your issue is that your full siphon drain isn't low enough in your overflow box. Set your emergency drain and your water level (halfway up the teeth of your overflow). Set you full siphon line 5-6" below that one and add a strainer. If you do that, you will be fine.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

With out having to rip things apart, I got the main drain about 3.5 inches below the e-drain. I raised the water in the overflow to trickle down the e-drain. I should be good now in theory right??

 

[BiggerBinkie]

It seemed to be holding good for about an hour.

 

[Jimbo662]

+1 on what Sloppy said.

 

[BiggerBinkie]

Thanks you guys, you have been more than helpful!! I'm going to try this almost 4in difference I have now. Just trying to avoid ripping into my overflow haha