NabberNate
Active Member
Hello Reef2Reef members. Getting back into the hobby after almost 30 years. Had a 55 gallon in my teens with a skilter filter (look it up for a laugh) , a custom wet dry and a whisper 3 carbon... all HOB! Life was good except for my hermit crab which I didn't feed enough and would climb coral and pounce onto fish passing by... no joke. Enter my 40's and I finished my basement (mostly for the purpose of having an aquarium) and I am setting up an SC Aquariums 150 Eurobraced with Synergy reef 16" external overflow. Custom made stand, custom sump from a 75 gallon tank and today was my first flow test.
It was a disaster.
My hose creeped out of the Brute 44 gallon and released water on the floor ( thank goodness for vinyl plank flooring ) and my tank and sump would rival a white water rapids course.
Calling up my buddy to super sleuth what I need to do to fix this. I have a fluval sp6 which is likely part of the problem and 1.5" drains which might be the other. My primary has a gate valve but when I dial back the flow to quiet things down my secondary drain sucks just a bit off air and actually has more flow than the primary. Wondering if a gate valve on the secondary would help or if I should try and reduce the secondary to 1" at some point or even put more water in the tank? I'm about 2/3 of the way above the weirs when running.
With the sp6 I divert some of the flow and feed into an aquac ev 180 which recirculates back into the first chamber of the sump. Second chamber was going to be a deep sand bed but the flow is crazy right now it would be all churned up.
Gotta love first timers winging it right?
A few pics attached...
At any rate is all fun until you can't sleep at night thinking about what to do next. I'm leaning toward reducing my secondary drain to 1" and getting a controllable dc pump with a flex pvc section to quiet things down. Fingers crossed! You're advice is sorely needed just no guarantees I'll take it HA! Gotta learn the hard way unfortunately...
NabberNate
It was a disaster.
My hose creeped out of the Brute 44 gallon and released water on the floor ( thank goodness for vinyl plank flooring ) and my tank and sump would rival a white water rapids course.
Calling up my buddy to super sleuth what I need to do to fix this. I have a fluval sp6 which is likely part of the problem and 1.5" drains which might be the other. My primary has a gate valve but when I dial back the flow to quiet things down my secondary drain sucks just a bit off air and actually has more flow than the primary. Wondering if a gate valve on the secondary would help or if I should try and reduce the secondary to 1" at some point or even put more water in the tank? I'm about 2/3 of the way above the weirs when running.
With the sp6 I divert some of the flow and feed into an aquac ev 180 which recirculates back into the first chamber of the sump. Second chamber was going to be a deep sand bed but the flow is crazy right now it would be all churned up.
Gotta love first timers winging it right?
A few pics attached...
At any rate is all fun until you can't sleep at night thinking about what to do next. I'm leaning toward reducing my secondary drain to 1" and getting a controllable dc pump with a flex pvc section to quiet things down. Fingers crossed! You're advice is sorely needed just no guarantees I'll take it HA! Gotta learn the hard way unfortunately...
NabberNate
Last edited:
