First off, I noticed this morning the sump has been discontinued on BRS...
I got to looking at my sump last night at the flow rates through the chambers. Mind you my sock area is almost impossible to see without using a camera so I haven't noticed this until I noticed my water was looking a little cloudy/dirty. I made a mistake when I purchased my return pump. I let the store piece the new system together for me and didn't really pay too much attention as I've been shopping there for quite a few years now. Eshopps made a huge error by not either making a minimum flow rate requirement to the sump or an adjustable type "fins or gate" into the refugium area. I am using a Sicce 2.0 pump which is 568gph which is very marginal for the system as is BUT the flow into the sump is not enough that it causes water to rise and spill over into the sock area, instead it goes to the path of least resistance which is into the refugium area.. If I had to guess 95% of all of my flow is through the refugium instead of my sock! So not being able to close up those slots flowing into the refugium area is making it not build up enough pressure to spill into the sock area first or more easily channeling most of the water that way... I'm not exactly sure what to do about it yet, I know I need to restrict that flow into the refugium but how is the question I will figure out this evening. Second I need to order a replacement pump, DC most likely so I can crank it up to get the flow right.
IMO - Eshopps made a mistake by not saying what the minimum required flow was going into the sump for the design to function as intended and needs to be making a piece to send out to people to correct this issue.
I got to looking at my sump last night at the flow rates through the chambers. Mind you my sock area is almost impossible to see without using a camera so I haven't noticed this until I noticed my water was looking a little cloudy/dirty. I made a mistake when I purchased my return pump. I let the store piece the new system together for me and didn't really pay too much attention as I've been shopping there for quite a few years now. Eshopps made a huge error by not either making a minimum flow rate requirement to the sump or an adjustable type "fins or gate" into the refugium area. I am using a Sicce 2.0 pump which is 568gph which is very marginal for the system as is BUT the flow into the sump is not enough that it causes water to rise and spill over into the sock area, instead it goes to the path of least resistance which is into the refugium area.. If I had to guess 95% of all of my flow is through the refugium instead of my sock! So not being able to close up those slots flowing into the refugium area is making it not build up enough pressure to spill into the sock area first or more easily channeling most of the water that way... I'm not exactly sure what to do about it yet, I know I need to restrict that flow into the refugium but how is the question I will figure out this evening. Second I need to order a replacement pump, DC most likely so I can crank it up to get the flow right.
IMO - Eshopps made a mistake by not saying what the minimum required flow was going into the sump for the design to function as intended and needs to be making a piece to send out to people to correct this issue.
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