Landen reef master water level issues

[Trevorreilly73]

Hello Reefers,

Hopefully somebody here can offer me some help with my Landen Reef Master 60.

Overall I am pretty happy with the tank and its been up and running for over a year, but I have had non-stop problems with water levels.

Despite making micro adjustments to the gate valve and return pump volume, allowing water levels to calibrate, over a period of time the water will run high and reach the emergency overflow drain time and time again.

I have checked and the gate valve is not getting clogged by debris. Having spoken to others with this tank they also have this issue. I am of the opinion thay its just a very poory designed pipe/over flow design but happy to hear what others say!

Pic for attention

 

[UncommonSense]

Hmm… that’s unusual!

Is this a dual, or triple drain system? Drain plumbing size?

What is the approximate return pump output?

 

[Trevorreilly73]

Hmm… that’s unusual!

Is this a dual, or triple drain system? Drain plumbing size?

What is the approximate return pump output?

It's a dual drain system, with the size of pipes being 18mm. The pump is a jebao rated up to 3500 L/h. The aquarium has a recommended pump rate 2000-2500 L/H. To counter this the pump only runs at 75%.

 

[UncommonSense]

It's a dual drain system, with the size of pipes being 18mm. The pump is a jebao rated up to 3500 L/h. The aquarium has a recommended pump rate 2000-2500 L/H. To counter this the pump only runs at 75%.

Ah, I suspect that the pump may be running at too high of a flow rate for a single 18-19mm OD pipe…

my best guess is that the manufacturer is optimistic on their flow recommendation, or that the return pump is not actually flowing 75% of maximum at 75% power…

— (I do know jebao wave makers typically run minimum flow at 40% and below on the controller)

 

[Trevorreilly73]

It's a dual drain system, with the size of pipes being 18mm. The pump is a jebao rated up to 3500 L/h. The aquarium has a recommended pump rate 2000-2500 L/H. To counter this the pump only runs at 75%.

Ah, I suspect that the pump may be running at too high of a flow rate for a single 18-19mm OD pipe…

my best guess is that the manufacturer is optimistic on their flow recommendation, or that the return pump is not actually flowing 75% of maximum at 75% power…

— (I do know jebao wave makers typically run minimum flow at 40% and below on the controller)

Interesting, so do you think I should drop that flow down? Like 50% below? That or a small return pump

 

[UncommonSense]

Interesting, so do you think I should drop that flow down? Like 50% below? That or a small return pump

Try reducing the flow further on your current pump to see if you can get the system to reliably run without needing the emergency drain before considering a smaller return pump!

 

[UncommonSense]

I’ll add that it could be worth opening your main drain gate valve all the way to verify that it’s actually flowing as much as you would expect, just in case there’s a snail or some other foreign debris in the plumbing!

 

[Trevorreilly73]

Following up on this conversation. Reducing the pump to 55% did the trick!