My DIY is gonna do me in.

bjledbetter · Sep 23, 2013

I decided that I was going to build a stand for my 40b sump to get it off the floor and make cleaning it out easier. Well along the way of building the stand I had the bright idea to make it a fuge and add a smaller sump previously bought for another tank under the fuge to hold my skimmer and return pump. Things have went south fast. I built the stand 3-4" too tall for what it needed to be which is gonna be ok but caused a problem with the gravity overflow that has sense been fixed. I then went to the local building center and got some pvc pipe as sense the tank stand was too tall the hose did't reach the top of the sump to screw into the input area. I got home and and hooked up the pvc to the hose and attached it to the sump and started the syphon into the sump. I soon had 10-15 gallons of water on my floor as the pvc was allowing a lot more water into the sump than the return was sending back to the dt. This was at like 12:30AM. I stopped the flow and cleaned up the mess and went to bed. 8AM next morning im at the building center buying a flow adjustor. get home install it to the pvc pipe and start flow again. :frusty: here come the flood. I still haven't been able to get the flow adjusted to fit what the pump can handle using that control valve so im going in the morning back to the building center to get a different control valve. Two days with no sump and lower flow and no skimmer is causing havoc on my tank. My mag is looking bad and my bta has even split. Im off school tomorrow so things are going to be fixed tomorrow one way or the other. BTW did I mention that I have flooded my floor 3 more times sense the first time. Ive made almost 60g of saltwater in 3 days to fill a 40g tank that already had 25g in it. :tsk: Not sure I'm ever doing a DIY again lol :neutral: Just thought Id share whats been going on around here the last few days.

CoryC · Sep 23, 2013

where in tn are you? what do you mean by "flow adjuster" a gate valve? ball valve? i'm having trouble understanding where you're running into problems, an average sump and tank w typical overflow box or a reef ready tank shouldnt allow a sump that size to overflow. if you're getting a siphon through your return just add a check valve, it will lower that output of your pump a bit but only water from the overflow will go into your sump in a pump shut off

mcarroll · Sep 23, 2013

A gravity drain cannot return more water than is being pumped up to the tank it's draining. By any chance are you pumping water down to one of the tanks as well?

When you can, post some pics of what you have so far! :)

-Matt

bjledbetter · Sep 23, 2013

I meant to post pics to start with sorry. Here are some of them. I have had to change some things around to make it work for tonight to get my skimmer running and some more flow into the dt but the pic might give you some idea what im taking about. DT is not a reef ready or drilled tank. The 40 breeder was my sump and was on the floor. Now its a fuge/dt on the stand and currently has some macro algae and some lr and 3 damsels with the other actual sump containing my skimmer and return under it. The over flow box is normally going to be on the side of the tank flowing over into the 40 breeder and is just going to have the pvc no hose. (The hose connected to the overflow box in the pic is actually the hose that when completle will be connected to the pvc with the blue turn valve to flow over into the sump.

This thing is where I'm having a problem. The pvc is allowing more water into the sump through the makeshift overflow syphon than the return can get back to the dt. Basically draining the 40 breeder into the sump and the floor. I'm pretty sure the valve is a ball valve and its harder than the dickens to turn. If I can find a valve that will allow me to control how much water is getting through that pvc pipe I should be fine. Again remember most of its not in the right spot right now because I have completely cut off the breeder and just have the over flow going to the sump so I can run my skimmer tonight. Any more advice is highly welcome as I am not very good at doing this kind of stuff

bjledbetter · Sep 23, 2013

Cory I'm in Livingston, TN close to Cookeville. mcarrol I only have one pump on the whole system and thats the one in the very bottom tank pumping water to the dt the other two are both gravational over flows

mcarroll · Sep 23, 2013

Is there a standpipe in the back of the overflow?

It could be possible to drain several inches from each tank rapidly without one. (Having trouble imagining anything else to explain what you are seeing.)

How about a couple detail photos of the inside and out of your drain boxes? :)

-Matt

McAllyn · Sep 23, 2013

What type of overflow are you using in the 40b fuge to send water down to the sump? Are you just depending on the siphon on that PVC with the blue handle(ball valve)? If so, how are you charging the siphon on that tube, and more importantly, how are you monitoring that the siphon is continuing? If the water is getting on the floor from the fuge, then you're not overflowing correctly down to the sump, and if that PVC with the ball valve is your overflow, you're missing a couple of pieces. Check out this link on building a very simple, yet effective PVC overflow that should correct your problem.

HOW TO: DIY Aquarium Overflow - YouTube

As mentioned above, you shouldn't have to restrict the flow through the drain. It can only drain at whatever speed the return tank is pumping water back into the display.

Don't give up. We can get you sorted, just gotta make sure we have the right info to help you with your next step.

Mac

McAllyn · Sep 23, 2013

Hold up, I just checked something. What is your return pump rated at? If you're just using a full siphon on that 3/4" PVC, then you "could" be pulling more water from the fuge than returning from the sump. Your best bet would be to build a true overflow in the fuge instead of using a siphon only.

Mac

CoryC · Sep 23, 2013

i've had all kinda of problems with those aquarium sumps. i'd go to a 29g or a 20h or something along those lines.

bjledbetter · Sep 23, 2013

For the over flow to the sump im only using the pvc at the moment. I think im missing a few pieces. I'm trying to figure out how to build a over flow box now to help control water flow. Does the box need to be in the tank and on the back of the tank or can it just be on the inside of the tank?

CoryC · Sep 23, 2013

you have an overflox box currently. an eshopps one. 300 gph i believe. whatis your return pump?

bjledbetter · Sep 23, 2013

I have one overflow box going from the main dt to the fuge. I need to build or go buy one that will go from the fuge to the sump. Not sure what the return is rated. its the one that come with the sump set up when i bought it several years ago

McAllyn · Sep 23, 2013

Try the simple one in the video I posted. A couple bucks in PVC to test the theory. If it works out (and ot should work fine) and you can look at going with something fancier down the road.

Mac

bjledbetter · Sep 23, 2013

McAllyn said:
Try the simple one in the video I posted. A couple bucks in PVC to test the theory. If it works out (and ot should work fine) and you can look at going with something fancier down the road.

Mac

going to get the stuff to build it now. ill post pics as soon as its done. Thanks to all of you all for your help!!!

bjledbetter · Sep 24, 2013

Ok so it took me almost all day to build something that most could have done in a hour or two tops. But its done thanks in large to my mom who watched the video and said I can make that. I still added the extra cut off valve to be able to turn the water off completly if need be. Things seam to be flowing well. Ill post pics in the morning right now im beat and headed to bed. Again thanks to everyone for the help!!!

bjledbetter · Sep 26, 2013

Ok so this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and post pics in a few days there has been a lot going on including adding a new ritteri anemone to my qt out of the blue. Anyways here are the pics I said I'd post: The building process: