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Macbalacano

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Howdy everyone! I’m in northeast Ohio, and been running saltwater tanks (FOWLR and small mixed reefs). I’ve got a pic of my current tank I reset up. This is a 46 bow front I got on sale with the stand a while back. I drilled the back (bottom was tempered), added the overflow, and rebuilt the stand a little to fit the 29 sump then added those baffles from 1/8 plexi. I’ve had this tank going about three weeks and in this tank am trying a fuge from the start. I’ll keep updates with this tank since I think I could possibly be stripping too much nutrition too early but we will see!

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I too am new to R2R...sort of. What's that saying, I've been a voyier just watching (and learning) for a while. I too have been working on a build. I have a 20 gallon reef I have had for several years with a couple amazing scolies but everything is getting so big I am bringing up a 35 gallon "frag tank" with a built in external overflow box and am concerned about the trouble I have had dialog in the balance of flow between return and drain.

Sooooo, I finally got the balance almost there when I read the best way to dial it in is having a gate valve on the return and the drain. (I have it set up in the garage with regular water in it). However, when I note the water level in the overflow box then let it run for a day or two the level goes up or down 1/8 of an inch, or 1/4 or 1/16 and of course with the water being only 3/4 to 1 inch from the top of the box in less than a week I could have problems.

I am not loosing water due to evaporation because the same thing happens in both directions, water getting lower and higher. I believe it is because one only has 7-8 inches vertically (ad very low volume in general) in an overflow box so a little off in the balance one way or another and over time it will get too high or too low. I also worry that would negatively affect my ATO system. I'm ready to sell it and go back to the gravity system instead of the overflow/siphon. Here are the specs.
drain 1inch tubing, return 2 3/4 tubing (keep in mind specs of pump will be affected by how much gate valves are turned which is hard to describe). I am using a Reef Octopus Varios 2 (I think about 800 GPH) at 4 head feet and bean animal plumbing configuration.

Picture in a moment. Has anyone else had trouble or needed close monitoring/adjusting the siphon and overflow box system? Sorry this is so long.
 

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Shmollica

Shmollica

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I too am new to R2R...sort of. What's that saying, I've been a voyier just watching (and learning) for a while. I too have been working on a build. I have a 20 gallon reef I have had for several years with a couple amazing scolies but everything is getting so big I am bringing up a 35 gallon "frag tank" with a built in external overflow box and am concerned about the trouble I have had dialog in the balance of flow between return and drain.

Sooooo, I finally got the balance almost there when I read the best way to dial it in is having a gate valve on the return and the drain. (I have it set up in the garage with regular water in it). However, when I note the water level in the overflow box then let it run for a day or two the level goes up or down 1/8 of an inch, or 1/4 or 1/16 and of course with the water being only 3/4 to 1 inch from the top of the box in less than a week I could have problems.

I am not loosing water due to evaporation because the same thing happens in both directions, water getting lower and higher. I believe it is because one only has 7-8 inches vertically (ad very low volume in general) in an overflow box so a little off in the balance one way or another and over time it will get too high or too low. I also worry that would negatively affect my ATO system. I'm ready to sell it and go back to the gravity system instead of the overflow/siphon. Here are the specs.
drain 1inch tubing, return 2 3/4 tubing (keep in mind specs of pump will be affected by how much gate valves are turned which is hard to describe). I am using a Reef Octopus Varios 2 (I think about 800 GPH) at 4 head feet and bean animal plumbing configuration.

Picture in a moment. Has anyone else had trouble or needed close monitoring/adjusting the siphon and overflow box system? Sorry this is so long.
Yeah man! I did the exact same thing as you at first lol.....I’m not a Plummer, some people may say you’re dumb but I did it lol. Here is your problem (see picture). You need a T fitting to release the air in the drain where you have the elbow in your bulk head.
 

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Shmollica

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Yeah man! I did the exact same thing as you at first lol.....I’m not a Plummer, some people may say you’re dumb but I did it lol. Here is your problem (see picture). You need a T fitting to release the air in the drain where you have the elbow in your bulk head.
last one. Can someone tell me
tempImageMGUU4v.png
Yo! Sorry I just noticed you have a bottom drain like I have on my 40....I had drain problems and making this fixed it (see picture).
 

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Thanks much for this feed back : ) So you didn't have too much problem getting the flow on your return and the flow on your drain to balance.

so the overflow box wouldn't get empty and suck air from drain running faster then return, or

the overflow box gain a little everyday until overflowing to emergency drain on bean animal because return pump running faster than the drain?

Back and forth, back and forth, it creeps up or creeps down and takes a day or two to see that it is too much one way or another.....perfedtly balancing drain flow and return flow seems impossible with the overflow box. Just no margin for error with a box that small....(as opposed to the sump on a gravity type setup) I don't see how people use these ??!?!?!? or....probably because I'm not a plumber either lol Again thanks so much for the input....
 
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Shmollica

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Thanks much for this feed back : ) So you didn't have too much problem getting the flow on your return and the flow on your drain to balance.

so the overflow box wouldn't get empty and suck air from drain running faster then return, or

the overflow box gain a little everyday until overflowing to emergency drain on bean animal because return pump running faster than the drain?

Back and forth, back and forth, it creeps up or creeps down and takes a day or two to see that it is too much one way or another.....perfedtly balancing drain flow and return flow seems impossible with the overflow box. Just no margin for error with a box that small....(as opposed to the sump on a gravity type setup) I don't see how people use these ??!?!?!? or....probably because I'm not a plumber either lol Again thanks so much for the input....
Yeah I had all the same anxieties as you...I also did this on the return so as to not give head pressure but I could still run it fast enough to turn the DT over 2-3 times an hour (see pic). I am bleeding speed off the return back into the sump....probably doesn’t matter what chamber, and I’m sure there are much better methods but it worked for my problems and they sound similar lol!
 

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Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 43 48.3%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 47 52.8%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 20 22.5%
  • None.

    Votes: 23 25.8%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 10.1%
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