Plumbing problems

[Austin R]

Hey guys I've had this tank for two or three weeks so far and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to balance the water coming into the sump and the water getting pumped back into the tank and will start sucking air. Please help starting to lose my sanity! One thing the black weir has been removed it is just a 1 in pvc pipe with a sleeve with a seal and holes drilled with a cap on the end. Sorry I don't have any pictures I can post some later.

 

[BlueCursor]

You need to add more water to the system until there is always sufficient water in the sump, OR you need to slow down the flow to the tank. To slow down the flow put in a ball valve and close the flow some.

Be careful though. The water in the system cannot be so much that when you turn off the pump you overflow the sump. If this is going to happen, then you definitely have to just slow down the pump flow with the ball valve.

Your top pic shows your return to be about the same height as the bottom of the overflow slits. If that return nozzle is lower, it will siphon more water back into the sump than the overflow would allow normally. So make sure that return nozzle is as high or higher than the bottom of your overflow slits to avoid extra water going back into your sump.

 

[ksfulk]

Seems like its an imbalance with how much water your drain , well, drains versus how much your pump is pushing back into the tank. The easy fix is putting a valve on the return (from the pump) line.

 

[Austin R]

So what kind of valve would you recommend just a normal ball valve or something special?

 

[primo21]

ball valve works, gate valve is better

 

[ksfulk]

A ball valve is whats typically used. If you are picking up from a Home Depot or something similar, I would test all of them and find the valve that has the easiest "turn" to it. Some of those valves can be really hard to turn and salt water just makes it more difficult over time. A gate valve is nice because it can be more finely tuned - but either should work.

 

[Austin R]

Ok thank you guys! hopefully I can figure it out and actually get it working

 

[ReeferBob]

Sounds for sure like you need more water in the system. The drain is gravity so it will drain as long as there is water to drain. I doubt you are pumping up faster than you can drain.

 

[Austin R]

Sounds for sure like you need more water in the system. The drain is gravity so it will drain as long as there is water to drain. I doubt you are pumping up faster than you can drain.

How full should I make the upper tank? Like to the top then run the system?

 

[ReeferBob]

Keep adding water to the sump until the tank is balanced. Usually the top tank runs about 1/2 up the weir teeth but you said you removed that. The sump usually runs high enough above the pump in the return section so that you don't get a waterfall coming into that compartment.

You cannot control the depth of the display tank. It runs where it runs determined by where the drain is located. It will find its own level.

 

[Engloid]

Hey guys I've had this tank for two or three weeks so far and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to balance the water coming into the sump and the water getting pumped back into the tank and will start sucking air. Please help starting to lose my sanity! One thing the black weir has been removed it is just a 1 in pvc pipe with a sleeve with a seal and holes drilled with a cap on the end. Sorry I don't have any pictures I can post some later.

Think of it like this: If you have an empty 5 gallon bucket and put 4 gallons in it, nothing flows over. Put another gallon in and it's full...like your tank should be anytime it's running. Add another gallon and how much spills over? one gallon....which is how much would go back down to your sump. In other words, the amount that flows down to the sump is always equal to what is pumped up from the sump, because you can't fit 6 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket. :)

If you're wanting the water level in the tank to be higher, it's got nothing to do with the flow rate FROM the pump. It's got to do with the height at which water is allowed to overflow and drain back to the sump. In the picture I added text to, your water level will be regulated by the height of the overflow....UNLESS, that entire compartment is filled and you have a standpipe that's taller.

 

[D_Nyholm]

What does the rest of your plumbing look like? Are there any valves anywhere to control flow? If you just have an open pipe from your overflow to your sump I doubt you will be able to keep up with the flow with your pump unless it is quite big. You need to have a gate valve to adjust the flow in small increments. Ball valves can work but don't have the accuracy of a gate valve.