Possible Durso Malfunction leading to Aquarium Overflow!

[Ocho Cinco]

Ok so at about 12:30 last night I was awaken by a flashing light (fuge light) and some noise. It was coming from my frag tank. When I walked in the main tank was pretty low because the tank overflowed and of course right on my surge protector. My only thought on what could have happend was the drain slowed down for some reason and the tank slowly over flowed. I am using a durso standpipe without an overflow. When first setting up the tank, I had to do a lot of adjusting because my drain was faster than my return. That why I find this odd that the drain slowed down. Currently it has been running fine since last night but I did have to turn my return pump down. Any insight on why/how this happened would be great.

Thanks!

 

[AZDesertRat]

The drain should always be able to outrun your return pump. Describe your set up better. It sounds to me like you have valved or slowed your overflow down in some way which you should never do, the return pump will determine the flow rate and the overflow should be 100% unrestricted. It should flow more than your pump is capable of returning when designed properly so what you describe does not happen, the pump can never outrun the overflow standpipe.

 

[Ocho Cinco]

The drain should always be able to outrun your return pump. Describe your set up better. It sounds to me like you have valved or slowed your overflow down in some way which you should never do, the return pump will determine the flow rate and the overflow should be 100% unrestricted. It should flow more than your pump is capable of returning when designed properly so what you describe does not happen, the pump can never outrun the overflow standpipe.

Ya when I first set it up my drain was always faster than my return. I kept having to adjust the hole on the top for the perfect amount of flow. Last night when I got in the room, the pump was already off because of the surge protector getting wet. I have the durso in the tank (no overflow) with a straight pipe and a 45 degree elbow at the bottom. The pump is a mag 7. Its been running for months like this with no issue. I then had to turn my pump down a little to keep it at the right level (which I never had to do before). Now took off the 45 and am just running a straight pipe. By doing this I am able to run my pump on full and keep the crrect level. Still have no idea what happened last night.