Sump help please

[tpaparazzo]

I am finally filling my jetream aquarium by marineland and I am having a huge problem with the filtration. On the left side is a overflow tube with a control rod..Goes down through a ball valve and the into myh tidepool filter...The Ball Valve is wide open..Now in my sump I am having a hell of a time getting the right level so i can pump water back throw the return tube...If i have the ball valve on the return set max..the pump pumps out all the water in the sump back to the aquarium so quickly that there is no more water for it to pump..So I have to close the ball valve on the return to almost all the way closed..THis is the only way the water will rise that extra inch so that the pump is sumberged and sending water back to the aqurium but now isnt that limiting my gph....How can I fix this so that I can open the ball valve some more...Or is it just me and does it not matter on the return ball valve..

Thanks

Tony

 

[fishfreek]

Is the pump overfilling the main tank? Or are you just having a problem with the sump running dry from the pump? If its the later then just add more water to the sump till you reach an equilibrim point where the water level in the tank is maxed out at the overflow and the pump still has water within the sump.

When you put water in the sump are you using a water level mark? The water level mark (if one exists in your sump) is to mark the operational water level and that means when the pump is running.

 

[tpaparazzo]

its running dry from the pump....if i add more water to the sump it justs does the same thing...it runs dry...

 

[tpaparazzo]

i am going crazy...my ball valve is almost closed so my return tube is probably not funtioning the way it should be..if i add water to the sump it just pumps it in and raises the water level but never raises the sump level...its getting frustrating..

 

[fishfreek]

yes it sounds like your overflow is not draining like it should. What kind of pump do you have and whats the head height. How big diamater is your overflow drain line?


Is the overflow drain line stright ot close to stright?

 

[tpaparazzo]

I have a DIAGRAM here of what it looks like...Exactly..You can see the ball valves and the overflows...It looks like the overflow is working properly but again im new so i have no idea..

 

[fishfreek]

Does your plumbing look exactly like that aswell?

You will definaly have better overflow performance if the line is as direct to the drip plate as possible.

 

[tpaparazzo]

thanks..I tweaked a little bit and seems to be better...I am definitely not wide open on the all valve but not a huge deal..Thanks for your help!

 

[fishfreek]

What size pump do you have on the return? It could be you just have a pump larger than your overflow can drain.

 

[tpaparazzo]

its a magdrive 9.5. I called marinleand and they think that the overflows might have an air pocket or something and that i should check the seal and see if its tight...Ill try it but??

 

[BillyZ]

have you adjusted the control rod according to the manual? I get the impression that control rod may have a lot to do with the amount of flow through the pipe...

 

[fishfreek]

Is the drain line 1" in diamater? If so it should be able to handle the mag 9.5's flow unless there is some kind of debris within the pipe or an air pocket at some point in one of the bends.