How does an overflow work

[Dmann]

mr. X if you use the float switch method. The contair could go on the ground. And dont put the end in the water.

Chevy. There is a bulkhead fitting on the float valve. Drill a small hole in the sump where you want your water level. Install the float valve with the float inside the sump.
The lock line (water line/tube) (used in ice makers and water makers.) Inserts in the end of the float switch ( outside the sump)

The lock line is then run to a container thats just above the height of the float valve.

As your water evaperates, the float will drop. When the float drops it opens the water line slowly filling the sump. When the water rises the float goes up and closes the water line.

dino

 

[chevypride]

So basically the float just opens the tube when it falls, and closes it again when it goes up? Seems simple enough. How risky is drilling the sump...?

 

[Dmann]

Drilling is easy. Just go soft and easy. If you dont want to drill the sump. You can make a bracket to hang on the side of the sump to hold the float valve.im gonna make one using magnets and acrylic to hold it in place.

dino

 

[chevypride]

Would normal blue coloured LED's be able to be used as a moonlight? I haven't priced out actual moonlights yet, but the one LFS that sells sw equipment is crazy expensive... I was thinking I could just add some blue led strip lights, sort of what people put in there cars...

 

[Dmann]

These will work

dino

 

[mr_X]

You don't need moonlights.

 

[chevypride]

I know I don't need them. But I have T5's right now. And there waaaay to bright to have on at night in such a small living room. So I was mostly going to use them so we can still see the tank at night without burning our retinas

 

[mr_X]

Oh...then moonlights won't allow you to see much of anything. You need something that simulates dusk...That strip that Dmann posted should work for this purpose. Anything really...
Aquarium 440 Actinic Blue Moon Light LED Strip 100 Lumens ft Salt Water Reef | eBay

 

[chevypride]

Okay. I was hoping I could find blue fluorescent lights and just hang another fixture. But that doesn't seem easy either. I'm still a little scared of buying online, so I'm hoping I can find something similar in a store. Homedepot has white led strips like that. So I want to see if they have blue. Or I might just have to go with white. I just really like the blue at night, it seems more calming.

 

[chevypride]

Do you think ones from a pool store would work (I've seen them online, so I'm just hoping a pool store will have them)? At least there water proof. I've only had water in my tank for a week and I've electrocuted myself twice

 

[chevypride]

Here's the tank so far. All my rock got covered so in uncovering that it got all cloudy again

 

[mr_X]

Wouldn't the pool store lights be humungous? You need more rock! 3 or 4 times that amount IMO.

 

[chevypride]

Yeah. That's only 60 pounds. I have 30 more pounds. But I just did that as a base so that it was actually down to the glass before adding sand and was going to add the other stuff on top once the cloudiness went down. And I didn't want to add to much because I'm still hoping for live rock.

 

[chevypride]

Would my sump pump work longer being an inline pump other then being fully submerged? It can be either or, I was thinking maybe I should get some flexi tubing and make a self for the pump.

 

[chevypride]

Any suggestion to get the salt off the glass? I have an algae scarper and it's doing an okay job, but was hoping there was something better.

 

[mr_X]

It's not salt that's on the glass. it's just sand dust. If that's 60 pounds of rock, I would want another 200. That rock weighs 60 pounds? Wow...it must be dense!

I don't understand what you mean by inline pump. Are you referring to an external pump? If so, you can drill the sump for an external pump, but you can't make it "in line" because most of the hobby pumps are not self priming. External or submerged makes little difference IMO. Pressure and head loss depends on the pump in question and the plumbing. Many of the external pumps are more powerful, but use more electricity as well.

 

[chevypride]

The pump I bought is a fluval sea SP4. It says it can be used as either. And the box said 60 pounds. I guess they could of ripped me off. I never weighed it.
Here's a picture of it uncover and moved around a bit. I also bought a small piece of live rock.

 

[mr_X]

Reading the pumps description, it can be plumbed outside of the tank or inside, so it does not need to be submerged in water, but the sump will need to be drilled for this to work. You can't just put a hose in the sump and expect it to start pulling water. Submerging this pump or drilling the sump and putting it outside won't make any flow difference. You will pick up a little space in the return area, but that's it.

 

[chevypride]

Yesterday I switched to flexible PVC everyone I talked to had me convinced it was better... We did the first test run and the main tank almost overflowed. The pump does 1300gph, it's a one inch pipe, durso standpipe, and my return is just hard PVC pipe that goes up and over and then some Flexable tubing to actually run it under the water. I didn't use a ball valve (the guy at the store I bought the pump from said I wouldn't need one), and another guy I talked to said his 50 gallon tanks pump pushes 1800gph and he has 1" tubing and no ball valve.

How can I make it drain faster? Could it be that I filled my sump tank with to much water? I had it filled just above the pump but the pump started to suck air after a couple of minutes, so I put a couple more gallons in and that's when it started to overflow.

At least it's quiet as a mouse when it was running

 

[mr_X]

No. filling the sump with more water wouldn't make the display overflow. Can you take a picture of the overflow? In the picture above, it looks like you have 2 standpipes...is this correct?