Sump problem

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808

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
Messages
56
Location
Hawaii
So i finally finished my DIY sump, got it all hooked up to the return piping, and did a test run. Roughly 20gal sump, in to a 55 gal main, with a mag 7 return pump. The problem is that my mag is pumping the water so fast that it drains the return section, causing it to suck up air and fill the tank with bubbles. I have a ball valve on it, and i have to close it pretty much halfway to slow the pump down enough so it doesn't suck all the water. Is this because of my overflow not flowing fast enough? It's rated for tanks 75-100 gal. It drains in to a 1" bulkhead. I figured this would be good enough as i have a 55gal. Anything i can do to try fix this, aside from closing the valve? Is my overflow just not able to keep up?

Another quick question. How much pressure am i losing with this setup on my return piping? Floor to top of tank is 4', and i pump up 2' before i tee it off. It runs to the left and right of the tank, with 4 "arms" that then pump up the final 2' to the tank. Would i have been better off just sending the water straight up the 4', splitting with the tee, and then put my returns in? Only during my test run i realized that pumping up 2' on 4 return arms totally kills my pressure...but would it make that much of a difference that i should redo my piping?
 
If the pump is draining the sump, I assume there is plenty of water in the tank to equalize. The pump will fill the tank first of course. I think with a 1" drain you might be at the limit with a mag 7. Although with the T in there and the pressure drop, I would think it might work. My frag tanks have a 1" drain and I throttle the Mag7 back a bit. You could try a ball valve to see if this helps but I don't normally recommend throttling a pump back like that permanently.

HTH
 
When i first tested it, i just thought that i needed to add more water to compensate for whatever filled the pipes, etc. But even when i did that, the pump just pushed it all to the main and emptied out the return section. I know the pump will fill the tank first, but to what point? I mean, if i keep adding water to the sump, wouldn't it eventually overflow the main and spill over the sides?
 
I assume you have a hang on overflow so the water has to be flowing through this. Is the tank draining to the sump while the pump is running? If the pump is too strong for the overflow, then yes it will overflow the tank.
The tank has to be full and the siphon on the overflow in use. What overflow are you using? A hang on overflow has to be started for it to work.
 
If it is a HOB then you could always add another one to help move the water faster if not keep the pump throttled back it should be fine as this has worked for me. If the tank is drilled then you can always put in a bigger drain.
 
I'm using a eshopps overflow i got at my lfs. http://www.eshopps.com/overflowboxes.php it's the PF-800 model. Yes, the overflow is siphoning water to the sump, just not fast enough to match the pump i guess. When i throttle back the pump with my ball valve then the sump can keep up. What if i bought another u-tube, and had 2 u-tubes siphoning to the overflow? Would that matter, or would i need to have another hose to carry the water to the sump?
 
Weird. An overflow rated for the size of the tank? That seems crazy. Size of the pump it can handle would be a better choice. Are you getting a full siphon through the Utube? No air at the top of the tube?
 
yup, no air bubble in the top of the siphon. i guess my overflow can't handle the pump cause i dunno what else there is.
 
Looks like it. I guess you will need a smaller pump, another overflow or just throttle your pump back. Mag pumps are pretty tough so you should be good.
 
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