Overflow Issues.

So, today I decided to try and hook up the overflow. My goal: To get the water to go through the overflow box into a 10 gallon tank which has a skimmer then return to the main tank. I wanted this done without water on the floor (dare to dream) and hopefully without blowing bubbles or my horses. I got it all to work but I was blowing tons of micro bubbles so I turned off the skimmer. Still had bubbles. I realized that my overflow box was sucking water so quickly that it was pulling air into the siphon. My aqua lifter was pulling most of the bubbles out but not all. I adjusted the box so the water was trickling in. It seemed to help with the bubbles but then my water level got dangerously high. I was fiddling around trying to find a happy medium but I could never find the "sweet spot". I had to go make dinner so I decided to just turn everything off until tomorrow, bad idea. I realized I needed to get my overflow box out of the water but somehow in the process of turning everything off I got a reverse siphon in my return line and flooded the floor with about 2 gallons of water. Now, there is a big puddle of salt in the carpet under my tank. This is why I wanted to pull up the carpet and put down tiles but my husband didn't want to damage the carpet. Grrrrrrrrrr.

So, I've got 2 problems with my system. 1. How do I make the air stop getting sucked into my overflow. and 2. My return line is really blasting out the water and it is way too strong for my horses. I have a QuietOne 3000 for my return pump what should I get?

This is frustrating.
Catherine

What kind of overflow do you have? Sounds like you are trying to push too much water thru it.
Did you drill any small holes just below the surface on your return line? That would stop the return line from siphoning back into the sump once the water dropped to where the holes are drilled.

Thanks C!

Here's what I got:


That's a CS90 rated for 600gph. QuietOne 3000 which I thought was 500 gph?

I've got it hooked through a Maxi-Jet 900 and it's doing fine so I think my pump is too strong? I'm getting bubbles when I turn on my skimmer but I'll deal with that tomorrow. I also thought I had enough clearance behind my tank but I didn't leave enough space for my overflow. I also need to move my tank out about 2 inches. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

You need a valve on your return line after the pump to slow things down. The pump is sucking the water out of the sump quicker than can fall down the overflow box. PM me and I'll give you my phone number if you need assistance.

Sometimes new piping creates micro bubbles too. Ccapt is right on target with the siphon holes. Do you have a ball valve on the return pump?

Oscarsdad608 said:

Sometimes new piping creates micro bubbles too. Ccapt is right on target with the siphon holes. Do you have a ball valve on the return pump?

Click to expand...

I don't know what a ball valve is. I've got a clear bit of tubing stuck into the pump which empties into my tank. That's how they had it in the picture?

Catherine

won't a valve make the pump burn out? Shouldn't I get a smaller pump?

catherine

That pump is rated at 780 g p h, gallons per hour. Overflow clearly says 600, ain't gonna happen. Got to throttle that pump back a little. I just did this on NJDevils tank, darn pump was like a hurricane, overflow 1" built in couldn't keep up, added a valve after the pump. Actually, going against what everyone thinks, I add valves in the line from the overflow, full port ball valves, and a fp ball valve after the return pump. Makes life easy when you need to shut it down without worrying.....

FP ball valve?

Thanks SeaBee.

A ball valve is a plumbing valve that you turn 1/4 turn to fully open and close, as opposed to the typical gate valve which takes several turns to make the gate travel. Also the ball valve will typically open fully to the pipe sive, hence the term full port, a gate valve has the gate in theway of the flow all the time, and closes the pipe a little. Check them out in Home Depot you'll see the difference. Ball valves cost more, but dont't leak around the packing and are open in the open position. They used to call them Appollo valves, all stainless designed for Nasa years ago.

Note what they say about gate valves, lol.

PVC sch40 valves - PlumbingSupply.com

Thanks, SeaBee.

Catherine

That's the same pump and overflow that I use Catherine. It will work for you once you have them dialed in. I have a ball valve off of a tee coming out of the return going back into the sump to throttle down the return into the tank so the overflow keeps up with the pump. Sounds complicated but after you see all this you will understand. Good Luck!

SUCCESS!

So I went to Home Depot with this sketch on a napkin and there was this guy there, Chuck, who managed to put together everything I needed. I put in a 'T' then a 'Ball Valve' on the line that went to the tank. The other one dumps back into the sump. Everything is moving properly! Woot! Just a few more issues: moving my tank, putting a hole in my wall, adding in the fuge....

I couldn't have done this without you guys! Thanks!

Catherine

WOOT, you go girlfriend!!!

Great news:bounce: