Need help with filtration problem

[jack1111]

I recently hired a maintenance guy to help with my tank. We upgraded to a 110 w/ a dolphin 2700 pump and new sump (think it's 125) with the sock filters. After 3 months the sediment is as bad as day 1, and the maintenance guy told me there was nothing more he could do. The guy at the store told me to try and use 2 drains from the overflow box, and pipe the return to the opposite side of the overflow box. He said this should allow more water to flow into the sump which will pull more sediment in. Right now the sediment is flowing in a clockwise whirlpool rotation in the tank. Can anyone tell me if this is necessary or does anyone have more suggestions? It seems if you have more water going into the sump then you need to increase the pump? Or do they naturally balance out somehow? Seems to defy physics. Please someone help as I am out of ideas. I never had this problem with my old system!

 

[Bifferwine]

What exactly is the problem? Are you having algae problems? Diatoms (rust colored particles on the sand and rocks)? I think I need more info to understand your problem.

 

[kimoy]

+1 on The Biff. need more info on your issues. a photo will help also. but by judging with what is said so far, I think you need to fire your maintenance guy. He should not be in this kind of business if he don't know how to fix it. and if you are talking about particles floating in the water try getting a HOT filter like what you use for freshwater filter and run it for a few days with a filter pad. HTH

 

[jack1111]

The sand bed particles that are being kicked up by my gobi are lifting straight into this "whirlpool" around the tank. I can watch the particles go right by the overflow box, but very few are going in. Let's say there's 1000 particles an hour getting kicked up and only 200 are getting filtered. Every hour 800 particles are being added to this. I have tried changing directions of my lock lines, adjusting the rate of the pump flow, and have routered out the holes on the overflow box to try and get the flow increased to draw more of this sediment in. I did fire the maintenance guy after the owner of the aquarium store told me he was repeatedly asking him what to do about my tank. There is no algae or diatoms from what I can see. I will try the HOT filter if you think it will help. It seems like it will need to be a permanent fixture whatever I end up doing. Do you think that making both holes in the overflow box drain into the sump would help the issue? Right now the ex-maintenance guy has one going to the sump and the other as the return line. A picture probably won't show the sediment. I thought about removing the gobi, but lots of people have gobis and don't have this problem.

 

[reeffreak]

The purpose of the overflow to the sump isn't really for mechanical filtration.Sure the filter sock catches larger particles but the dust from the sand no so much.Get a canister filter to remove the fine particles but be forewarned,they need to be cleaned often,weekly or bi-monthly.Letting decaying matter in the filter media and allowing it to be become a biological filter will cause problems in itself.No problem though if you clean it often.

 

[Bifferwine]

If your sandbed is being lifted off the bottom and through the overflows, I think you have too much flow. Get a ball valve from Home Depot or Lowe's (one made of all plastic material) and plumb it into the line from your return pump. Dial down that flow. In saltwater tanks, a lot of flow is necessary, but if it's creating a tornado of sand in your tank, that's too much. Like Freak said, sand isn't supposed to go down the overflows. It's supposed to stay on the bottom of the tank.

 

[fatman]

What size is your substrate. Is your tornadoing sediment just a small portion of oines from within your substrate you want to get rid of are is all your sustrate fine enough that it is going to be lifted with the return system you are using. If it is just a small amount of the whole of your substrate the only easy way to get rid of it is to pull water from the zone that holds the sediment. It would probably cause a huge cloud in your tank to provide enough velocity to the water flow within your tank to get that sediment up to a skimmer overflow. It takes velocity to keep particles in suspension. The heavier the sediment the larger the velocity must be to carry the sediment. You would probably be better off turning off all circulation pumps and letting the sediment settle out and then vacumning it out with a siphon hose. You will have to replace some water, but get rid of the sediment. I have sugar fine aragonite oolitic sand in my tanks with huge amounts of flow and the sand stays on the bottom without swirling. Lots of people do put larger size substrate on top of really fine susstrate to keep it in place. Fines do not work their way to the top, just the oposite. Large substrates, unless contained, will always work their way to the top of a bed.