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Help

Hi all new to the hobby a friend of mine gave me a 65 aga with drilled fitting a rs 80 euro reef skimmer,mag 9 pump trigger systems sump stand for the tank t5 light and is going to stock it with fish an coral when i get it set up if i get it running right. put the tank on the stand in my bed room put the sump underneath attached a 1 1/4 hose to the tank and stuck the other side in the sump than attached a 3/4 hose to the mag 9 and the tank put the pump in the sump filled the tank up with water and turned it on every ting looked good the water started to fill up the over flow i adjusted the pipe to get the water height than it started bubble and gurgle out of the supply to the sump i called my friend and he told me he wasn't good at plumbing so id some looking around on the web found bits and pieces so iv in stalled valves on the supply and return messed wit those tings since Monday when i think Ive got it good i wake up in the morning and its almost over flowing i don't know what to do could used some help my name is Matt im from linden my phone number is (908)278-8282 if some one is close or has any ideas please call me
 
Hey Matt, your post is a little hard to read without punctuations, so are you trying to say that the tank is almost overflowing? Is the sump almost overflowing? Does the tank have an overflow box built in or is it just pre-drilled? Can you take a pic of the setup if possible?
 
if it is overflowing. drain is faster than return. sounds like you were fiddling with flows (return/drain) and it isn't necessarily equalized. I'd open up the return a bit then try again. it's a waiting game with everything. also, as merv requested a picture would help see your setup and understand how your flow is moving and where you need to open or close some.
 

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I'm not sure if I'm understanding it correctly, but it sounds like you have a valve on your drain going to your sump? You should never have a valve on the drain, leave that wide open, otherwise you're asking for a flood.
 
thanks for the quick response. My tank has an overflow box built in to it. I have a valve on the return and the supply to the sump. IF I throttle down my supply to the sump it helps out but my tanks water level starts to raise, sometimes its so slow i cant tell whats going on. Im really not sure how it is all supposed to work pulse im a really bad at typing so it is hard to explain whats going on. i will try to get a picture of it to night. If someone could call me im better on the phone. thanks
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
There are ways to quiet the overflow without restricting the flow to the sump. You can never perfectly balance things that way. Look into a Durso.
 
You heed to fill your tank till it will start to come out overflow drains. Then fill your sump to the fill line or a few inches above your pumps intake. Turn the valve on the drain line all the way open. Leave the valve on the pump all the way open. Now turn on pump. If the tank starts to fill up past the overflows then you have to close the valve on the pump a little bit. If its still to much flow turn the valve closed a bit more. You should be able to get it decent like this. better to have a little less flow than to have too much and overflow the tank. Now if the water in the overflow or tank flucuates a lot then you have an air problem with your drain. Thats a whole different story. youll have to post pics for help wit that. The pipe in your bulkhead inside the overflow should have a hole in the top for an air vent. If you do have a water level problem then this is prob the cause.
 
thanks for all of the ideas i made a new standpipe this morning got it all up and running it quieted down a lot but im getting a tremendous amount of micro-bubbles coming out of supply to the sump. i took pictures but i cant upload them they are they are in photo bucket under smitty484 photo
 

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
hey welcome to the club. glad to hear Ronnie's old tank back up and ruuning again.

Try a filter sock for bubbles. As for pics put the photo bucket web address between these with no spaces [ img][ /img]
 
here is my tank

fishtank001.jpg

fishtank002.jpg

fishtank003.jpg

fishtank004.jpg

fishtank005.jpg
 
i personally prefer filter socks and having the drain output atleast 4" below the water line. as mentioned previously, i would keep the drain full throttle and only back peddle the return but i'd T off return to the sump so it doesn't effect your return pump.
 
The whole pipe in the overflow is too high. It shouldnt be stickin out of the tank. Id cut about 2 1/2 inches or so off of it. you should have like a 1-3 inch drop into the overflow ( overflow level should be 1-3 inch lower than display, it will still be quiet ). The pipe in the overflow should be bigger than the bulkhead size. If your bulkhead is 1 inch then that pipe should be 1 1/2 if you can fit it in there or 1 1/4. Then reduce it at the bottom to 1" to fit in the bulkhead. also id make the drain pipe dump straight down in to your sump not along the surface like that. You can prob just turn that one elbow or maybe have to get one thats a different degree.
 
evoIX said:
i'd T off return to the sump so it doesn't effect your return pump.

Evo restricting the pump with a ball valve does not harm it at all. Prob 99% or all of the pumps for aquariums are made to run this way ( restricted ). I get your thinking by teeing the excess flow back into the sump, but its only increasing the flow in the sump and making it easier for micro bubbles to get to the display.
 

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Nickjr000 said:
Evo restricting the pump with a ball valve does not harm it at all. Prob 99% or all of the pumps for aquariums are made to run this way ( restricted ).

Are you sure about that? I've been told it's better to NOT restrict a pump and have any excess diverted back to the sump (at least on pressure rated pumps)
 
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