Sump setup

[jl1199]

I am trying to get my sump going along with my fuge. My tank is a 75 corner and my fuge is a 29. Every time i start my pump (mag 950) it sucks all the water out of the sump. So my question is should i put a ball vaulve on the pump to slow it down or should a down grad pumps.

I got it to until I conneted the fuge and the same problem occured. This is my secound question. Should I have the overflow from the fuge running throw the wet/dry with the overflow from the tank or should I have it running straight into the return section of the sump.

Thanks
Jonathan

[tomanero]

You could "T" off your return line and have one side of the "T" with a ball valve going back into the sump. That way you can adjust what goes back into the display tank without putting any back pressure on the pump. I'm pretty new here but from what I've been told those pumps aren't designed to have any back pressure on them. There made to be run full out only.

To all my MAAST teachers:
Mike, Ace, Joseph, Frederick, Carlos, Steve, etc., etc., etc.)
Good advice?
See, I pay attention.

Watch Johnathan,
there'll be 5 emergency e-mails telling you NOT to do it like this. <_<
These people are cool. They'll steer you right.

First thing you'll hear is why did you get a Mag and not an Eheim?
(Right Mikey?) ;)

[bstock]

do you have enough water in the sump? when your pump turns on you have to have enought water in your sump to start forcing water out of the tank and fall to the sump

[txstateunivreefer]

ok i have seen his tank and the way he has it set up is he has a 75 corner w/ a hang on overflow beside that he has what i would call a 29 display fuge w/ another hang on overflow. he has both overflows running into one pipe thru a T which empties both overflows into the wet dry intake (wet dry is similar to a pro clear aquatics set up. then he has his skimmer in the sump. as well as a mag 9 as his return pump. from there he runs that up to his display tank which outputs thru a DIY PVC u tube. for return on the fuge he has a generic 300gph pump pushing water back into the fuge.

as far as preaching eheim over mag drives i went there already so he doesnt need the energy speech.

what i think might be the problem is between the two pumps they are sucking more water than the overflows can provide.

the sucking of bubbles is not from a shortage of water in the system as i thought that was it in the first place and he almost overflowed the tank.

i told him his options would be

1. remove the T from the sump feed and dump the fuge water direct into the resivor this would
A. remove flow restrictions allowing all water going thru the wet dry portion of filter to be from the display tank
B. save all of his pods etc from a pretty certian death on his pvc ribbon filter media
2. restrict the output flow of his mag drive to allow his overflows to keep up

other ideas on the problem?

[captexas]

It sounds like when the pump starts up it is pumping faster than the overflows can drain back to the sump. Two things I would look at.

1. You need to find out what the overflows are rated for and make sure you aren't exceding that with the size of your return pump.
2. The water volume in the sump could be an issue as well. You may not have enough water in the sump. You need to figure out the minimum level and the maximum water level in the sump and make sure you keep adding enough top-off water to keep it between those two levels. You have to balance having as much water in the sump as you can to keep your return pump from running dry and then also make sure you don't have too much water in the sump that it would overflow if the power went out or you turn your pump off.

[txstateunivreefer]

2. The water volume in the sump could be an issue as well





the sucking of bubbles is not from a shortage of water in the system as i thought that was it in the first place and he almost overflowed the tank.

[erikharrison]

maybe the addage of some overflows would assist in troubleshooting??

[captexas]

the sucking of bubbles is not from a shortage of water in the system as i thought that was it in the first place and he almost overflowed the tank.



DOH! Well that narrows it down. Sounds more like the overflows either aren't large enough for that size return pump or they just don't start sucking water down fast enough. I think every setup has some surge to it when it's first started up and as long as it doesn't overflow the tank it should be ok. If I turn my return pump off for awhile and then back on, it sucks a lot of water from the sump before the corner overflow fills up and water starts to drain down the standpipe. Once the drain gets going, the sump balances back off.

[Texreefer]

you guys said it in many more words, but bottom line is more water being pumped into sytstem than system can dump back into sump.. try this turn sytem pumps off,, how far up in sump is water.. if it is only half way or so.. add more water till it is closer to top.. you might just not have enough water in the system

[Texreefer]

did not see above post nevermind

[txstateunivreefer]

well i talked to him (this is an old roommate of mine) and he is going to either remove the 2nd pump and plumb it into the magdrives feed to match both overflows which are the single style which usually pull or can handle about 600gph. or ball valve the output of the pump to dial it down. he is also going to remove the T from the wet dry feed to save the lives of his pods etc

[brewercm]

Sounds like you may have it under control.
BTW, some of the single overflows are only rated for 350 to 400 GPH, so it depends on that also.

[txstateunivreefer]

if thats the case then he could feed both tanks off his 1 pump since the mag 9 w/ a 4' head will push around 6-700 gph

[brewercm]

That could be a possibility also, and don't worry too much about critters getting chopped up in the pumps. I'm sure some do and become fish food but some are so small they just take a quick ride, kind of like a splashtown for pods. :wacko

[erikharrison]

some are so small they just take a quick ride, kind of like a splashtown for pods.

LOL, perfect analogy.

[txstateunivreefer]

oh my pods know all about that they go from my fuge some to my skimmer some to my UV (hopefully not but some make their way to that pump chicken fried pods), then finally to my return. the only critters im worried about getting chopped up are my BTAs thats why they are on the other side of the tank from my iwaki intake for the closed loop

[snkbyte]

if he is using the overflow he got from me i think it is a 600gph