Sump and overflow

[Mr_Cool]

Okay. I was taking pics today so that I can post them. The overflow box fell off the table and broke. Thanks a lot! (JK. Not your fault. I should have taken the bulkhead out first.)

Anyway, I'm trying to reinforce it right now. As soon as it dries a little more, I'll take pics of the overflow and post. Then, you can tell me if you think it will work.

Basically, I made two separate boxes; a small one for inside and a larger one for outside the tank. I glued them together with another strip of acrylic. It was a pretty good job, I thought. I guess it just hit the ground at the wrong spot and snapped the two boxes apart. I'm reinforcing it with two strips of acrylic that cross over the top of the outside box, across the strip that connects the boxes and extends to the back of the inside box. This way, I'm really connecting the inside and outside boxes again, but also connecting to the piece that originally connected the boxes. (You'll see in the pic.)

[Mr_Cool]

I have some acrylic left over. It's 1/4 inch thick. Can I make a fuge out of the same smoke colored acrylic? The only fuges I've seen have been clear, though. Just wondering if the color makes a difference.

C'mon Lonestar and dwdenny. I posted my pics. Do you think the overflow will hold?

[Mr_Cool]

O'kay. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I have everything hooked up, and it's working. But, I just don't understand. I have a Rio 1700 for a return pump, which is rated for about 600 gallons per hour at four feet of head. Since the overflow is external, I needed to use a U-tube. The U-tube I got from Alamo is 1 1/8 inch inside diameter. That means it should be good for about 600 gallons per hour. Sounds like I should be able to get by with just one U-tube. But, that's not doing the job.

I am currently using the 1 1/8 inch U-tube, along with 3 others that I rigged up so that it would work without throttling back the pump too much. 2 of the ones I rigged up are 3/4 inch plastic tubing, and the other is 1 inch PVC that I put together with some extra pipe and a couple of 90 degree elbows. With all four of these running, I still have to throttle the pump back a bit.

What's the deal?! Is there something I'm doing wrong? I guess I just don't understand enough about how these things work.

(BTW, the overflow is holding just fine.)

[Darth-Tater]

Are you getting a good flow through the u-tube? I know in the past if I don't get a good flow it never keeps up with the pum.

DT

[Mr_Cool]

I'm getting good flow, Darth. I have FOUR U-tubes going. My brother-in-law and I have been looking at things. We think we may have this solved, but, still need some thoughts. If you look at the pics of the overflow, you might be able to see a divider/baffle that separates the outside box into two sections. It seems that the water level in the tank is tied to the height of this baffle. If I were to lower the height of the baffle by cutting an inch or so of it away, do you think that would help?

I didn't make the overflow so that the inside box can be raised while the outside box stays at the same height, though. Someone please help! I have it working now, but I'm not getting the full flow from my pump. In fact, I can't upgrade to a better pump until I figure this out.