Can somebody help me with a Waterbox Overflow question

[ShaggyRS6]

Guys,

This has been frustrating me for a few days now and although it might seem simple to you its killing me. For the last couple of weeks I have to constantly adjust the drain valve in little increments to keep the water level in the overflow at a high level, i normally keep it about and inch or two below the emergency drain.

As the days have gone on the increments have gotten bigger until last night the water dropped so low it was actually below the return drain! I looked at it once and there was about a CM of water above the drain, then 5 mins later it was slightly below. That's how quickly it moved.

So last night I cranked the drain valve to the right and the levels returned to normal, I got up this morning and the level had increased to almost the top of the drain!! I dont know whats going on. I use an ECO tech M2 pump, its set to 35 percent power which gives awesome flow. I have a Vortech MP-40 that cycles through about 5 modes throughout the day.

The only commonality I can think of is that this started when I started doing my regular water changes. I have everything pump wise running through a ECO Smart live system and nothing has changed. What I did notice is when I cranked the overflow valve to the right last night I could more of a hum from the return pump. I assume that's because it is having to work harder to suck the water through?

Any advice you can give would be great.

 

[hotdrop]

I think this is a general flaw in that the the overflow for waterbox systems are actually just modified AIO systems and therefore the back chamber is too large. I have actually thought about putting 1-2 bringtwell bricks in there to decrease the volume some but havent really gotten around to it.
For me what happens is the MP10 kicks up/down in random and the overflow rate changes slightly resulting in constant problems with that drain system.

 

[KingReef]

I just got my waterbox adjusted the other day after almost a month of tuning it. I had to adjust the pump speed and the return rates, but I finally got it dialed in. I basically picked a water level for my return chamber and a pump speed and closed the return drain. Then I slowly opened it until I had the water just below the emergency drain. Before, I had been trying to adjust the return pump and the return flow at the same time. It never really worked until I picked two of the three parameters and adjusted the third.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Gotcha. Mine was fine. Then it started to go backward.

 

[lpsouth1978]

Mine has been working great from the beginning. I simply set the pump to my desired flow rate, closed the gate valve and slowly opened it (over the course of hours) until it was dead silent. No problems since. Been running for about 6 months this way.

 

[hotdrop]

Mine has been working great from the beginning. I simply set the pump to my desired flow rate, closed the gate valve and slowly opened it (over the course of hours) until it was dead silent. No problems since. Been running for about 6 months this way.

I have to open and readjust every water change

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Ah, well that was my one commonality - It all started when I started regular water changes!

 

[lpsouth1978]

I don't know what the issue is then. I turn my return off every day when I feed and have never had to readjust my drain line. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

I don't know what the issue is then. I turn my return off every day when I feed and have never had to readjust my drain line. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas for you.

I dont think it's the turning off of pumps that causes the issue. It's looking like it might be the way in which we do water changes. We might be doing something not 100% correct.

So what I do is turn everything off. Let it drain fully then take out the water. When I fill it, I fill to the points of the water just creeping over the teeth!. What I have noticed, and this might be the issue is that the water drain further than the teeth, it kind of syphones up the return pumps a little. I am wondering on the next water change if I mark the final level on the glass with a sharpie, then fill to that point!

 

[lpsouth1978]

How far under water are your return nozzles? If it is draining below the teeth of the weir it is likely that there is a bit of a siphon removing more water. Have you tried raising the nozzles a bit?

Other than that I am really not sure. When I do my water changes, I start with everything on except my ATO. I then drain water from the DT until the return pump starts to suck in air and turn he return off at that point. I drain my water into a 44g brute. While the tank is draining I start filling the sump back up with fresh saltwater from another 44g Brute. Once the dirty water Brute is full, I pull the hose from the tank and start pumping water back into the tank from the sump until the clean water Brute is empty.

This allows me to disturb the tank as little as possible since the powerheads are still running the whole time.

 

[ShaggyRS6]

How far under water are your return nozzles? If it is draining below the teeth of the weir it is likely that there is a bit of a siphon removing more water. Have you tried raising the nozzles a bit?

Other than that I am really not sure. When I do my water changes, I start with everything on except my ATO. I then drain water from the DT until the return pump starts to suck in air and turn he return off at that point. I drain my water into a 44g brute. While the tank is draining I start filling the sump back up with fresh saltwater from another 44g Brute. Once the dirty water Brute is full, I pull the hose from the tank and start pumping water back into the tank from the sump until the clean water Brute is empty.

This allows me to disturb the tank as little as possible since the powerheads are still running the whole time.

Yes my nozzles are below the teeth. That does syphon extra out.

 

[Sweetreef21]

Interesting! I just set up my waterbox last weekend and found that the valve on the drain line is very finicky. It took me about 30mins to get it dialed in to where i wanted it. Alot of times it overflowed down the emergency drain. Now that i got it in tune, fingers crossed, im worried about wc’s and having to readjust everytime. Im a little worried now after reading this lol

 

[ShaggyRS6]

Interesting! I just set up my waterbox last weekend and found that the valve on the drain line is very finicky. It took me about 30mins to get it dialed in to where i wanted it. Alot of times it overflowed down the emergency drain. Now that i got it in tune, fingers crossed, im worried about wc’s and having to readjust everytime. Im a little worried now after reading this lol

I think its more likely me. Although the bit I cant get my head around is why the level would drop on its on so quickly last night. Now I did have a skimmer issue where is was over skimming. So that could have been an attribute.

 

[KRob19]

Mine has been working great from the beginning. I simply set the pump to my desired flow rate, closed the gate valve and slowly opened it (over the course of hours) until it was dead silent. No problems since. Been running for about 6 months this way.

How did you set your waterbox to the desired flow rate?

 

[Jon's Reef]

If you still have the ball valve type valve, cut it off and replace it with a Spears gate valve.

 

[TheresaBrant]

Guys,

This has been frustrating me for a few days now and although it might seem simple to you its killing me. For the last couple of weeks I have to constantly adjust the drain valve in little increments to keep the water level in the overflow at a high level, i normally keep it about and inch or two below the emergency drain.

As the days have gone on the increments have gotten bigger until last night the water dropped so low it was actually below the return drain! I looked at it once and there was about a CM of water above the drain, then 5 mins later it was slightly below. That's how quickly it moved.

So last night I cranked the drain valve to the right and the levels returned to normal, I got up this morning and the level had increased to almost the top of the drain!! I dont know whats going on. I use an ECO tech M2 pump, its set to 35 percent power which gives awesome flow. I have a Vortech MP-40 that cycles through about 5 modes throughout the day.

The only commonality I can think of is that this started when I started doing my regular water changes. I have everything pump wise running through a ECO Smart live system and nothing has changed. What I did notice is when I cranked the overflow valve to the right last night I could more of a hum from the return pump. I assume that's because it is having to work harder to suck the water through?

Any advice you can give would be great.

I just set my Waterbox up and iam having the same problem

 

[TheresaBrant]

Did you ever figure it out iam at a loss