Frequently Having to Adjust Return Flow?

[dangles]

I've been noticing lately that I'm having to frequently make minor adjustments to my flow. The water level in my overflow box SLOWLY goes down over a day or two, resulting in noisier flow. So I either increase my return pump power by 1%, or slightly back off my primary return drain gate valve to bring the water back up to where it's JUST about to go down the secondary drain. But it doesn't really seem to "settle in" and stay there.

I can't imagine that's normal. What are some things I should consider?

Some background...

The system has been up and running since December. I have an Ecotech Vectra M2, and am using a Bean Animal overflow. My tank is a 120 gallon Planet Aquarium with an external overflow.

 

[Idech]

I have a similar system, bean animal and same pump. I do have to adjust my gate valve every 4-5 days, even if slightly. I don’t fiddle with the pump anymore.

How do you adjust it with 1% increments ? The pump has 10 settings, so 10% increments ?

I’ll be following but so far I think this is to be expected, as it’s almost impossible to achieve a 100% equilibrium between up flow and down flow.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

There are a few things.... algae grows in the "teeth" of the overflow (don't know what its called), algae and stuff grows on the inside of the tubing, and also the return pump slowly gets dirtier over time which affects performance.

 

[dangles]

I have a similar system, bean animal and same pump. I do have to adjust my gate valve every 4-5 days, even if slightly. I don’t fiddle with the pump anymore.

How do you adjust it with 1% increments ? The pump has 10 settings, so 10% increments ?

I’ll be following but so far I think this is to be expected, as it’s almost impossible to achieve a 100% equilibrium between up flow and down flow.

I adjust the pump through Mobius.

I really hope it's not "normal"

I've read from a few other people that the Tideline overflow box from PA is just plain noisy and nothing can be done besides swap it out with a custom from somebody else. It may come to that - although I'm not sure that would solve my wandering water level issue.

 

[dangles]

There are a few things.... algae grows in the "teeth" of the overflow (don't know what its called), algae and stuff grows on the inside of the tubing, and also the return pump slowly gets dirtier over time which affects performance.

That was definitely something that had crossed my mind. Is it just a constant battle that has to fought then?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

That was definitely something that had crossed my mind. Is it just a constant battle that has to fought then?

IME, ya. I don't remember as much hassle in the AC pump days because we couldn't fine tune, it was all or nothing, lol, and I didn't run gate valves til the last 5 years, all ball valves before that. Don't remember any troubles on reef ready tanks or hob style drains.

I battle it more on my 120g as well, the older 50 cube dosent give me any trouble. Both dc pumps with a herbie style drain on both tanks.

 

[Lemons]

With my WB i find i usually have to "flush" the seat of the return valve to help quiet it down, usually every 2-3 days. But i have also been upping the % on my neptune COR return pump... but thats over due for a cleaning LOL

 

[Idech]

I adjust the pump through Mobius.

I don’t know how you manage that. Every time I used Mobius, it destroyed all my previous settings and I had to do it all over again.

Are you sure Mobius isn’t part of the problem ?

 

[dangles]

I don’t know how you manage that. Every time I used Mobius, it destroyed all my previous settings and I had to do it all over again.

Are you sure Mobius isn’t part of the problem ?

Yeah. When you're in the settings for the pump it shows a percentage for the power. So unless it's not actually what it says it is, I don't think that's the issue.