There are 4 drains. 2 main drains and 2 emergency drains. Two main drains and 1 emergency drain are connected to my sump. The second emergency drain just empties right into the skimmer section.
Herbie overflow not working correct
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There are 4 drains. 2 main drains and 2 emergency drains. Two main drains and 1 emergency drain are connected to my sump. The second emergency drain just empties right into the skimmer section.
Twocoralsonetank
Active Member
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I have a 175 with duel overflows. I turned one into a full siphon and the other is the emergency overflow. On your emergency flow it ok to have some water trickle in it so it makes adjusting the full siphon a lot easier. You can see how much is trickling into the emergency and make adjustments. I also drilled a small hole half way up on my emergeny overflow to make sure the water in the overflow doesn't become stagnant. Pretty easy to adjust and don't worry if you have some going into your emergency overflow.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
"When set the drain on the left to where it needs to be it will slowly start to raise up and start draining down the emergency drain over a course of a day or two. The drain on the right is fully opened and still won't bring the water level down in that overflow"
I went and looked at this part again. I'm thinking you have something at least partially clogging the drain on the right.
Yeah that's what I was thinking. I took the valve apart and checked that and it was clean. I stuck some airline tubing up the drain into the overflow to try and clear it out. Unfortunately I glued the strainer to the drain so I can't stick anything down it to try and clear it. Will probably just cut the plumping out on that side and start over
Brew12
Electrical Gru
That is a lot of work!
Can you turn the return pump to minimum speed, valve off the left side, and slowly increase motor speed to see if you still have flow??
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Hmmm.... So the level is only going up and down on one side but not the other? The right side is staying fairly stable?
So when I originally plumbed everything and got the tank up and running I would have to close the valves on the main drains about half way to get the water level in my overflow where I wanted with the amount of flow I wanted through my sump (I don't want a lot of flow through the sump).
Slowly over the months the right overflow kept rising and I would have to open the valve more and more to get the water level back where I wanted. Fast forward to now the valve on the right side is completely opened and the water level isn't going down like it used to. If I had the valves all the way open originally then it would drain faster than my pump could return at the speed I want. So the right side may be partially clogged so it's hard to say if this side is stable.
If I fully open the left drain the water will empty faster than my return pump will return so I closed it some to get the water level where I want it. After a couple of days the water on the left will start to rise and rise until it reaches the emergency drain.
I wouldn't mind any of this but it's causing me not to be able to use my ato.
Just for reference in the picture the red line is where I try to keep the water level in the overflows. The orange line is about where the top of the emergency drain is.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
Two return Herbies make my head hurt! Keeping both sides in balance is difficult.So when I originally plumbed everything and got the tank up and running I would have to close the valves on the main drains about half way to get the water level in my overflow where I wanted with the amount of flow I wanted through my sump (I don't want a lot of flow through the sump).
Slowly over the months the right overflow kept rising and I would have to open the valve more and more to get the water level back where I wanted. Fast forward to now the valve on the right side is completely opened and the water level isn't going down like it used to. If I had the valves all the way open originally then it would drain faster than my pump could return at the speed I want. So the right side may be partially clogged so it's hard to say if this side is stable.
If I fully open the left drain the water will empty faster than my return pump will return so I closed it some to get the water level where I want it. After a couple of days the water on the left will start to rise and rise until it reaches the emergency drain.
I wouldn't mind any of this but it's causing me not to be able to use my ato.
Just for reference in the picture the red line is where I try to keep the water level in the overflows. The orange line is about where the top of the emergency drain is.
I think you need to fix the apparent clog in the right side. Not sure if you have read this.
http://gmacreef.com/herbie-dual-overflows/
Two return Herbies make my head hurt! Keeping both sides in balance is difficult.
I think you need to fix the apparent clog in the right side. Not sure if you have read this.
http://gmacreef.com/herbie-dual-overflows/
You're telling me. I wish I would have come up with something different but this was my first tank build. Maybe I'll look into disabling one of the overflows
Brew12
Electrical Gru
My first tank had two overflows and I ran them as Durso's. I promised myself I would never do a two overflow tank again! The Durso's were a little noisier than the Herbie, but at least I could keep them dialed in a little better.
It sounds like you are trying to control the level in the overflow box somewhere below the emergency drains with the ball valves. On a Herbie, you need to have some water going through these "emergency" overflows at all times. They are not really emergency drains like the Bean, but rather a secondary overflow. It is not possible to set the siphon drains such that they will exactly match your return pump flow. Some water has to go over the secondary to maintain a stable level. The challenge is setting each siphon so that there is some water going over each secondary overflow.
knowen87
Active Member
DCR is right. The emergency overflow is what allows you to not have to mess with the herbie valve. I use a ball valve and It is not that hard to tune. You only want a little bit of water going down the emergency drain but there needs to be a little bit
Idoc
Getting lazier and lazier with upkeep!
Another thing to consider... when setting up my single herbie drain line, research mentioned NOT to have a horizontal run of pipe to your sump. What it does is capture some air in the line that can't be removed... gives the appearance of a clogged line by limiting the flow thru the pipe. Maybe just trying to change those long horizontal runs into slants before tearing it all down.
Forsaken77
Valuable Member
So when I originally plumbed everything and got the tank up and running I would have to close the valves on the main drains about half way to get the water level in my overflow where I wanted with the amount of flow I wanted through my sump (I don't want a lot of flow through the sump).
Slowly over the months the right overflow kept rising and I would have to open the valve more and more to get the water level back where I wanted. Fast forward to now the valve on the right side is completely opened and the water level isn't going down like it used to. If I had the valves all the way open originally then it would drain faster than my pump could return at the speed I want. So the right side may be partially clogged so it's hard to say if this side is stable.
If I fully open the left drain the water will empty faster than my return pump will return so I closed it some to get the water level where I want it. After a couple of days the water on the left will start to rise and rise until it reaches the emergency drain.
I wouldn't mind any of this but it's causing me not to be able to use my ato.
Just for reference in the picture the red line is where I try to keep the water level in the overflows. The orange line is about where the top of the emergency drain is.
This may come across as simplistic, but is the tank level? After months of water, it could have leveled out to go to one side more. Just a thought I'd throw out there.
