New R100 Sump Issues

ericwithac · Jan 21, 2019

Hey All! I am new here and new to Saltwater. Ive had good luck keeping a FW tank with Discus, and with my new "man cave" getting setup last week, I figured a 50G salt tank would be a sweet addition.

I have everything running smoothly, and the sump is running okay (Eshopps R100) but I do have one issue.

Everything was running fine yesterday. This morning I came down and the outflow was producing alot of bubbles. I looked in the return section of the sump, and sure enough the water level was below the water level line, which it was right at yesterday. I also noticed the display tank had a bit less water, so I decided to add about a gallon of water. That being said, now the water level in the return section of the sump is very high. I tried adjust the flow on the pump, to no luck.

I seem to keep having this issue. My overflow box (PF800) is as high is it will go and the water is about 1/8" above the bottom of the teeth on the overflow box.

Any advice to get my water level set and steady would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Big G · Jan 21, 2019

Welcome to R2R! I'm a FW planted tank guy from way, way back, and finally went salty a while ago. Setting the flow on your pump + tank + sump can be a bit like tuning a guitar. Do you have a gate valve on your return line from the overflow running back to the sump? Really helps to "adjust" "fine tune" the water flow with more accuracy than just turning the pump speed up or down. Hope this helps a bit.

Here's a picture of my plumbing setup on my tank and It's an Eshopps RS200 sump. Check out the metering valves coming from the bottom of the overflow box:

ericwithac · Jan 21, 2019

Thanks for the help but I figured it out. The baffle adjustment between the skimmer compartment and the return compartment was wide open. Adjusted that and got the water level perfect in the return. Thanks again!