Please Help...Losing Water!?!

bigfoot86 · Jan 5, 2015

Hi everybody, it's been a while since I've posted anyting on R2R. Running into a BIG problem right now with my 90 gal reef tank. I've had it for almost 2 1/2 years now and recently over the last few weeks I've noticed the water level in the main display tank has risen to the VERY top causing water to be lost on overflow (water literally coming out the top of the tank). I've tried adjusting the auto top-off eye in the sump and it made no difference to the water in the main display tank. I even tried displacing the water in the main tank by removing a couple decent sizes of live rock and it STILL didn't make a difference. Help me....try to understand why it's like that?! I also tried just not putting as much water in on the water changes and that doesn't make a difference either. What's goin on?

AZDesertRat · Jan 5, 2015

Sounds like your overflow is not keeping up with your return pump.
Something we often neglect but need to do is clean the overflow standpipe and plumbing. The last time I opened mine up I was amazed at the sponge growth and slime inside everything and how much better it flowed once I ran a Fluval cleaning brush through it all.

You should also have a valve on the discharge side of your return pump to throttle the flow to match your overflow rate.

bigfoot86 · Jan 5, 2015

No need to respond, I found the problem out. The openings of my overflow had so much coraline algae that grew over them the were preventing water from flowing thru, instead the water was trying to go the the tight cover on top of the corner flow. I cleared the the way of the algae from the openings and once again the water returned back to normal height. That's all it was...

bigfoot86 · Jan 5, 2015

Yea AZDesertRat...I did take a look at that overflow and it did blow my mind away the stuff that grew in there, your right. Might have been the first time I looked down it.

Mike in CT · Jan 5, 2015

I also get this when my overflow teethe get covered with algae.

Greenstreet.1 · Jan 5, 2015

I had the same issue for a little. I built a over flow cover from acrylic sprayed it black to stop light from going in the overflow box all algae has since stop growing in overflow and on teeth.