Problem with overflow/sump/drain

[Squishie89]

I have a standard 90g Marineland reef ready tank. Please excuse any wrong terms I may use, plumbing is not a strong suit of mine. The drain pipe is the standard upside down J one with a little piece of rigid tubing coming out the top. I used to have a problem with it "surging" where water would collect in the overflow (more than where it should be) and then drain. I "fixed" this by attaching some airline tubing to the rigid plastic piece which seemed to help. Now my issue is when I turn off and back on the pumps water collects in the overflow and the sump starts to drain, sometimes even to the extent where the return pump starts to get air into it. I can make this stop by sucking air out of the drain pipe with the airline tubing. This is a huge inconvenience and I also don't want anything horrible to happen. The drain from the tank goes into a corrugated hose which leads to the first chamber. I don't know if the problem could be the corrugated hose because it is not a simple straight drop, there is a bend.



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Drain hose is the grey one, blue one is the return (the putty is only there as a backup sort of as the piping just slipped in)


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The overflow

[video=youtube_share;B5TXcBroHJs]http://youtu.be/B5TXcBroHJs[/video]
Video showing what happens.

 

[kschweer]

Your problem more than likely is the dip in your drain hose. Water is backing up in the hose until there is enough to let the water come through the dip. Either cut your existing hose to the correct length if possible, get a shorter hose, or plumb it with rigid PVC. With how it is set up now the water needs to flow uphill. Because the drains on our aquariums rely on gravity the drain needs to run "down hill" as much as possible. Here is a picture of how my drain is plumbed with rigid PVC.

 

[kschweer]

Also I would remove the putty and glue the PVC into the bulkhead with PVC primer and glue.

 

[Mike in CT]

This happens on my drilled herbie style overflow. It takes a while for all the air to be evacuated from the pipes at start up. Mine is not so bad because my emergency drain takes up the slack till the main drain is cleared of air and is at full siphon. I was able to reduce this by having my drain pipe as little under the surface of the water in the sump as possible so it had a easier time getting the air out. I would think getting the slack out of your hose would help your situation some.

 

[navila06]

I had a similar problem with my over flow, I drilled a hole in my pvc pipe about 2 inches above the water line in the sump, then stuck a 2 inch airline hose threw it, worked perfectly.

 

[Squishie89]

Thank you guys so much for the suggestions and input. I definitely have some thinking ahead of me and a lot of measuring!

 

[ks_reeftank]

I just picked up a tank like this. My prob is the other hose, the return. Tried putting vinyl hose on outside and 2 clamps. Still leaks a little. I see u put a piece inside the bulkhead. Hows that working for you. It was smooth on the inside so didn't think to do it this way. Did you glue it in?

 

[Squishie89]

I just picked up a tank like this. My prob is the other hose, the return. Tried putting vinyl hose on outside and 2 clamps. Still leaks a little. I see u put a piece inside the bulkhead. Hows that working for you. It was smooth on the inside so didn't think to do it this way. Did you glue it in?

Unfortunately I was not the one who set up the initial plumbing (or maybe fortunately?) and I have not touched the return line. Sorry =X

 

[kschweer]

I just picked up a tank like this. My prob is the other hose, the return. Tried putting vinyl hose on outside and 2 clamps. Still leaks a little. I see u put a piece inside the bulkhead. Hows that working for you. It was smooth on the inside so didn't think to do it this way. Did you glue it in?

For attaching vinyl tubing to the bulkhead I would recommend using an insert or barbed fitting. You can get these either slip (needs to be glued) or threaded, it depends wether your bulkhead is threaded or slip. More than likely your bulk head is 1" (I'm assuming here) so you will need either 1" slip or thread by what ever the inside diameter of the vinyl tubing is.
These are the fitting I am talking about

First is threaded and thread into the bulkhead and second is slip and needs to be glued into the bulkhead. Hope my all over the map explanation helps some.

 

[ks_reeftank]

Very helpful. All my local store had was threaded. I need the slip ones. Thanks for the pic too

 

[kschweer]

Very helpful. All my local store had was threaded. I need the slip ones. Thanks for the pic too

See if you can find a local irrigation supply, they usually have them.

 

[ks_reeftank]

Did the original problem get fixed? Didnt mean to jack the thread

 

[Squishie89]

Did the original problem get fixed? Didnt mean to jack the thread

Are we back to me? XD Just kidding. I have not gotten around to the drain issue, which I am sure is the problem. I need to decide if I am going to hard plumb, find a shorter hose or cut the hose. Again, not anywhere close to a plumbing person, so my dad and/or a local reefer might need to help me.