raising water height in display tank

[riche]

I have a bean animal style overflow in my 180 and for some reason I cant get the water height to go past a certain height.

I have the tank going to a sump about 5 feet below the drain and I have a mag 18 feeding the return.

I have dual returns on the tank, and I'm wondering if I need to get a bigger return pump to feed the tank faster to raise the water level.

I have a 1-1/2 drain and a 1" return to give a idea

Everything is flowing good, just the water level is below the frame and its driving me crazy, as i want to get it about that point so I dont see a gap

 

[mr11]

Do you have a gate valve on the drain?

 

[riche]

No Its running wide open. Should I have a valve on there?

 

[mr11]

Having a gate valve on there will allow you to choke down the pipe and limit the amount of water that will flow through it. Fine tuning this should allow you to maintain the ideal water level for your system.

The level of your open channel and emergency drain also determine water height. Do you have a picture?

 

[Triggreef]

The level of your open channel and emergency drain

Make sure you have something like that first before you go adjusting you gate valve to adjust water height. Otherwise you'll have a lot of water on the floor the first little thing that slows down your drain.

 

[riche]

I only have the drain and emergency drain.

 

[mr11]

That sounds like a Herbie overflow to me. Is any water going down the emergency drain pipe? I'd say your only option is installing a gate valve on the main drain line. I guess a stronger pump would work too but that depends on your setup. Other's probably would know better.