Red Sea Peninsula Drain Issue !

[Jackooze]

I am stomped with the problem I am currently experiencing and hope someone can point me in the right direction. Recently my RSR Peninsula started making loud noise from the overflow box. The water is flowing into the emergency drain and making that suction noise. I have an upgraded precision Gate valve which is now fully turned to the left and should lower the water below the emergency drain. The water is not going down! I’m not sure if the gate valve is working properly but I don’t understand how. The the main drain pipe that goes down to the sump is connected directly to the clarisea ask-5000 fleece filter and everything on the clarisea seems like it’s working. Has anyone else experienced something like this ?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Is there something clogging or stuck in the main drain?

 

[Jackooze]

Is there something clogging or stuck in the main drain?

I thought the same thing so I ran a smaller hose then the pipe to see if there are any clogs and it went all the way through. I took apart the spears gate valve as well and cleaned that out. Same issue. It’s full open and the water level is above the emergency drain.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

I thought the same thing so I ran a smaller hose then the pipe to see if there are any clogs and it went all the way through. I took apart the spears gate valve as well and cleaned that out. Same issue. It’s full open and the water level is above the emergency drain.

Is your return pump pushing out too many gph for main drain to handle?

 

[Jackooze]

I’ve been using the same ecotech L2 pump for the last two years. The sump is in the basement which has around 6-8 ft of head pressure I only get 450gph flow reading from the Neptune FLM. I did recently clean the pump but I can’t see how that could be the issue.

 

[Jackooze]

Is your return pump pushing out too many gph for main drain to handle?

The return pump was running at 100% and I reduced it to %50 and it’s still overflowing into emergency drain.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Did that move your water level down in the overflow chamber?

 

[Jackooze]

Did that move your water level down in the overflow chamber?

No. Nothing changed at all in the overflow box. Still going into emergency pipe and making noise.

 

[Boreas_SA]

How deep is the pipe under water in the sump? And lots of elbows from tank to sump on the main overflow pipe? Could be that there is air lock in pipe if outlet is deep underwater in the sump that stops water flowing through properly.

 

[Jackooze]

How deep is the pipe under water in the sump? And lots of elbows from tank to sump on the main overflow pipe? Could be that there is air lock in pipe if outlet is deep underwater in the sump that stops water flowing through properly.

That’s a good point about the air lock but how can I check for that ?
The main pipe is connected directly to the clarisea fleece filter and the emergency drain is about 6” deep. The main drain has 4 elbows under the tank before going in to the hose that goes into the wall down to the basement.

 

[Jackooze]

So I snaked all the drain pipes and made sure there is no blockage and still having the same issue. Is it possible the spears gate valve is not functioning properly ?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

So I snaked all the drain pipes and made sure there is no blockage and still having the same issue. Is it possible the spears gate valve is not functioning properly ?

Good call possibly, can you shut things down and remove it?

 

[Jackooze]

Good call possibly, can you shut things down and remove it?

I took it apart and cleaned it and same issue. I am not able to tell if the gate valve is spinning correctly inside because I don’t have unions on either side of it. I was only able to remove the wheel and gate.

 

[Simon Reefing]

Is the filter fleece dirty on the filter roller?

 

[blaxsun]

Unrelated, but you'll want to replace those metal clamps with plastic ones (or zip ties).

 

[Jackooze]

Is the filter fleece dirty on the filter roller?

Yes. It’s working and turning as soon as the sensor is activated.

 

[blaxsun]

I'm not seeing anything in your piping that could potentially hinder flow - and either overflow pipe should be able to handle much more than 450Gph. It has to be something with that gate valve.

 

[Jackooze]

I'm not seeing anything in your piping that could potentially hinder flow - and either overflow pipe should be able to handle much more than 450Gph. It has to be something with that gate valve.

I have to agree. I ordered a new one and hopefully that’s the fix. I’ve had the same setup for three years now so this is a weird issue.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

I have a brand new Red Sea Reefer XL 300 G2 that is doing the EXACT same thing. I have turned in a ticket to Red Sea and it they have been very slow to respond. Every excuse in the world, but no remedy.

I get up in the morning to a dry return chamber. The overflow at the back of the tank is overflowing and the display is backed up with water. I turn the adjustment return valve a turn counterclockwise to open more flow, a gush happens and within 60 seconds the water level is good in the sump. I then have to wait 5 minutes and turn it back to almost where I had it, clockwise to get the correct level in the overflow.

All is well for a few hours, then rinse and repeat. EVERY single morning, this is the routine. I have no blockages, pump isn't pumping too much and is actually turned way down trying to combat this problem. It has been a nightmare since I purchased this in October 2022.

Red Sea support has been terrible so far. I even bought the 5 year extended warranty for $189.99. 2 weeks after I bought it, they lowered the price to $49.99 for 5 years...............and they released a G2 PLUS with auto ATO.............

 

[blaxsun]

I have a 2-year old (ish) Red Sea 750xxl with the original gate valve and thus far it's been stellar. I do have to occasionally adjust it if I find the water level in the overflow drops too much, but this is only something I need to review periodically (ie: every other month or so).