Sloshing In Sump

cbrack83 · Sep 7, 2016

I have been keeping freshwater fish for many years and have recently moved over to Saltwater. I recently got my sump up and running and i have notice that in the chamber were my return pump is that the water is sloshing back and forth by about a half and inch or so. Is this normal? I haven't seen it before in any other setups that I have seen...

I turned my pump on last night for the first time and it wasn't doing it at first. I woke up this morning and it was doing it...

Thoughts?

TheEngineer · Sep 7, 2016

Mine does this too actually. Only when the level is just right though. I'm not really sure why it happens.

cbrack83 · Sep 7, 2016

Thanks Icecool2 so its nothing i need to worry about then..

Waters · Sep 7, 2016

I have never seen that before.....no reason why the water should be moving in the return chamber unless you have a powerhead or something else moving the water? I don't think it would be a problem regardless.

ReeferBob · Sep 7, 2016

Some kind of harmonics are lining up. Try moving the pump over a bit or raise or lower the level. It shouldn't make any difference unless it is interfering with your ATO sensor. The Tunze Osmolator would have a BIG problem with that.

cbrack83 · Sep 7, 2016

Ya I am not running any sensors in it at this time... Just watching it go back and forth is bugging me...

TheEngineer · Sep 7, 2016

Mine goes up and down. Not back and forth. I've assumed it just hits some resonance related to the water dripping from the previous section.

cbrack83 · Sep 7, 2016

Ya I got home from work today and its no longer doing it... so who knows...

recess62 · Sep 7, 2016

Earthquake

Frop · Sep 7, 2016

Add more water?

cbrack83 · Sep 7, 2016

No I didn't add any water and there is minimal chance that the water evaporated fast enough to effect it...

ReeferBob · Sep 9, 2016

icecool2 said:
Mine goes up and down. Not back and forth. I've assumed it just hits some resonance related to the water dripping from the previous section.

Up and down usually means your drains are "flushing". Back the flow off a bit.

TheEngineer · Sep 11, 2016

ReeferBob said:
Up and down usually means your drains are "flushing". Back the flow off a bit.

I don't think that's it, at least not for me. I'm running a herbie style drain so it is a consistent flow.

Jdmonealp · Sep 11, 2016

Mine have done this in the past. Its literally like there is a wavemaker in there on fast pulse. Beananimal overflow, no flow variance. either raise or lower the the water level in the return chamber slightly. That should fix it.

If you cant get it to stop, and you have an ATO- just put the sensor or float in the center of the wave. So if you look at the chamber, the left and right sides may vary by 1/2-3/4", but in the center it will be very steady. That's what I did with mine instead of remaking my float mount higher or lower