Sump Help for 20L

[Cencalfishguy56]

So I figured I'd ask for help because im stumped. So I drilled the side of my 20L to allow for a 3/4" overflow and a 1/2" return, the stand is roughly 3 feet tall and I'm using vinyl tubing for plumbing all the way around, I used a 3/4" male x barb 90 for my overflow and 1/2" male x barb 90 for my return, with a 3/4" two little fishies ball valve on overflow wide open, and a 1/2" TLF ball valve on my return to throttle the flow. As for pump I'm using a Jebao DCT 4000, I tried calculating head pressure but not sure if I did it right, the problem I am having is keeping the level in my sump stable, I'll set it where I want it, leave lights off to prevent evaporation so I can see if the level remains constant but within a few hours the level keeps changing, does the level eventually even out or do I have to keep tweaking it? It's been a week and I'm still having to play with it, I thought it was fixed friday and saturday but upon inspection my ATO had dumped all of my fresh RODI into my sump by the end of the day and my salinity went from 1.025 to 1.022, plus I cant even run my skimmer to break it in. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[AlexStinson]

Sounds like your flow may be too high. Is your overflow ever creating a syphon, where the water fills up over it and then sucks it all down quickly? That seems like a HUGE pump for a 3/4" overflow. I would have done a 1.5" or 1" minimum. I would expect you to be running a pump that, with head pressure, is under 100gph.

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

Sounds like your flow may be too high. Is your overflow ever creating a syphon, where the water fills up over it and then sucks it all down quickly? That seems like a HUGE pump for a 3/4" overflow. I would have done a 1.5" or 1" minimum. I would expect you to be running a pump that, with head pressure, is under 100gph.

actually now that you say that it may be creating a siphon, originally I had an eheim 1250 rated a little over 300 gph but when the overflow is wide open the pump could not pump the water up to the tank fast enough to stay level so i would have to restrict the flow on the over flow which I know is bad, so i bumped up to the jebao pump knowing I can change the flow via the controller as well as throttle the flow via ball valve

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

Sounds like your flow may be too high. Is your overflow ever creating a syphon, where the water fills up over it and then sucks it all down quickly? That seems like a HUGE pump for a 3/4" overflow. I would have done a 1.5" or 1" minimum. I would expect you to be running a pump that, with head pressure, is under 100gph.

To combat this would I have to apply a tee with an end cap and hole to break the siphon?

 

[AlexStinson]

I think we need pictures to figure out what is going on. I am not understanding how a pump couldn't pump enough for it to stay level in the tank, even if it is a tiny trickle it should change the level in the tank. Tank level should always be (essentially) at the level your overflow is set to, with a very small variance due to surface tension.

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

I think we need pictures to figure out what is going on. I am not understanding how a pump couldn't pump enough for it to stay level in the tank, even if it is a tiny trickle it should change the level in the tank. Tank level should always be (essentially) at the level your overflow is set to, with a very small variance due to surface tension.

Yea ill take pics when I get home in a bit, thanks for helping thus far

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

I think we need pictures to figure out what is going on. I am not understanding how a pump couldn't pump enough for it to stay level in the tank, even if it is a tiny trickle it should change the level in the tank. Tank level should always be (essentially) at the level your overflow is set to, with a very small variance due to surface tension.

Here they are excuse the excess silicon lol

 

[AlexStinson]

Yeah your problem is pretty obvious. You need to A) switch back to your old pump, and B) put a standpipe in your output. Built like it is, I would assume your sump overflows with the power out.
Get a 90 degree elbow that has a female end and a male end (either slip or threaded depending on your bulkhead) and put a few inches of PVC sticking up to the height you desire (it helps if you cut some teeth in it).

 

[AlexStinson]

Also if you end up redoing anything, replace that silicone with either plumbers tape or some silicone grease, and completely remove that ball valve on the overflow.

 

[Alucard]

Just curious why the side and not the back? The drain and return are pretty close together

 

[Duke4Life]

Straight on view pic please, gotta show more than the plumbing now lol

 

[AlexStinson]

One more note: You really need to use your locline to get the return closer to the surface. As it is now (assuming you correct the overflow) the return will back-siphon in an outage and overflow as well. Giving more though to the situation, I would setup the 3/4" as an emergency overflow using another L-shaped piece of pvc like above, only slightly higher than main return, and run the return over the back of the tank. If you need more clear instructions, feel free to pm me, we will get you set.

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

Just curious why the side and not the back? The drain and return are pretty close together

Saw someone do it on nano reef but they had a 90 degree overflow which I'm guessing made the difference

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

Straight on view pic please, gotta show more than the plumbing now lol

Give me a sec I'll upload a full tank shot

 

[AlexStinson]

Saw someone do it on nano reef but they had a 90 degree overflow which I'm guessing made the difference

It's fine drilling the side. This is an island style tank, I have my 10g refugium set up this way.

 

[AlexStinson]

Forgive the bad phone picture, I really have to wiggle in to get this. But this is how your overflow should look. This was (very obviously) done without powertools. This is the 10g fuge connected to my system (the cyano is because I just removed 99% of the caulerpa to sell).

 

[Cencalfishguy56]

I have realized my stupidity my fellow reefers lol thanks to alex he made me realize what I should have done from the get go